Do you remember the first set of lyrics or piece of music that you ever wrote?

Maybe it was the first riff or chord progression you ever made up by yourself on your new guitar, or on the family piano.  Maybe it was a set of lyrics that you wrote in an old raggedy notebook during study hall in your junior year of high school.

I remember my first piece of music that I wrote on my own.

It was a very simple chord progression in the key of G that I wrote on my acoustic guitar.  I was sitting in my apartment on the edge of my bed.  I was probably 19 years old.  I had just learned a new chord turnaround, and I wanted to play around with it until I got it down.  I ended up making up a chord progression around it, at first mainly so I could practice using it with different chords.  Before long I realized that I was playing the same patterns over and over, and it was something that I made up myself.  I didn’t even realize that I had written a song!

Years later, I am a much better guitar player, and a much better songwriter than I was in those days, but I would often go back to playing around with that first song… not really because it was good or amazing (in fact, it was very simplistic and un-noteworthy), but because it was my first song, and in a weird way I was proud of it.

I ended up marrying a very talented singer who was interested in writing lyrics, but had only written a few songs before we got married.  We always talked about wanting to write songs together, and the first song we wrote together was written to that very first piece of music that I ever wrote… but that’s a story for a different time.

For now, the point is, even though I knew that piece of music wasn’t spectacular, I was proud of it because of the story behind it, and because of the sense of accomplishment that it brought at the time it was written.

The other day I was digging through some of the traffic statistics for this site, and I saw that one of my posts from several months ago entitled Write a song with an instrument that you don’t know how to play had gotten quite a bit of traffic from StumbleUpon (if you don’t know what StumbleUpon is, look into it at your own risk… you WILL waste lots of your time playing with it)

In that original post I had not only given an idea to expand on musical creativity, but I had posted a link to a song I had written that was an example of the topic I was talking about.

I decided to check out StumbleUpon, and see what people were saying about that post.  The comments weren’t pretty.  I’ll share them here:

dude, your song sucks.

He experimented to find a good tone… and that’s what he calls a good tone?

I love the thought process this guy has. I feel the same way and collect rondom shite too. That said I cant condone his song, not trying to be offensive but its just horrible… sorry.

Obviously these comments weren’t exactly what I wanted to see, but to be honest I have pretty thick skin, and they rolled off of me pretty quickly.   After all, I spent this past football season writing off-the-wall song parodies (and accompanying YouTube music videos) for every game of the Minnesota Vikings season.  Vikings fans usually loved the songs, and fans of the opposing teams typically HATED them.  I spent most of the football season being ridiculed for lack of talent, and even for a several personal outward-appearance flaws.    That’ll toughen a guy up pretty quick… I even grew to look forward to the trash talking between nice and loving fans and the mean and hateful mockers.

Anyway, I wasn’t too worried about these comments…

…but they did get me thinking a little bit, which in my opinion is always a good thing.

Why do I strive to be creative in my music?  Why do I search for new ways to write music?  Why am I not interested in following the tried and true methods of songwriting that seemingly 99% of the songwriters who get their music on the radio follow?

Really, all those questions could be tied into a question that is important to the existence of this site itself… Why do I care enough about musical creativity to actually want to blog about it?

The answer is really pretty simple.

I do it for me.  I do it for my own personal sense of accomplishment.  I do it for my own satisfaction.

I know the song that I linked to on that original blog post wasn’t the greatest song ever.  I know that if someone else had written that song and played it for me, I wouldn’t have been completely impressed.  It’s not a song that I would play continually (if even at all) if someone else gave me a CD with it on there.

But none of those things were the point of me writing the song in the first place, and none of them were the reason I linked to it from this blog.

The real reason I wrote it was to see if I can.  I wanted to pick up an instrument that I had never played before in my life, and write a riff that I could build an entire song around… and I did it!  I was proud of that, not because it was a spectacular song, but because it was an accomplishment!

I posted the song on the blog not because I was trying to show off my amazing ability to play the mandolin, but because I wanted to show people that with a little creativity, you can write a song based around an instrument that you’ve literally NEVER played before.

This blog isn’t about writing music that will earn you money, or fame, or even recognition from your peers or friends (although if you’re able to use any of these ideas for those purposes, more power to you!!!!!)

This blog isn’t for the people who want to turn themselves into a major music star writing songs that everyone will be trampling through the music store (do they have those anymore?) to get the latest CD.

This blog is about stretching your own ideas of musical “norms”.  It’s about getting outside of your own musical boxes and boundries.  It’s about writing things that you’re proud of, even if you know no one else is going to like it.

