anyone made a conscious decision to avoid music

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

from other artists as a means of increasing personal creativity ??

i have the fortune of being able to do my work while listening to music, podcast etc. i spend many hours a day listening, and am really wondering how much this is influencing my own creativity (or lack thereof). up to a certain point, i believe that it has been great to immerse myself in music for the sake of inspiration. but maybe i have gone too far, and the constant input is leaving me fatigued by the time i can get to sit down to my own music

one aspect that i believe that could be detrimental is the idea of constant comparison. rather than making music from the heart i.e what comes naturally, am i constantly trying to work from the head, to produce similar to that which is inspiring me ??

another thought is that i am losing all that time and space when ideas might just appear. maybe if i left the ipod at home while walking the dogs, there would be new time and space for music to bubble-up to the surface. perhaps a dictaphone (why d'ya need a dick to phone ??)

i had originally thought to experiment with just avoiding music, deferring to spoken word, but it might be also worth trying to pump less information into my ears. maybe ill try it as a two-tiered approach, removing music first, then all unnatural sound input (unnatural, meaning other than the sounds naturally surrounding me)


has anyone tried this ??

[bluedad]

Basically at heart, I am a rock music kind of guy..Beatles, Neal Young, Pink Floyd etc..
I can listen to Tangerine Dream, JMJ, Peter Namlook all day long and be curious and experimental..and I do love this music and synthy stuff, don't get me wrong.
but to throw on a Neil Young tune and hear that distorted guitar, or strum of acoustic and I'm thinking, yeah, that's what I want to do.
It seems the more I listen to my influences, the more I'm inspired.
Nothing artistically 'pure' is going to come out if I refrain from listening, I'm the sum of those who inspire me. I surrender.

[budweiser]

You hardly can be a consumer and a producer. Ideas (and music) need space to grow up. You're an internet/overconsumption society victim. Soundcloud, youtube, facebook and the like are not your friends.
My advice : a desert island with a solar k7 player and only 2 k7 of choice.

[whyterabbyt]

No. It'd feel like a photographer who'd decided to keep their eyes closed and not look at anything.

[Sendy]

I make more music than I listen to, when I'm going through a composing period, that is. I like to go on walks or go downtown, to hear the sounds of nature, the bustle of people or children playing. I listen to the different flavours of silence. Silence, is, after all, the blank page on which music is written. Then I sit at my computer and let all hell break loose

[fedexnman]

No .... But ...what I don't like is when everyone follows the latest Trend ..... ex. the indie folk alternative stuff that all has the same sound to it ... I can't tell em apart on the radio , change station ....... same with pop music , country, hiphop and dubstep edm stuff lately they sound kind of the same eeee at times ....So I'd try not to get influenced by what's out NOW or what's being produced to sound a certain way right NOW .... The older I've got the more I've discovered classic music I.e. classic rock , older pop, old Motown etc ..older hits that still sound good ...So stay away from the NOW sound IMHO ....don't be a copycat of what's out now ...

[jancivil]

Not a decision to avoid, but I don't look for music, I'm not trying to hear other music when I have something going. I get in a mood or dwell in a world when working and I want that to be a constant thing and not be pulled out of it. I'm kind of old and less needful for influence, w. already formed and strong notions. OTOH there is a point where I'm dry, thirsty and need replenishing and to study.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Nothing artistically 'pure' is going to come out if I refrain from listening, I'm the sum of those who inspire me. I surrender.

i guess i'm not really talking so much about "purity" so much as limiting overall input, which i feel might be causing a certain amount of fatigue

You hardly can be a consumer and a producer. Ideas (and music) need space to grow up.

that's what i am getting at

You're an internet/overconsumption society victim. Soundcloud, youtube, facebook and the like are not your friends.

you started well, then it all went to shit !! i have never had a 'myspace' nor a 'facebook' account. i have never tweeted, nor twatted. i look at youtube if i want to check the odd video, occasionally. i rarely visit 'soundcloud', despite paying monthly. kvr is one of my only internet indulgences, and i have gone to great lengths, over the years, to not go further down that rabbit-hole.

my mobile is 7 years old, would baulk at an angry bird, and i rarely carry it.

i am just talking about using my little ipod nano, which i load up manually from itunes. clearly, i feel that i am using it to excess, but even that is a world apart from the kind of assumptions you are making

No. It'd feel like a photographer who'd decided to keep their eyes closed and not look at anything.

except, as a photographer you are dependent on input coming externally; it is part of your creation to need to have your eyes open.

i am not denying the importance of inspiration, but i also doubt you are suggesting you'd be unable to compose without listening to the music of others. i'm wondering whether a point exists where one impedes the other

I make more music than I listen to, when I'm going through a composing period, that is. I like to go on walks or go downtown, to hear the sounds of nature, the bustle of people or children playing. I listen to the different flavours of silence. Silence, is, after all, the blank page on which music is written. Then I sit at my computer and let all hell break loose

thanks ! that's encouraging

So stay away from the NOW sound IMHO

that's no problem. i make music for myself, and i have pretty eclectic tastes. so there is no genre-chasing. there are some artists who really inspire me to seek out more experimental (for me) production techniques.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Not a decision to avoid, but I don't look for music, I'm not trying to hear other music when I have something going. I get in a mood or dwell in a world when working and I want that to be a constant thing and not be pulled out of it. I'm kind of old and less needful for influence, w. already formed and strong notions. OTOH there is a point where I'm dry, thirsty and need replenishing and to study.

thanks ! i just discovered imogen heap, and am very inspired by her talent and the way she works. it was something i wan't looking for, but i think i needed it

now i need to give it space to breathe

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

to clarify, this will not be a permanent thing

i would like to see whether total abstinence, over a given period, makes any noticeable difference.

