Deadlines

It's funny how all of us in the songwriting workshop were able to crack out songs in 2 periods on the fly, but with a project that's due on Sunday, we're all mysteriously stuck. Why?

Deadlines.

Humans as a species have trouble moving forward. This is why I believe that being an artist is one of the most difficult occupations in existence. In most general office jobs, a boss gives you a project and a dead line to get it done by. If you do not not complete this project, you fail, and you lose your job. Not only are you given a timed task, you're also given an incentive.

Artists have to do that work completely on our own. This takes a very high level of discipline.

Sure, right now we have Luke to breathe down our backs and kick our butts when we feel discouraged and uninspired, but when we finally grow out of high school age and have to work on our own, we have to be our own butt kicker. We have to figure out a way to follow our deadlines.

I think the reason it is so difficult for us to give ourselves deadlines is because it's so easy to negotiate with ourselves. You think, "I have a lot of work to do today, can I complete this tomorrow?" and in response, your brain tells you, "Sure, I understand, it's no problem." This is BAD. On the other hand though, would you rather have your brain telling you, "No, if you don't get this done I'm going to punish you." Would you punish yourself? Most likely you wouldn't want to.

Self-discipline; such a vital skill, but so challenging to achieve.

Recently, to teach myself discipline, I've began developing new system for myself. I'm giving myself tasks and telling myself I need to complete them by a certain day or time, even if I do not want to/have to. Perhaps one day I will be able to work completely this way. First though, I must practice and start with the basics.

Songwriting Day 1: Day Dreaming

Since I've started practicing songwriting regularly I've noticed something interesting. Sometimes, when I'm bored sitting in class, or I'm walking down the street, I hear songs playing in my head. Not songs I've heard before. My mind literally starts to make up songs for the purpose of entertaining me. If only I was able to write them down.

One thing I've found about these songs I hear in my head is that I can't write them down for one reason: technical ability. I go to play the chords on my guitar or piano, but then I get caught in an endless loop of simplistic chords and the freedom that I had in my head is lost and forgotten.

When I sat down to write a song today, I got it done, sure I did. In my opinion though, it was mediocre. And I'm fine with saying this because it was a task and I was getting it done. But you know what I did in response? As soon as I got home I started writing ANOTHER blues song because I thought the one I made wasn't good enough (also I heard one in my head on the way home, probably had the chords on the brain).

In this second song I made, I ended up getting stuck after the first verse. But the first verse I wrote wasn't bad. I think I'm getting better at this.

I'm the kind of person that craves difficult work. The more projects I have, the happier I am because I love the feeling of getting stuff done. Unless I suck at everything I'm doing. Cause that just sucks.

At any rate, I think I'm getting closer to that little thing artists call "passion". Frankly, music has become an obsession. I just have to keep doing and doing it until I get it right, which I know one day I will. Until then, I'll just have to wait. Thankfully though with my brain on survival mode making a song a day, I'm not bored. I'm excited.