Gifted musicians who compose

[Giggly]

I noticed a trend among several gifted musicians/composers. When asked where they get their inspiration from when composing songs, they all said the same thing. That it just comes to them and they are just a vehicle for the music and the melody.

They say that the music is a force outside of themselves that has just chosen to flow through them (which is the gift bestowed upon them) and they have nothing to do with it. This is just how the creative process happens for them.

They say that when it happens, it just happens and they don't know when it will happen, or why it happens but that they have to "stay out of the way and not interfere with it" in order for it to come out right.

Any controls they try to place on it, in the form of "I think this would sound good here" makes things turn out badly. When they just stay out of the way and just be the vehicle through which the music flows, something good always happens - a great song is born and they know it before anyone else ever gets to hear it.

I'm not a musician and this has never happened to me before but just love the idea of it.

Have any of you musicians or composers ever experienced this happening to you or have you heard other musicians/composers say the same thing?

 

[KDude]

I've heard Keith Richards specifically say this. He doesn't even think he wrote Satisfaction.

It sounds kind of cool, but I'd say I'm different. I can be my worst critic. I do come up with a lot of riffs sort of unconsciously, but I do "get in the way" later. If I record them, I might not like what I hear later on. I might even hate it. Or, I might rework it with something else and the whole thing changes shape. The one thing I definitely don't do though is think any of it is given to me. I take responsibility, for both the good and bad. I don't have any mystical ideas about where it's coming from.

 

[Giggly]

I've heard Keith Richards specifically say this. He doesn't even think he wrote Satisfaction.

Amazing! I have heard so many of them say this that I almost start to wonder if it's a conspiracy! lol

It sounds kind of cool, but I'd say I'm different. I can be my worst critic. I do come up with a lot of riffs sort of unconsciously, but I do "get in the way" later. If I record them, I might not like what I hear later on. I might even hate it. Or, I might rework it with something else and the whole thing changes shape. The one thing I don't definitely do though is think any of it is given to me. I take responsibility, for both the good and bad. I don't have any mystical ideas about where it's coming from.

Have you ever tried to get out of the way? I'm not a musician so I apologize if my questions sound dumb but what would happen if you did?

 

[KDude]

Amazing! I have heard so many of them say this that I almost start to wonder if it's a conspiracy! lol



Have you ever tried to get out of the way? I'm not a musician so I apologize if my questions sound dumb but what would happen if you did?

They don't sound dumb at all.

I guess I haven't tried to get out of the way. Maybe I should. To be honest, the idea kind of makes me anxious.

 

[Giggly]

I guess I haven't tried to get out of the way. Maybe I should. To be honest, the idea kind of makes me anxious.

Control freak!!

jk

 

[Stanton Moore]

It's hard to get out of your own way. But it's hard to just listen uncritically too. The art is in just going for it, then editing later.

 

[KDude]

Control freak!!

jk

I was going to say I was *little* of that. You got me.

 

[Giggly]

I was going to say I was *little* of that. You got me.

I imagine it is hard though.

 

[INTP]

Isnt it pretty much the same thing with all art?

Artistic expression is an expression of the unconscious. Piece of art is sort of projection of unconscious, let it be piece of music, painting, photograph or what ever. Even if its largely intentional, its still the unconscious where the inspiration comes from, consciousness is just censoring parts of it. Too much censoring can take out the artistic components away from it and too little censoring can leave just a piece of mess who no one can understand.
Its also about consciously fitting the pieces together to make more powerful whole and amplifying it. For example you might come up with a melody with a guitar, but the melody itself isnt enough, you should also find right pedals to use to make the message more clear, using a semi hollow guitar and old school jazz sounds in a melody can really bring the melody alive and amplify its message and boost it to whole new dimensions, actually if you arent choosing to use some specific sound, it might not sound right and give quite different expression. Also finding out the 'correct' bass lines, bass sounds etc are also really important. Same thing with post processing on photography, or if shooting film, then using the correct filters and film, developing techniques and printing tricks.

 

[Totenkindly]

I noticed a trend among several gifted musicians/composers. When asked where they get their inspiration from when composing songs, they all said the same thing. That it just comes to them and they are just a vehicle for the music and the melody.

yes, for me that's what it's typically like.

It's like everything pre-exists, and I just tap into it, and then it kind of writes itself. It's an organic process.

