I recently submitted the final activity report for my Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Grant. This was a fascinating exercise because it got me thinking about the last few months of songwriting and what I’ve learnt. Here’s some thoughts;
I learnt that even when feeling unmotivated or uninspired, forcing myself to write for an hour almost always resulted in something usable, be it a whole song, a guitar riff, a fragment of lyric or just an idea to pursue another time. I discovered that freeing myself from concerns about form, style and practicalities of performance allowed me to work on things without self-judgment. Creating songs for their own sake without exposing them to my inner critic was revelatory because I found that many things I might later abandon could provide good ideas that would be useful elsewhere.
As part of the project I began some new songwriting collaborations. Working with people I felt were better musicians or more successful writers than me was interesting because it felt extremely gratifying when they became excited about one of my suggestions.
I took risks with my practice by reaching out to songwriters I felt were higher up the ladder or just plain better than me. Sometimes this worked out but I also had to face some polite rejections and no responses. In the cowriting sessions it was an interesting challenge to be open and vulnerable when exchanging ideas and having some of them rejected as well as finding a way to dismiss some of the other writer’s suggestions, especially as these were new relationships.
Previously I have tended to write music in a traditional, song-based way with guitar or piano and working on chord sequences, melodies and lyrics at the same time. The objective would be to break the back of a song enough to be able to go into a studio to record it. New ideas might occur in the studio environment, but the basic elements of the song would already be there. As part of my research and development time I wanted to experiment with using my new home studio set up to compose music and found this an extremely rewarding way to work. I found that I could create music vertically rather than horizontally; working on the groove and feel of a track before finishing all the harmonic and melodic elements.
What I think will happen next…
I believe my confidence and focus as a songwriter has increased and that this will inform a future project. Thanks to DYCP I have the knowledge that my songwriting is not dependent on being struck by the muse but can be accessed by simply having the discipline to sit and write. In the future I will be less quick to reject ideas and I will avoid basing my assessment of songs on things outside of the songwriting process.
I expect that my improved abilities to create demos of my songs and the ability to work with my new home studio setup will allow me greater freedom and avenues of expression in my writing. I will be less tied to a singer songwriter or folk approach and look forward to further experimentation with different styles. I have expanded my offer as a musician and developed new skills that will allow me to collaborate remotely with musicians, songwriters and producers anywhere in the world.
I feel I will have increased confidence to seek out new collaborators and to present my ideas to more established musicians and writers. I have been reassured that I have creative ideas that are interesting and worth pursuing and that I have a unique artistic voice which I look forward to continuing to develop.
