If you’ve read this blog for any time at all, you know that I believe that inspiration gets a lot of credit for starting the songwriting process, when in fact that kind of inspiration — the “ooh, that’s a good idea!” kind — is fleeting and rarely results in a solid songwriting process. There’s another kind of […]
We tend to think that the only people with any measure of musical ability are the ones that have a special gift for it. And while being a good musician requires a bit more than a passing understanding of how music works, musicianship is something that comes with being human. It’s in our DNA. The kind […]
You are more likely to hear the word “creativity” when talking about the arts than you are to hear the word “imagination.” We usually speak of creating — not imagining — something artistic. Nonetheless, when we do use both words, we tend to use them interchangeably; we think of someone’s creative abilities as being synonymous with their […]
We often speak of writer’s block as being a state of mind that keeps you from coming up with anything useful despite all your best efforts to write. A creative block usually means staring at a blank sheet of paper, watching every good idea fizzle away. But there’s another kind of frustration that occurs: the […]
There are commonly-used words in the music world that have several meanings, depending on who’s using the word, and the context in which the word is being used. For example, you’ll find that the word “hook” can mean a short, catchy bit of music, but it also might mean an entire chorus — depending on who’s talking, and on […]
Everyone knows that if you want to improve, you need to know what the masters know. And that applies to every area of endeavour. If you want to be a better painter, baseball player, plumber, politician, teacher, musician… you need to study the masters. We have what might be called an embarrassment of riches in […]
