Lack of Motivation

[OzoneJunkie]

Some people make music and some people are poets. I am only totally guessing, but rare seems to be the person that is excellent musician/composer and at the same time also excellent poet.

That's the poison, the little death (that brings total obliteration), the killer-of-self talking. That's your particular poison. We all have our own poison in our veins, seeping through, killing the inner genius, the uniqueness. We create that poison. The serum is recognizing that and purging it. Getting angry at it.

Original poster has his own poison.

I have my own too.

[ras.s]

Is there something in particular that is keeping you from telling stories with your music?

There's definitely a lot of people in the world who talk a lot, but say very little. Now that you have noticed it yourself, it's up to you to decide if you want to be like that or not.

The things that are stopping me is that i have produced this kind of music for a long time, and there is no turning back. Either i keep going or stop, but not change to for example singing. The question is if it's possible to express something human trough these kind of genres?

Without saying yes or no -- why wouldn't it be possible? After asking that, I'd say, yes, of course it's possible, even if you haven't done it yet or even if you haven't yet found anyone doing it. Everything we do is about nothing else than about being human and I see no reason why electronic dance music couldn't be used for expressing the full range of human emotions.

It's a rather broad generalisation, but I think all music, no matter what the genre, falls into one of these four categories: spiritual, social (and political), love -- and fun (including nonsensical). If you've mostly done music for the last or the last two categories, then step out and try something from the first two; you'll find plenty of stories to be told there as well.


I think it's a good point you made earlier about the names of tracks. I find it important that names of tracks, even if instrumental, mean something. It builds up expectations and it gives the listener a point from where to listen to the track. It can resonate with them, ie. they can somehow associate the name of the track and what the track itself expresses to something in their own lives, or they can interpret it to mean something entirely else than what you originally meant in which case the musical content may mean something entirely else as well. Naming tracks give them meaning and space for interpretation, so it shouldn't be done carelessly but should rather be considered the first step to telling a story.

As an example, the track I'm working on currently is called "Must be years now since the last time the two of us really talked". Now, I don't always name my tracks like that, it's much longer than my usual titles, but this time I did and I think it's fitting; the tune is about friendships lost for a while and then found again. Surely with a name like that it won't become an anthem, but it doesn't really matter. But thinking about it, I'm sure someone might not think about their long lost friends who they've now reconnected with, but they may think about, say, the problems they have in their close relationships, in which case for them, the music itself will also change. Whether or not the track has any musical merit when I'm done with it will be at the listener's discretion, but even then, the title itself is such that it makes one think that this guy is trying to say something with it.




(Now playing: Shiloh Ites: 72 Nations / Nations In Dub)

[Jace-BeOS]

Or, at the end of the day, maybe you just don't enjoy creating music enough to put the effort into it that is required to create what you think you should be creating. It's okay to focus on other interests that motivate you more. Maybe you'll come back to music in the future.

The last bit might be the case, except i feel that way about all the things. So it's not only music.

I experience the same with all my artistic interests. I do a lot of self-censoring of my ideas. Sometimes it's because they don't interest me enough to put the effort in to get the output I considered. Maybe that's laziness. I'm not sure, because: I was on Effexor for 6+ years and it made me almost lose all impulse control and I was very busy making photographic works (also, the drug was making me self-destructive and crazy). Once I got off the drug, I found I had the reverse problem: I couldn't be moved enough by things to act on ideas/impulses. Part of it is fear of losing control (that drug made me insane) and part of it is an actual type of psych drug-caused brain damage (inability to act on impulses).

Outside of the drug-caused brain damage, I have other issues with creativity:

• I have very high expectations and very little practical experience with the mediums I desire to utilize. I wasn't raised to pursue my interests. I was guided away from them. It shaped my personality and I fight that to do art of any kind (because "art is not practical").

• Situational depression makes things seem pointless and meaningless. As we saw me on psych drugs, there's no solution in antidepressants.

I have a major amount of inertia to overcome just to start any creative work. Ultimately, my only two techniques for getting work started are:

1. Force myself to start making music. Sit down at the studio desk, open programs, audition patches, enter notes, create rhythmic backing parts to entered notes, randomly select sounds/objects to record... See what happens. It's not fun at first. Sometimes it never becomes fun. Sometimes it does.

