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I ran out of creativity

Listening to music (Classical, Film, POP, Etc.) really helps me feel inspired to write! Then trying to transcribe everything :)
 
I guess eveyone has his own approach. For me its:
-listening to music
-go to a concert
-watch a movie
-take a shower :D
 
I really wanna make music. I actually love doing music when the inspiration kicks in. But what to do when theres no inspiration?

I recently read somewhere (maybe on this forum) of a pretty cool ''inspiration hack" : jump on Spotify, pick a track at random that you don't know well. Listen to the beginning and then press stop. Now let your mind try and figure out the rest of the track. Use your guess at '''what comes next" be your inspiration.

Works for me...

Dave.
 
I always get some idea when I'm listening to somebody else's music. It's like the counterpoint thing in your own music. You just hear something new that isn't there but comes from that music.

Or a lot of time, I hear music when I'm watching something. Like I was watching some gameplay videos from E3 and immediately heard what music I'd put in there.
 
I really wanna make music. I actually love doing music when the inspiration kicks in. But what to do when theres no inspiration?
Well, this depends. As a novelist, I find inspiration in getting paid. Knowing there's a paycheck at the end is extremely inspiring. Short of that, there's an old writer's trick to break through writer's block: just sit down at the keyboard and start typing. Doesn't matter what you type. Just start putting down ideas that don't even have to make sense. I think you can do the same with music. Many times I just start playing and before I know it, something has emerged that I can work with.
 
Get away from a screen. Take time to do nothing. Be bored and do nothing at all. Read. Regularly go for walks. A deadline certainly helps with getting things done, alas not always in the most inspired way for me.

Robert Schumann wrote a set of musical rules he deemed important to follow:

https://jmm.people.si.umich.edu/blog/schumann's_rules_for_young_musicians.pdf

He makes some very, very good points in there. (As a side note: It's clear where he stands in the 'why bother learning theory?'-discussion that is a classic on this board. And hee has some very convincing arguments in my opinion. I guess everybody can take something away from reading these).
 
This may sound a tad random but I take 10 minutes out and spell difficult words backwards. For some reason the diversion resets me. This could be an entirely personal thing of course and it only applies when I hit a brick wall in the middle of creating or trying to memorize a piece of music, not if I'm completely bereft of ideas.
 
When I want to make music but at the time it doesn't happen, I accept that now is not that time. If I don't accept it I'll start pressuring myself, which only prolongs the problem. Instead, I go and do seemingly unrelated things. The mind is very good at making connections, but if you do nothing outside of sitting behind your computer to make music, you have nothing to connect with. Add new things into your life and there are new connections to be made, which may connect back to your next piece of music.
 
Short of that, there's an old writer's trick to break through writer's block: just sit down at the keyboard and start typing. Doesn't matter what you type. Just start putting down ideas that don't even have to make sense. I think you can do the same with music.
Reminds me of the Shining.
Forget what Rob says.:grin: . Just watch the Shining and if that doesn't scare the crap out of you, you're in serious trouble.:geek:
 
I think one of the best cures for this (for me at least) is:

Take a shower, sing in the bathroom, you can put the phone to record...great ideas there
or
Take a brief nap (works wonders)
 
Try to learn some aspect of music you're not good at. Counterpoint, chord substitutions, whatever. Dive into something new, it's always given me a spark to start from.
 
I really wanna make music. I actually love doing music when the inspiration kicks in. But what to do when theres no inspiration?

I sometimes like to learn a new bit of theory or study the music of a composer I don't know well. If I don't have access to scores I'll just listen to a bunch of their music, read about their characteristics online or in books, and then find some ideas that might be interesting to explore for me. I would suggest just making this a regular part of continuing education.
 
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