{"id":50,"date":"2015-07-01T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T17:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/01\/from-mind-to-page-composers-tips-for-2\/"},"modified":"2017-08-14T05:10:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T05:10:17","slug":"from-mind-to-page-composers-tips-for-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/from-mind-to-page-composers-tips-for-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Mind to the Page: A Composers Tips for Optimizing Your Creative Process: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\nBy Lukas Stanley <\/p>\n

The creative process is a tricky beast to tame. A lot of the time, it seems as if
\ncreativity is intangible and difficult to even conceptualize. Bursts of
\ninspiration strike at random and sometimes inconvenient times. Here is a
\nquestion I have asked myself many times: why are there days when I can sit down
\nand write quality music and the next day not a single good idea comes to mind?
\nWhile there isn\u2019t a single, ubiquitous answer, I can offer you some advice from
\nmy own experiences on how I have made the creative process less elusive and something
\nI can use as a tool to optimize my compositional output. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nI am writing this to be geared
\ntowards music composition, but many of the concepts can be applied to any sort
\nof creative endeavor.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n

\n1.     <\/b>Know What Works for You<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt might sound like I\u2019m leading off with a cop out, but knowing how to play to
\nyour own personal strengths and weaknesses is the number one piece of advice I
\ncould give any composer. For starters, people have different peaks of
\ncreativity throughout the day. I usually experience the best creative
\nconcentrations in the early afternoon and between midnight and 2:00am. If you
\nare a morning person, maybe you like to sit down with a cup of coffee at 6:00am
\nand start putting notes on the page. Every person is slightly different in this
\nregard, so try different things and figure out what works for you.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTry
\nwriting music in different ways. If you have never written notation by hand
\nwith a pencil and paper, try that for a change. If you have never used a
\ndigital audio workstation, try using one. There are a lot of tools out there to
\nuse, and knowing which ones you are most compatible with is the first and
\neasiest step to success.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n

\n    
\n<\/b>2. Create a Schedule<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Knowing what kind of time structure gels best with your creativity is sure to give a
\nboost to your productivity. I have encountered two main camps of composers with
\nthis regard: some compose in short (less than one hour) sessions throughout the
\nday while others compose in large (1.5+ hours), pre-determined blocks of time. Experiment
\nwith these as you are able to and figure out what works for you. Here are some
\nadvantages and disadvantages I have found in each:
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n