2. Wait for inspiration to push me over the inertia roadblock.

Number 1 is way more successful than number 2. Sometimes number 1 actually CAUSES an occurrence of number 2. Once I've made something I like, it is just a little bit easier to get myself to act on the impulse to create at a later date. But it never gets "easy". It's always hard and the work is often infuriating. The reward of music I've made that I like is ultimately worth it to me, but I still have a hard time feeling it is a worthwhile activity because of how I was raised (and because I have almost zero audience to give me the sense that I'm not just doing it in a vacuum).

[Jace-BeOS]

PS: Bowie was mentioned. It's worth noting that he kept going partially because he continuously tried to find new ways to create. He tried to avoid repeating himself. He worked with other musicians and artists. He used different idea-generating ideas at different times. He seemed to remain open to as much influence as possible and found ways to integrate something he liked in other people's work into his own work. I found a love of Bowie because he attached himself to Trent Reznor in 1995. I owe NIN for my appreciation of Bowie.

Try not to limit yourself. Self-censorship is the artist's greatest enemy.

[harryupbabble]

Some people make music and some people are poets. I am only totally guessing, but rare seems to be the person that is excellent musician/composer and at the same time also excellent poet.

That's the poison, the little death (that brings total obliteration), the killer-of-self talking. That's your particular poison. We all have our own poison in our veins, seeping through, killing the inner genius, the uniqueness. We create that poison. The serum is recognizing that and purging it. Getting angry at it.

Original poster has his own poison.

I have my own too.

If you are saying that doubt is poison then maybe you are right but sometimes I think I myself am the worse judge at what I could do. I mean what if I am underestimating myself, and also... overestimating? I would want something impartial to assess my abilities. I mentioned before the desire for accurate brain scan machine to exist now and for such scans to be supercheap and maybe even covered by health care, like yearly physical exams are. But alas, that may not be available in our lifetime and could only be useful if scans are done early in life, maybe at puberty or earlier?

But the thing is... maybe all the greats never had doubt and didn't need confirmation by scans nor peers? I could be totally wrong in that guess though. Doubt doubt doubt. And what is your poison?

[deastman]

It sounds like you're perhaps dealing with depression in general and not just something specific to music.

As for "too late to turn back", I guess the question is whether you want to devote your life to becoming a great artist, or to making formulaic EDM.

[OzoneJunkie]

Some people make music and some people are poets. I am only totally guessing, but rare seems to be the person that is excellent musician/composer and at the same time also excellent poet.

That's the poison, the little death (that brings total obliteration), the killer-of-self talking. That's your particular poison. We all have our own poison in our veins, seeping through, killing the inner genius, the uniqueness. We create that poison. The serum is recognizing that and purging it. Getting angry at it.

Original poster has his own poison.

I have my own too.

If you are saying that doubt is poison then maybe you are right but sometimes I think I myself am the worse judge at what I could do. I mean what if I am underestimating myself, and also... overestimating? I would want something impartial to assess my abilities. I mentioned before the desire for accurate brain scan machine to exist now and for such scans to be supercheap and maybe even covered by health care, like yearly physical exams are. But alas, that may not be available in our lifetime and could only be useful if scans are done early in life, maybe at puberty or earlier?

But the thing is... maybe all the greats never had doubt and didn't need confirmation by scans nor peers? I could be totally wrong in that guess though. Doubt doubt doubt. And what is your poison?

Harry - I've seen enough of your posts here to see a certain pattern and theme. Please understand that I'm not attacking you in any way, or in any way different than I might attack myself in an objective, or at least an attempt at objective, way.

"I think I myself the worse judge at what I could do."

Yes. Of course you are. You're the most critical of yourself. No one else will ever come close to being more critical of you than you. I mean that in a general sense, not just in your case. We're all our own worst critic, whether it's being critical about what we think we can do, or being critical about what we've done. No one else can make us feel a certain way that that inner critic does. Anyone else's critique's perceived impact is really just a reflection of that inner critic - a spotlight into our own inner workings.

My poison isn't much different to be honest. In fact, I will generalize here about human behavior and say that our inner poisons differ in ways, but are in other ways the same thing.

So, here's my serum: stop f#cking thinking. I practice meditation to help achieve this.

Frontal lobe thinking, where we have consciousness about ourselves at a certain level, is great in many ways - it can make us aware (of our reality, of others, of ourselves) and can actually monitor our thinking. It's particularly useful in music in that it helps us focus on the craft side of things, so that we may learn and get better with the craft of music making. BUT..... it's also a trap.

