Welcome to my blog postings! If you're a return visitor, you know that I've been writing a weekly blog up to this point.
However, after some vacation time and associated inner reflection, I've decided to write more but on a less frequent basis. Perhaps every other week depending on how the ideas flow. This is the start of that new path.
Part of my college coursework when I was an undergraduate was to write.
It was either writing papers on historical and artistic figures, composing essays on what I was learning, or working on music manuscripts. (That's a whole blog posting in itself someday!)
As an artist, you learn to express yourself in many different ways. You can write music or compose poetry, but your very nature demands that you outlet your feelings.
Granted, some people don't always express themselves in healthy ways as is also the way for me at times. But, expressing our feelings through pen and paper is one great way to connect with others.
It also allows us to become more objective about what we feel and can help make what we feel about something or someone more objective. It's also easy to do. Journals are inexpensive and simple to use.
My wife's long-time friend makes journals for people and has even expanded into selling them online. If you're interested in the website where she does this, send an email to me at: Matt@GentleHavenMusic.com, and I will let her know you're interested in the products she creates.
A question you may be asking yourself is: 'How do I start writing something that I want to express?'
That's actually a very good question and I'm glad you asked it!
The best way to start on a journey that one hasn't done before is:
Sit down and make some notes. This is where you brainstorm on ideas you have. No idea is dumb, it's just an idea to consider. Next:
Throw out the ideas that aren't relevant to what you want to accomplish. Remember, these are your ideas and nothing is dumb about them. You just need to filter through them and discard anything that is either too difficult to express, too painful to talk about, or too embarrassing to be revealed to anyone else. This is your personal journey and you can keep private content you'd rather not share. Finally:
Start to write about your feelings. This is where the creative process is best expressed. You can open up about something that may really bother you or discuss something that's very exciting. The sky's the limit.
Now that you have a process to work with, you can use it as a template for your creative side.
Believe it or not, this is what musicians do all the time! We may lead with our feelings first or with an idea of something we'd like to play, but it's much the same way. I'm just giving you a recipe for how to do it yourself.
Now you may be saying or thinking: 'Does he have an example of this that I can follow?' Of course!
One of my favorite inspirations is listening to music. That's probably very obvious. When I do, my tastes are pretty eclectic, i.e., diverse.
As I'm writing, I'm listening to some Classic Rock on Apple Music. It's fun hearing some of the music I cut my teeth on as a teenager. One of my favorite songs is: School's out by Alice Cooper.
This song was very inspirational to me and I still remember sitting in class on the last day of school and thinking about that song. It was kind of the rebellious rock anthem that many of us felt about the school year. It's over and let's get out of here!
From what I've read Alice Cooper was inspired to write about the most exciting three minutes of his life so it was either write about Christmas morning before opening presents or the end of school. I'm glad he wrote about the end of school.
Think about that for a minute, the end of school... If he can write about that, you can write about something that's inspirational to you. It doesn't have to be set to music but can simply reflect what's important to you. Or it can be something you're struggling with. Again, writing it down can be very healing and inspirational at the same time.
I've often joked with my lovely wife that there's a song for everything. I believe that's true. People write about their life experiences no matter how fun, silly or even disturbing they may sound to others.
Let's get to it then! What would you like to express today?
Join me next time as we journey down the road of music, artistry, and creativity. There's so much to explore!