There are many creative routes you can take when you start writing a song. While most will take you back to where you are, some will take you to the new musical territory. It is not easy to find new and exciting places for our music as songwriters. You already know it takes effort to create great music.
You might not know that routines and strategies can increase your chances of creating great music. Here are four:
Define your songwriting practice
What, when and why do music writers create? These questions can be very helpful if you have never asked them. It might be that you are passionate about music, but not so often. You might find that music isn’t what you love. You’ll be able to make music more easily and create your best music. This will depend on your writing preferences and background.
Set goals
You should set realistic goals if you want to be a serious songwriter. This is not about achieving unrealistic goals such as selling out arenas or becoming a well-known musician. I believe you should set ambitious, detailed and well-thought-out short and long-term goals to improve your songwriting skills. You could write a set number of songs per month for a year or even an entire album of material on a different instrument. These goals should be fun and focused on boosting your creativity and productivity as an artist.
Make time to find meaningful inspiration in your daily life.
It’s possible to live a boring and monotonous life in music even if you are primarily involved in writing, recording, performing, and other creative activities. While writing a lot of music will increase your chances of creating amazing work, it will be harder to find meaningful inspiration. Music is not just about music. Great art reflects life and helps people understand themselves. Live a rich, unique, and human existence. You’ll find genuine inspiration in your everyday life, which will lead you to create relatable and human music. Sometimes this means stepping away from the DAW or piano and becoming a non-musical person for a while. Go on walks by yourself in the natural world. Travel. Be kind to an ex-friend. You’ll then have something to sing about.
Explore, experiment, and refine
This tip highlights the hard work involved in writing music. It happens every day for as long we keep creating. To find your best ideas, you will need first to experiment and explore. This can often mean playing with our instruments and singing gibberish to get clear ideas. It doesn’t mean that you have to start from the same place as your 18 previous songs. Although the term “great music” can be confusing and vague, it is useful to think about it. If you find an idea that excites you, and you cannot wait to get started on it, you have real potential and creative energy. These exciting ideas are often only possible if you’re open to new possibilities and accept that there will be failures.
Some ideas can be fully developed right out of the gate. However, many of these ideas need to be refined and transformed into great songs. Here’s where refinement comes in. It doesn’t matter if you are working alone or with a band; it is important to take the time to develop and shape your ideas. It is the ability to identify what ideas can be improved and a willingness and ability to accept failures. Although it’s normal to want to preserve something, many songs end up in limbo because they aren’t developed enough. You can always start over with a new demo if you love an idea.
We are not able to decide whether or not we create music that is popular and successful. We do have some control over how music is made. We can make meaningful music if we show up to the writing process inspired, engaged, willing to fail, and trying new things.