[whyterabbyt]

No. It'd feel like a photographer who'd decided to keep their eyes closed and not look at anything.

except, as a photographer you are dependent on input coming externally; it is part of your creation to need to have your eyes open.

There is a differentiation between that which one sees, and what one looks at. Furthermore there is a further distinction in what one looks for, especially in the utility of one's art. There is passivity in seeing, activity in looking at, and discrimination in looking for.

Photographers arent capturing everything they see, they ostensibly choose to seek specific places or events at specific points in time where they decide to carry out their craft. My point is that to give up looking at things would be to resort to passivity only

Im not sure why you're trying to make refute my response. I stated my personal reality of this, and yet you choose to quibble, as though I should rethink the manner in which I separate myself as a creator of music from myself as an audience for it. There is no debate to be had, I stated exactly what I meant, and exactly how I respond to the two differing situations. They are different; I do not need to stop looking at.

i am not denying the importance of inspiration, but i also doubt you are suggesting you'd be unable to compose without listening to the music of others.

Ive never composed by listening to the music of others. I compose by listening for the elements of the sounds I am working with. Actively. And that the intrinsic discrimination of that exempts other people's music from being an impediment to that. That's what Im 'suggesting'.

[Aleatoriac]

I am so horrible at sound design and musicianship that everything I make is an attempt to directly plagiarize some other work. I suck so bad at it that I end up with a piece entirely my own.

No really, seriously though, I'm actually not joking.

[Hink]

to each their own, I could never do such a thing. Since my earliest memories music has been a part of my life. I love music, I love music of all kinds, I love making music and I love listening to music. Music is not just a pastime, music is the foundation on which my life is built, listening to music has many benefits in my life and to avoid music of others would surely have negative effects toward my health, happiness and my own music. I'm 55 and I can still be inspired by a small child playing music or the elderly alike, I believe that no matter where you go in this world if you have an open mind you can learn something from absolutely everyone. It simply is not just inspiration, it's also about learning and growing and at 55 I am still growing, I am still learning, there is nothing that I already know everything there is know about. When I stop growing it's because I am likely on the verge of dying and even then I will be learning how to die.

Music from other artists can make me laugh, it can make me cry, it can spark wonderful memories, it can change a mood, it can heal me, it can keep me humble, it can anger me and it can also enhance my life with the people music brings into my life. I love it when someone shares music with me I have never heard and vice versa, many a time that has led to meeting new friends with common interests further improving the quality of my life.

I cant sit and make music 24/7, thankfully because that would ultimately destroy making music for me, but I cant imagine my life without music in it and listening to the music of other artists is another great form of enjoying music, my passion. When I had a tragic accident it was music that saved me from despair and from myself as I was very self loathing then.

Like I said to each their own, but to deprive myself of that much of my life would be hurting myself for no apparent reason. If I felt I needed to stop listening to music from other artists to improve my music I would question what is wrong with my passion of making music. If I am not inspired it's my inner Hink saying, "dude you need to do something else for a while" because that would be a sure sign I need a break. Which once again is very healthy, but I wouldn't intentionally avoid the music of others. Hard times in my life have made it so I had no means to listen to the music of others and those were the worst times of my life. I know I dont want to go back to where I was then, the only direction I wish to go is forward and music of all kinds has been my partner and my guide through life for as long as I can remember

[kangul]

Good music has always stimulated my own creativity. It inspired me sometimes to do something strange and unusual, something that has nothing to do with the original music I've listened to, so it's not about borrowing someone's ideas. It's just like a power source for my own inspiration. I love good music. It's one of a very few things that worth living for.

[tapper mike]

It's an unconscious or subconscious decision. I love classic rock till I get tired of it. I love the blues till I get tired of it. I love jazz till I get tired of it. Eventually I tire of everything and take a hiatus from it all. (usually when I'm in my most creative mindset) and rediscover everything I love all over again.

I don't need to listen to music for the memories of songs to creep into my brain. I can sit or walk or drive or a million other things and the songs will play all the same.

A major problem with listening so much and having your brain permanently stained with songs you love is that in a moment of inspiration a great song might come to mind only to find out later when you are playing it out... Is that it's someone else's song entirely and you aren't writing anything new. Instead your brain gave you an unwanted flashback / brain snap. Then you walk around wondering if everything you've ever done you thought was an original may have been drawn from a distorted or forgotten memory of something else.