They probably don’t happen often, but don’t you just love those special days of musical perfection? You know, those days where everything you touch turns to gold. Even King Midas would be jealous.
So what is it that makes those days happen? If we could bottle it, we could make those days happen more often. Problem is not so much that we can’t bottle it, though that would be nice. The problem is that we don’t consciously recognize what goes on those days because we’re so wrapped up in them that by the time we’ve had those days of perfection, they’re already gone and we’ve forgotten most of them.
Well, what I’m going to attempt to do in this article is point out what those few little things are that makes those days so special. I’ll be speaking mostly about music composition. So if you’re having one of those days where you’re playing your guitar like Hendrix or your piano like Rubenstein, I can’t offer much insight there. I think it just comes down to a lot of practice.
So okay, let’s talk about music composition. What gives us those days where we write the most amazing music we’ve ever written?
Believe it or not, one of the main things responsible for those magical days is our ability to finally relax.
Look, let’s face it, when you’re composing, especially if you’re composing for a specific project, you’re under the gun. You’re nervous, on edge, afraid you won’t make your deadline and a whole lot of other things going through your mind. It is very difficult to work under those conditions. When I have to write, that’s when I write the worst, if I can even write at all. I think our bodies and minds resent when we “have” to do something. It’s like we rebel against the system.
Take a breath. Relax. Pretend that it’s no big deal whether you write something today or not. If you don’t, so what? If you do, great. You’re ahead of the game. And if you do relax, you give yourself a much better chance of coming up with something special.
Another thing that’s responsible for those magical musical days is when you’re doing something other THAN music. Maybe you have another job or you had to go to the dentist. Whatever the reason, you needed to be away from the studio or computer or wherever it is you do your writing. More often than not, inspiration is going to hit you during thee times. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s loosely tied into relaxing as you’re not thinking about music. But these are the times when suddenly a musical idea will pop into your head.
Look, I have to write almost every single day because it’s my job. And there are some days when I sit at this computer and all I can think of is the same tired lines over and over again. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones where you say to yourself, “Didn’t I write this already?”
And then I’ll be at the dentist or the allergist or wherever and a tune will just pop into my head and I can’t wait to get home so I can get it recorded. As I’m getting older those days don’t happen nearly as often. But boy, when they do, they’re special.
You also probably want to get a good night’s sleep. In fact, you want to make sure you’re active enough the day before so that when the evening comes, you are SO tired that your head hits the pillow and you’re out.
Why is this important you ask?
Did you ever go to sleep and in your sleep you dreamed about writing a song? I know I have. And let me tell you something. Sure, most of them I don’t remember when I wake up, but every now and then I write something in my sleep that sticks with me and the first thing I do when I wake up is head for the computer and get it down. Those days usually end up as magical days, as few as they actually are.
Another thing that’s important to having those magical days is attitude, as in a positive one. I know, better than anyone, how hard it is to stay positive when everything you do is being rejected by publishers or ending up on the cutting room floor. Our egos are very fragile. Failure is not something we take very well. Unfortunately, failure is something we have to learn to thrive on.
Do you have any idea how much failure is prevalent within success itself?
Take a look at a major league baseball player who is not a pitcher. Do you realize that a hall of fame hitter fails at the plate 70% of the time? How successful would these people be if they fixated on the 70% when they either flied out, popped out, grounded out or worse…struck out?
Most written and recorded music, and that’s if it even gets recorded, never gets noticed at all.
I don’t have a really large album collection. But I can list at least 100 albums that I do have that got little if any recognition at all. In fact, many of them are considered collectors items because so few of them were pressed. When you get a chance, look up the album “Chesapeake Jukebox Band” by the group of the same name. I can’t even begin to imagine how few people even own it.
Not everything you do is going to be great. You’re going to have a lot of failures before you have that one success or that one magical music moment. That’s why, and this may be the most important thing of all, you have to be persistent. Those days when you want to quit? Those are the days when you need to go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a hit tune in your head.
In short, don’t ever quit. Because like my wife likes to tell me, “Even a blind squirrel can find a nut.” If you keep at this long enough, you’ll have your magical days,
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim