After about 5 months of 70 hour work weeks, I sat down this morning and wrote a song. Working on it started out so miserable and forced- playing the instruments felt so awkward.
It's a horrible feeling to be away from music so long. I really need help developing a work flow that doesn't have to involve me sitting and working out a song in one 5 hour sitting like it did today. But changing how I work seems totally impossible!
I'm happy to report that I am getting my mojo back. But unhappy that it took me 5 months to realize that this was the reason I was so grumpy and uneasy.
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Electronic Music other: Worst Feeling in the World
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Written May 05 2008
Comments
I relate 1,000,000,000%. Glad you're getting back into it. Nothing depresses me quite like creative downtime.
not having time for music because of school or work just makes me wonder why i go to school or work in the first place!
no kidding! Many of us share this dilemma!
that's why i quit my job
same here deltasleep. it totally sucks. but the question why you got thte job, is answered for me pretty quickly as soon as i get the paycheck. i hat to say it. but stupid music won't feed me, it's the job i hate, that does it. sad but true.
i hope you can manage to cut the workload a little and find little fragments of time to make some music. it takes quite a while to adapt with a timeconsuming job (at least for me) and after that time i normally find out how to sneak some bit of my regular life and joy within this packed working day. i just quit my very good and very very well paid job as a graphic designer just to have more time for music again.
turned out that when i have too much time for music, i'm too lazy to get anything done anyway. also, i have absolutely no money now, no health insurance, i'm feeling totally useless. i think there must be some kind of compromise... well there is a balance to be found- i know when I work more I don't actually make less music, I just waste less time trying to make it. but lately I've gone way overboard with my schedule, more than I ever have or hopefully ever will. when I have all day to make music every day I just sit down and get frustrated, because you just can't make a good song every day.
it's a tough dilemna... my current job has me working from 1-10pm, so I can do music in the morning before being exhausted, and then after work as well.
s'ok for now. I'm working 9am-5:30pm and it is a drag. I dedicate Tues, Wed., and Saturday to making teh music. I miss the time when I had no job, but I'm still paying for that time. (Next month is debt freedom.) When I was in college, there was so much time for me to do music, school, girls, and even hang out. That being said, my best work was done when I was miserable and had too much time and also too much wine. And a maxed out credit card. Misery is a great stimulus.
Not entirely on-topic, I found for some reason that while I was working in a bank/office, my music got very ambient, probably as a result of being shattered after work. Never really noticed a link between job and music style before...
I think in this scenario, speed and simplicity is key to efficient music writing. Probably why the beats were the first thing to go out the window in my case. i have no time to make music anymore either, unless there's a paycheck attached. i was frustrated about that, but i learned to dedicate exactly one hour each day to it while walking my dogs, and it's gotten a little better.
be prepared. it might get worse. i work 9-7 and usually one weekend day every two weeks, I have a kid who tells her teachers at school that she really misses me and why don't I want to spend time with her, a wife who is just as busy and yadda yadda. deeeepressing.
Wallace Stevens pretty much only wrote in his spare time. He was a bank officer and a family man and had no servants. So, there has got to be a way. I think perhaps environment could play a role in helping you. If you can manage it, dedicate a room to your music making and put some real effort into making it awesome... lighting just right, artwork hanging, statuettes or whatever to decorate it... nice rugs, tapestries, whatever...
Then reserve that room for only music. When you step in, you're going to do some creative work, otherwise you just hang out in the living room or bedroom. Signup to comment
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