what motivates you to write?

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samich17

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this poll is to get an idea as to why you artists create music.
further comments appreciated..


i write songs because words and sounds stream through my head during the course of a typical day. if i don't write them down, then i may lose a diamond...believe me..there is certainly a lot of rough to cut through, but i do it because i believe i have a unique ability to communicate my true feelings through song. and i gain inner perspective by experiencing other people's music. i look forward to hearing something new everyday..but as i am getting older i feel the tensions of responsibilty pulling.. and people tell me that i should strive to make money with my music somehow....i am torn, because i know i must change my ways if i am to make a living from my music... right now, i just want to learn as much as i can from my fellow comrades..i know you guys and, hopefully, girls have a lot to share...
 
samich17 said:
i know i must change my ways if i am to make a living from my music...
Click to expand...

Bullshit!!!!

The moment you stop doing music from the movement it inspires in you is the moment your desire to do it will fail. Then your inspiration to write new and heart-felt things will fail. Then you can't make a living with your music.

Making a living with music is tough! I kind of envy the people who can hold down the business end of it and still have enough energy and soul to write and perform from the heart.

You might want to check out this link for a book that puts "success" in the music business and you own creativity into perspective. I highly recommend it for its inspiration value alone.

http://www.janastanfield.com/book.html

As to you question about why I write:

I write because I'm alive. Thought and music wrap themselves together in my head and create new images and revalations for me. I record them to have a record of them and to listen to them. The same song and lyrics mean something different to me a couple years later. Sometimes even a couple weeks later.

I write music that I want to hear. I write lyrics to make the fuzzy and elusive concepts I think about more concrete. I can pack more into a well crafted song than 20 pages of journal writing.

That fact that some other people also enjoy listening to my songs is a big bonus. :) I write with the listener in mind but not as the highest priority.

Good question. I hope it generates some good converstaion.

Take care,
Chris
 
I write my music because i enjoy getting that tingling feeling down my spine and into my feet when i hear something good.
one of my problems is that i think my lyrics stink, so i dont write any. i kind of depend on WAV files for my lyrics. but the other problem now is getting the music i create to sound good on playback. also, my music is built piece by piece. i hear a riff in my head and then i run to the computer/keyboard, if im near it and record it. hopefully for use later on. then i build around the riff. whatever emotion, or lack of emotion i get from the music makes me start looking for wav files. basically, if something happened during the day or if i saw a movie recently will influence which wav files i use.
if you want to listen---
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/spacedye.htm

ive had a song sitting in my computer for about 2 years now and i finally was inspired to finish it when the coward terrorists crashed the planes into the world trade center. its almost complete, im just working on the final production cuz its gotta sound beautiful.
 
I write music to physically express an inward emotion or shift in my life.

Matt
 
Spacedye - you described your motivation effectively , yet you say you can't write lyrics... your arrangements are tight..made my cerwins bump. i thought Forever at Sea was kickin'...i played it for my girlfriend and she thought it sounded a bit like some of my arrangements..one in particular with clips from The Shining...where are you getting you samples> tv, movies, websites? the transmission communications are perfect...good work...i will keep listening...i'd love to try and lay some freestyle over it...i could mix a couple tracks in...remix it down to mp3 and send it back to you...let me know...

the outro is killer...
 
I'm still very new to recording...And have never posted a song, So i'm pretty clueless:confused:

I did post some lyrics, but that is about all I can do at this moment. Hopefully I will learn quick and be able to share soon!

Matt
 
A simple question with an enormously complex answer....I used to write because I couldn't NOT write. I was obsessed with the idea that I was the one with the true gift for layin' it out for everybody to hear. My vanity was driving me, and when I listen to my songs from that time I can see how self-absorbed and shallow the writing was as a result. But people liked it and the band had a measure of success. After the band broke up I didn't have the opportunity to perform my stuff as much and I didn't write for a year or two. When I finally felt like writing again, it was at a much slower pace than before, and the songs are ,I think , better because I now take time to craft the material, and to examine what is being said , to check whether or not I am hitting the mark I aim at instead of just "jerkin my pencil" Pardon the expression, but I think you know what I mean. Sometimes I miss writing crap just for the fun of it, and maybe I'd be a better writer if I would, just to break the spell, so to speak. What do you think???
writeon...chazba
 
I think you should do both. Sometimes it is necessary to spend time and labor over a certain project you want to be perfect. And there are other times you will sit down for 20 min and be done with a song! Also I think that there are songs that are written for personal use as well as songs that are written for the public, and that may have something to do with how much refining it needs.

