tl:dr – my workflow is improving and I’m using a music version of Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages to get me past the procrastination/fear of just starting.
28/3/22
Since I don’t have a brief, and any I impose on myself feels arbitrary to the point of irrelevance, I’m taking a different tack.
The need for a brief comes from an abundance of ideas. There are too many, and without a brief to narrow them down it gets overwhelming to the point of procrastination (in other news I’m really getting the hand of Keyboard Maestro and MetaGrid Pro). So instead, I’m going to accept the abundance; I’m deliberately going after it.
In the manner of Julia Cameron’s ‘morning pages’, I have a task of writing 10 melodies, whatever comes to me, short or long as you like, detailed or sketchy as it arrives.
I write it longhand on paper with a biro.
I transcribe it into Dorico 4 for posterity (and Dorico input practise, with MetaGrid, my new favourite toy).
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Technically it’s a 30 day challenge, by the end of which I’ll have 300 melodies, many of which will be derivative plagiarism and will never see the light of day again, but maybe one or two or three might be surprising. I’m aiming to do it during April, but I’ve a few days to warm up, to see if it’s way too easy or just the right amount of easy so as not to put me off.
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It’s just the right amount of easy. 10 random melodies written, 2 of which weren’t so bad.
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This also means that I can spend the rest of my time doing what I want to without feeling guilty that I’m not actually writing. What I want to do right now is get MetaGrid, Keyboard Maestro, possibly TouchOSC and OSCulator and a bunch of really useful macro shortcuts up and running. It’s not composition but it’s hella useful for future work.
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(It is odd that I feel guilty about the kind of work I’m doing. It’s not like I’m sacking work off completely. I enjoy the work. I want to focus on a certain part of it – my brain is like a dog with a bone and sometimes it’s just easier (and more productive in the long run) to just go with it. Don’t fight the dopamine?)
29/3/22
10-melodies-a-day trialled again. Surprisingly productive, and varied. And enjoyable. Suspending judgement… who knew it would be the key? (Ok everyone everywhere who’s ever thought or written about creativity FINE. Physician take thy own medicine etc etc)
30/3/22
Weird weather. Big snow today, after 20+ degree heat last weekend.
Nice and cosy in the studio though.
10 more melodies. I think it takes too long to write, transcribe into Dorico, and mockup in Logic. I’m at it for hours. Either I get faster or I do fewer of them. Perhaps, if it’s going to be a daily habit, I start small and achievable – 1-5 a day? That means I can get by with just 1 on an admin day or when something comes up and still keep the streak, but I’ll aim for 5, it’ll take a couple of hours (I hope I’ll get faster though), I get that lovely clear-headed feeling of having put something down on paper and then on with the rest of the day I go.
31/3/22
Weird weather. Went for a walk on the hills to watch the snow roll in from the north. Like the warp bubble was threatening to collapse again and again on this reality.
1/4/22
Installed Art Conductor.
Last time I tried it was many years ago and the functionality and number of libraries supported was limited (v4). Now it’s v8 and has a decent number of the libraries covered that I have! So I asked for an upgrade discount, it came through on Wednesday, and now I’ve installed it it’s actually quite fun and inspiring. Using an articulation ID directly on the note event to set the articulation (eg spiccato, chord type, hit type) rather than keyswitching, or using the same keyswitch range on any instrument, all of this sounds like it *should* (in theory) speed up workflow, at least for a few of the instruments I have.
Just played around with Prominy Hummingbird (guitar library) with Art Conductor’s keyswitches and it’s suddenly a useable instrument. Huzzah.
Putting Keyboard Maestro and Metagrid to work on switching between colours=velocity and colours=articulation. Because colours=velocity is hella useful and I’m really used to seeing it that way.
My tailored page on MetaGrid for Logic is growing – there’s a really specific set of commands that I appear to want to use on the regular but have either not set up because I can’t remember the keyswitches, or they’re macros and have multiple stages to them – that I can build either in Metagrid or in Keyboard Maestro and trigger from a Metagrid button without even having to set a keyswitch – huzzah!
Why I put so much pressure on this I do not know. It’s not like anyone’s going to hear any of it 🤦🏻♀️🤪