That same thinking process, the frontal lobe process, is *THE* thing that crushes creativity, crushes our inner genius, causes us to compare, causes us to doubt. It also causes us to get stuck in musical traps, like spending too much time on craft (which can result in making "music for musicians").

That's the thing that must be rooted. Turn off that. Stop thinking. Go inside and find, no, scratch the "find" part - go inside and *BE* the inner creative genius that is there in all of us. It is.

Tat Tvam Asi.

"Thou art that"

We are all made of the same "universal stuff."

EDIT/PS: I'm at a point where I personally need to stay away from KVR - it's a "craft centered" obsession for me, and so will wish everyone here well in our pursuits. I feel like I've said all/enough that I can say on the subject and again recognize that KVR is part of the traps I create for myself, so... yeah...

[harryupbabble]

When making my music I don't think that heavy thought is/was involved. Hahaha. It's not like my music is math music. It's more like "try these series of notes, see if it sounds good" trial and error thing. Making lyrics that fit the music is different though and in my case, very very difficult. Lots of doubt there. I guess to stop thinking about it being difficult or to just ignore doubts and just keep making so-called songs is one way to go, as long as it is still enjoyable to do so.

Anyways, if the OP wants to try adding lyrics to his/her (I don't mean to imply hermaphrodite) music as a way to motivate himself/herself... why not? I guess, in some cases, so many failure is what happens before success:

[Musical Gym]

...

[Lejurai]

Some people make music and some people are poets. I am only totally guessing, but rare seems to be the person that is excellent musician/composer and at the same time also excellent poet.

That's the poison, the little death (that brings total obliteration), the killer-of-self talking. That's your particular poison. We all have our own poison in our veins, seeping through, killing the inner genius, the uniqueness. We create that poison. The serum is recognizing that and purging it. Getting angry at it.

Original poster has his own poison.

I have my own too.

[JJ_Jettflow]

Music is an artform and that means you go with whatever way seems to express your feeling best. Some music tells stories; some like you said just make you want to jump. That is because there is no "right way" to express yourself. Like I said, whichever way suits you best.

Well this answers my frustration i guess. And the advice you gave, i'm already on it!

Awesome! Bottom line, make sure you have fun .

[Hink]

I'll say it again like I say it every other time these threads come up, life is cycles and then very best artists know hoW to flow with said cycles. Believe it or not inactivity does not mean growth stops, life just has a way of telling you that you need to do other things. In my 45 years of playing this has happened to me many times, it always comes back and almost always stronger. Motivation can come from experiences and you need to get and experience things. It's okay, this is good and imo it shows you're normal so dont sweat it.

JUST DONT PURGE

[mcnoone]

I started doing sound on a synthesizer (roland d20) as a fun diversion to playing guitar and writing songs a long time ago. It ended my playing guitar and writing songs eventually, and left me with just making sounds.
Yet recently I've become interested in getting a guitar, and playing again.
I also want to teach my son to play as well.
Now looking for a cheap used guitar online.

[OzoneJunkie]

I'll say it again like I say it every other time these threads come up, life is cycles and then very best artists know hoW to flow with said cycles. Believe it or not inactivity does not mean growth stops, life just has a way of telling you that you need to do other things. In my 45 years of playing this has happened to me many times, it always comes back and almost always stronger. Motivation can come from experiences and you need to get and experience things. It's okay, this is good and imo it shows you're normal so dont sweat it.

JUST DONT PURGE

Well, I couldn't stay away (see my edit/ps from my last post in this thread). But glad I didn't. Really good point here. In fact, having read some more of this thread and opening my mind a bit and going outside my own perspective, I'm finding new things to learn from others, with regard to motivation.

Cheers y'all

[Hooj]

... at the end of the day, maybe you just don't enjoy creating music enough to put the effort into it that is required to create what you think you should be creating. It's okay to focus on other interests that motivate you more. Maybe you'll come back to music in the future.

The last bit might be the case, except i feel that way about all the things. So it's not only music.

So you've lost interest/motivation for other things as well, not only music? If so, there may be a deeper underlying issue.

If it only applies to music, then do as others have suggested and give it a rest for a while. OR, focus on another aspect of music (like theory, mixing, sound design, etc..) for a while.