Same thing with other art, like visuals or writing. When Stephen King wrote Tommyknockers, about someone who digs out an alien ship, I think he was also describing the writing process for him -- it's less about about creating something himself and more that he is discovering something that already exists, and digging it out.

I do see some differences in style, though, between J vs P style artists. P's are far more apt to "discover" the art and basically stay out of its way. The J's are more liable to structure and plan, because they already have an idea of what they want the outcome to be, then they 'work it" to get there. Still, if that process is too stringent, I think it can crush the creative aspect of the endeavor; likewise, sometimes if P's don't do any form of editing or shaping, sometimes you can get something all over the map.

 

[KDude]

yes, for me that's what it's typically like.

It's like everything pre-exists, and I just tap into it, and then it kind of writes itself. It's an organic process.

Same thing with other art, like visuals or writing. When Stephen King wrote Tommyknockers, about someone who digs out an alien ship, I think he was also describing the writing process for him -- it's less about about creating something himself and more that he is discovering something that already exists, and digging it out.

I do see some differences in style, though, between J vs P style artists. P's are far more apt to "discover" the art and basically stay out of its way. The J's are more liable to structure and plan, because they already have an idea of what they want the outcome to be, then they 'work it" to get there. Still, if that process is too stringent, I think it can crush the creative aspect of the endeavor; likewise, sometimes if P's don't do any form of editing or shaping, sometimes you can get something all over the map.

I wonder what types Billy Corgan or Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) are. They're notorious perfectionists. Shields nearly bankrupted a small record company back in the day, for taking years just to make one album. People think James Iha was the guitarist of the Pumpkins, but Corgan basically dictated a lot of it. Not only that, his recording process was insane. Like the song "Soma" on Siamese Dream has like 40 overdubbed guitar parts.

 

[Totenkindly]

I wonder what types Billy Corgan or Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) are. They're notorious perfectionists. Shields nearly bankrupted a small record company back in the day, for taking years just to make one album. People think James Iha was the guitarist of the Pumpkins, but Corgan basically dictated a lot of it. Not only that, his recording process was insane. Like the song "Soma" on Siamese Dream has like 40 overdubbed guitar parts.

I think producing is different than composing.

I've composed music, and I've ad-libbed music often in real-time (where you just have to discover it and let it come out); but I can get kind of anal when it comes to the "producing" side of music, where I'm trying to get the best recording possible and do all the finishing detail. I like it less because it can become a very obsessive process, and after awhile you have to let your ear rest because it all starts to sound alike... kind of like if you keep eating, you'll lose the nuance of the taste and have to clear your palate for a bit.

Group synergy is also a different process than dictating lines to the group and controlling the process. Anything can work, I guess, as long as the group decides that's how it wants to function; but some groups can't stand having one member dictate all the parts, where other groups might be okay with one person overseeing and controlling the process more carefully.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I agree with the comments about creativity being an intuitive process that taps into the subconscious, etc. I will add that it is possible to build your intuition. Creating is not a magical outside force, but the minds natural tendency to create cohesion amongst all of its influences. Exposure to the arts through straight perception of listening and viewing is one part of building intuition. It is also useful to study systems of aesthetics - the philosophy and structure that underlies different systems. The more systems you come to understand, the more capable your mind is of constructing a new system. This can also heighten your perception of works of art you encounter. The creative process is so interesting because it is based on the compilation of all the input through our perception for a lifetime combined with the way in which our individual mind solves problems and constructs a sense of cohesion. Because this uses the entire mind, conscious and unconscious, because it is drawing together the whole of our memories and internal processes, it does seem like a force or flow of something beyond ourselves when everything comes together in the process. It might be more accurate to say it is not beyond ourselves, but entirely ourselves.

 

[Stanton Moore]

I struggled with this process for years. I found that if an idea comes to me more-or-less complete, the best thing to do is record or transcribe the idea as quickly as possible, without editing it or trying to add to it at all. Then I go back and change things as needed, but editing on the fly is a bad idea. It limits the quaility of what I can produce in the end. Also, 'composing ears' and 'listening ears' are different, so to combine them by editing too early usually makes things less interesting IMO.

 

[INTP]

Exposure to the arts through straight perception of listening and viewing is one part of building intuition.

Its not building the intuition, it builds the unconscious.