This blog is for the people who want to be proud of music that they write, not just because it’s spectacular, but because it’s a personal accomplishment for themselves.

After all, shouldn’t your music be all about expressing you?

Today I stumbled across a site that allows writers to post articles for use in other blogs and websites, so I decided to look through it.  I found that they have all sorts of great articles on creativity and musicianship!  I was really impressed!  I also found out that as a blog owner, I’m allowed to share these articles with my readers around a couple times a month, so I think I’m going to plan on taking advantage of that from time to time, starting today.

This article isn’t necessarily about “music”, but rather about creativity in general.  I think there are some interesting points made, and things that as musicians and songwriters we can use to stretch out our own creativity a bit.

Let me know what you think of not only this article, but the idea of searching the web for things that other people want to share… Oh, and don’t worry, reprinting other people’s articles is not going to make up the entirety of my blog! 

Are you as creative as you’d like to be? Are you able to think creatively and use your imagination to think of original new ideas? Do you have the ability to recognize opportunities others fail to see? Do you find you’re able find creative, ingenious and innovative ways to solve problems?

Your ability to think creatively can be improved dramatically by making use of certain exercises and techniques.

Here is one way you’ll find very effective indeed. You’ll experience an immediate improvement in your creative imagination and your creative thinking.

YOUR CREATIVE IMAGINATION.

In order to become more creative you first step is to improve your creative imagination. Creative imagination is the mental faculty that enables you to create mental images and visualize situations or conditions you have never actually experienced.

What is the value of exercising your imagination?

People with highly developed creative imaginations have the ability to extract features of their experience and re-arrange them into new forms. All new inventions are discoveries; artistic creations – and even new ways of doing business – are based on this form of creative thinking.

By using certain exercises to develop your creative imagination – and giving your imagination a “work-out”- you’ll find you’ll experience a tremendous improvement in your ability to think more creatively.

Even if you have no interest in Art whatsoever, one useful strategy that will make an enormous difference to your ability to think creatively is to visit an Art Museum.

If this is not convenient and there is no Art Museum in your area, get a book from the library that features illustrated paintings by impressionist and abstract painters.

Impressionism is a form of art that deals with the effect of an object rather than a photographic representation of the object.

Find a detailed book of modern art that features paintings by artists such as Monet, considered one of the founders of Impressionism. Also examine the painting of Degas. Renoir and Pissaro.

Instead of a photographic likeness of a scene you will find that the artist has attempted to reflect an emotional reaction to the scene.

For example, when Monet first exhibited his painting entitled, “Impression. Rising Sun”, viewers to the gallery, where the painting was exhibited, expected to see something that resembled a rising sun. Instead they were presented with a painting that bore no resemblance whatsoever to sunrise.

Monet’s explanation was that it was his impression of “the fugitive changes of nature”.

Examine examples of the works of abstract painters like Kandinsky, regarded as one of the initiators of abstract art. Here again it is difficult to understand what the artist is attempting to depict. The painting is a form of personal experience rather than an accurate picture of a scene.

In an essay “Concerning Form” describing abstract art Kandinsky wrote: The art of today embodies the spiritual matured to the point of revelation…”

In examining these painting it is important to remember that this is not an exercise to try and establish what the artist is trying to express. The purpose of the exercise is to PRACTICE USING YOUR OWN CREATIVE IMAGINATION TO FORM IMAGES IN YOUR MIND OF WHAT THE PAINTING REPRESENTS TO YOU!

The accuracy of the images you create in your mind is not important; neither are the emotions you experience.

The object of the exercise is NOT TO INDICATE EITHER TO YOURSELF OR TO SOMEONE ELSE THAT YOU ARE A SERIOUS AND A PERCEPTIVE STUDENT OF ART. It is a valuable exercise in developing your creative imagination.

The same exercise can be carried out with all forms of music; beautiful, harmonious, melodic music written for example, by composer like Chopin and Tchaikovsky, and the modern discordant music by Stravinsky, Bela-Bartok and Schoenberg.

Even though you may not find the music of Arnold Schoenberg appealing make a point of listening to it as an emotional experience. His music is regarded as a typical example of what is known as atonality. It is completely without melody or harmony.

As you listen to the music try and form images in your mind that relate in some way to the sounds you hear and the emotions you experience.

Listen also to the strange rhythms and discordant sounds of music composed by Stravinsky and Bela-Bartok. Here again attempt to create visual images. Perhaps you may form images in your mind of huge waves crashing on to the rocks or perhaps a noisy street filled with the sounds of motor horns blaring and tires screeching.