Matt
 
i agree with giles. do both...don't limit yourself to one particular faction of writing...and learn news ways to write...again and again i read..learn every nook and cranny of the art and then stand in the center of the room and reflect...it oftens makes things much easier when you know how to technically acheive what you are going for, even in the most obscure of moments i was able to decipher my nonsensical blabber using knowledge i gained about writing...and some psychology :O... just keep writing...can't go wrong there..take care
 
My motivation is always the same. Titties and beer, titties and beer, titties and beer....

Seriously, it depends. Sometimes I write because I want to perform and we haven't got enough songs at the time. Other times I write because I'm studying harmony, kindof exercise... And sometimes I just write. No motivation. I have an idea and I write it down...
 
Roel - titties and beer are good! good response...i'm happy that people are sharing their thoughts...sometimes i have to force myself to write....i will write out 20 or more lines that don't necessarily correlate with each other..ie.

1. gooseneck gravy simmers on the gas grill

2. effervescently taking me back through time

3. grandma's arms frail like christmas tinsel


nice huh?
 
Im gonna Be totally honest here..

I think I write as a form of acceptance....

I seem to have a knack for writing catchy melodies and hooks.... and When somone tells me they like my hook and it brings them joy, it's like another shot of heroin to an addict..... makes me want to make that next one.... and then I try to top the last one.. and each song seems to get better and better.....

and on and on and on......


My lyrics mean nothing... They are just words that rhyme and loosly form some sort of Idea....

Def Leppard was like that too.. Joe Elliot once said that all the words are just words that rhyme or sound cool... there is never really a soul driven story...

Words to the latest song by Moi...
-----------------------------------------------------
On a street thats named after your family
In a town that I don't ever wanna leave

Tell me are ya gonna do something wrong
Tell me are ya gonna do something wrong
Tell me are ya gonna do something wrong
Tell me are ya gonna do something wrong

I never waste my time
Livin' in this Town
Everyday.....
-----------------------------------------------------

I mean even I sort of laugh at myself... Like, that lyric means nothing.. but sounds good and the listener gets to read into it and figure out what im trying to say... (which is absolutely nothing :D)

Honest is the best policy..:D
 
many well known songwriters have admitted what you stated...words don't have to mean anything obvious...the beauty of language is that there are key words that pluck the heart strings of many, intrigue the mind or make you want to slaughter.
i love it when singers acknowlege that they can say anything and make it blatantly obvious to the audience...here's a couple lyrics from a new tune of mine..

you say that i'm the one you want
but how can this be when

i don't even love myself
love myself

sometimes i let things out
i don't mean, but it comes out
and you let them by because

you see myself
you see myself

you must be an angel
when i am with you
i am able to

see myself
see myself


WHAT DOES IT MEAN!!?? absolutely nothing personal...i was picturing a typical love hate relationship...works for me.. take care
 
Ive written some stuff about God, but before I became a Chrisitan, I wrote alot of stuff for a Band called "Alienator" which was in Seattle in the mid 80's. Its lyrical content was violent and dark, I loved old movies about Knights and dragons so my music was midievalish. Ive gotten 30 or 40 lyric sheets and chord charts, even some notated arpeggio's sheets all filed away. Ive done tons of instrumental stuff that you can insert a title that fits the mood of the song. Music is the expression of my emotion at the moment it happens. Sometimes Im driven by a groove on a drum machine, and even cartoons my kids watch can cause music to just squirt out. I remember my literature classes, where alot of the poems didn't really make sense to me, but some people were really touched by them... Making music should be a reflection of emotion..IMO


Peace,
Dennis
 
"Sometimes Im driven by a groove on a drum machine, and even cartoons my kids watch can cause music to just squirt out."

So do you misically wipe after a squirt?!?:D

Matt
 
mgiles7 said:
"Sometimes Im driven by a groove on a drum machine, and even cartoons my kids watch can cause music to just squirt out."

So do you misically wipe after a squirt?!?:D

Matt
Click to expand...

I think I should be grossed out by that.. Not too sure....Definately DAMN funny! :D
 
Having melode with age, I've learned not to rush a song. I do write down everything I get when I get it. But its the songs that I've allowed to cook and simmer that have evolved into some of the best stuff I've ever had the honor to do. Where as I used to hammer a square peg in a round hole.

<><
George
 
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