Close your eyes and try and form as vivid and as clear images as you can.

Contrast these images with those created when you close your eyes and listen to the gentle, melodious sounds of a cello recital of Sain-Saens “The Swan”. In this case it is easy to imagine a graceful swan floating effortlessly across a placid lake. It arouses emotions of peace, tranquility and calm.

Discordant music obviously arouses quite different emotions and the images created in your mind are quite different. But here again, this is not an exercise in musical appreciation, it is a very useful and effective way to develop your ability to use your creative imagination.

The more often you make use of this simple method to improve your ability to think creatively, the greater will be the improvement you’ll notice in your ability to think more creatively.

Dennis Fisher is managing director of financial and investment Companies. In addition to his involvement in many different fields of business, his interests include an in-depth study of various schools of practical psychology, with special emphasis on the development of creativity and creative power.
To find out more about powerful techniques that will enhance creative power go to his website:
http://www.creativemindpowers.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_Fisher

Tip for writing creative music:  Write with an instrument you can’t play

A bunch of you now think I’m completely nuts, huh?

If you could see my music studio in my house, the first thing you’d notice is “this guy has a lot of instruments!”  The thing is, I don’t really know how to play everything I have.  I play the guitar, the bass, the drums, and the piano… but in my studio you’ll also find several different kinds of hand percussion, a bohdran, harmonicas, several different kinds of flutes/recorders, a mandolin, a ukulele, a mini glockenspiel (like, the plastic kind), train whistles,  rain makers, triangles, cowbells, woodblocks, and several other things that I’m probably forgetting.

One thing I should note… when I don’t know how to play an instrument, and I plan on buying it anyway, I buy the cheapest version that I can.  Those of you who really play the ukulele would laugh at the $20 version I have.  You Mandolin players out there probably wouldn’t even want to pick mine up because you’d fear the sound that would come out of the instrument. 

But I buy them anyway, because it’s a good way for me to experiment to see whether or not I like the instrument enough to invest in a better quality one.  Any time I make a purchase at a music store, whether local or online, I tend to look around for cheap instruments that I can tack onto my purchase.  I also often hit up the toy departments when I go shopping, just to see if there are any instruments or noise-makers that I can add to my collection.

But besides testing the waters looking for my next instrument obsession, having these things around can lead to musical creativity from time to time as well.

I’m going to give an example.

I wrote a song once called “Amazing And True”.  You can click HERE to listen to it if you want to.

I wrote the main riff by picking up my newly acquired Mandolin.  I had no idea how to play the Mandolin (still don’t), so, my only option was to start messing around looking for a good sound.  Since I’m a guitar player, I started looking around for guitar-like arpeggio riffs.  I ended up writing something that sounds like… well, it sounds like a guitar player messing around with a Mandolin… but my point is, because of the tuning on the Mandolin, it’s something that I probably would not have written on a guitar, and it gives the song a different feel, since the Mandolin strings have a completely different sound than guitar strings would playing a similar part.

So my tip to you today… go to toy stores, thrift stores, garage sales, and buy up all of the instruments and noise-makers you can find.  Then take them home, and instead of trying to learn the “right” way of playing them, just start trying to make music.

If you come up with something, send it to me!

I have to admit that by nature I am a very logical thinker.  It is my natural tendency to look at things in a very straightforward black and white way, and to take things literally for what they are.   That makes it hard for me sometimes to understand certain kinds of art, as well as certain kinds of poetry and other kinds of writing.

When it comes to music, I really want to be able to stretch  myself to be more creative, and because of my nature sometimes I have to really force that.  I don’t think that’s a problem, though.  I certainly don’t let that hold me back.  In fact, I think part of the fun of being creative is pushing your own boundaries when it comes to the way you think.

A great way to push those boundaries is to try to look at every day things a little bit differently.

Look at a picture or a painting that you have in your house that you’ve probably seen hundreds if not thousands of times.

Now try to look at it differently.

Try to pick out some things about that painting or picture that you’ve never noticed before.  What kinds of things are happening?  What kinds of things are going on in the background?

What kinds of feeling does the color create?  Is it bright and cheerful?  Is it deep and thoughtful?

Here’s the tough part… if you were going to create a piece of music that represented those things that were happening in the picture, or those feelings that were created, how would that music sound?  What kinds of instruments would be used?  What kinds of rhythms would be played?

That may sound weird to you, but give it a try.  See if you can train your brain to find musical inspiration out of a picture or a painting.  If you can’t, move on to a different one.  Even if you can, move on to a different one.   Exercise your ability to find inspiration in odd places.