章節 27: 5 Tips For Defining Your Musical Taste
If you're having trouble finding your musical identity as an artist, it could be because your taste in music hasn't been defined yet. Alongside musical intuition, writing music as often as you can, and letting life experiences shape your songs, your musical taste is incredibly important for your work as a songwriter. When you're in touch with your musical taste, creating music that's meaningful and authentic to you gets much easier. Here are five tips for defining your unique musical taste as a songwriter.
Look back at the music that has defined your life the most
The first place you'll want to start defining your musical taste is in your past. Specifically, think about the music you listened to most in your youth. Ask what music you have listened to throughout your life and why. Are there any links between artists stylistically or lyrically? Did you rely on specific songs to get you through hard times, or do scenes of you and your friends dancing to music in your car during late nights pop into your head? This exercise will help you understand what roles your favorite music has played in your life, and how your taste informs your work now as an artist.
Listen to as much new and unfamiliar music as humanly possible
You're never done exploring new music. It's not something that ends when we become a certain age or after finding lots of music we love to listen to. Defining and nurturing your taste in music actually takes a lot of work. It requires continually seeking out new and unfamiliar music and thinking about what you love and don't like about it. It's also important to remember that your taste in music will ultimately shift and evolve over time if you do the work of experiencing as much new music as you can, and this is so important for your own music. To keep your work fresh and engaging, make music exploration and discovery a priority in your life.
Write down what moves you in music. Get specific
This exercise is mainly for songwriters who have trouble defining their musical taste. Listen to your favorite songs and records and write down what it is you like about the music you hear. It could be poetic lyrics or the guitar tone on a specific track. Get as specific as possible, and work to define each and every musical detail. When you're finished, try to identify patterns in the things you like about your favorite music. What you discover will be representative of your taste in music.
Define the things you don't like about music
This might not seem like an especially helpful exercise, but it is. When you can identify what you don't like about a specific song or artist, you'll have a better chance at avoiding the same pitfalls in the music you create. If you hear a song that has a lot of potential but just never got there, ask why. Maybe it's the way the singer sings, lyrical cliches, or something sounding over-produced. Figuring out what you don't like in music will make yours better.
Find ways to let your musical taste guide your songwriting
Once you have a solid grasp on your unique musical taste, think about ways to incorporate it into your own work in original and captivating ways. Doing this means striking a balance between not copying your influences completely, but letting them give your work inspiration and direction. It's not easy, and you'll need to put in the hard work of trying things out to see what works and what doesn't when it comes to letting your musical taste shape your songs. There will be a point where this comes naturally to you, but not without a good amount of experimentation.
In the same way that your music is unique only to you, your music taste should be something that's completely yours, so don't edit your likes and dislikes. Be who you are and make the music you truly want to make. Don't apologize if your taste isn't hip or on-trend enough. What's popular in music changes by the day, but the need for artists to be authentic in their work always stays the same.
5 Ways To Reset Your Musical Mindset
For most of us, falling into predictable songwriting habits is more and more an inevitability the longer we make music. It's natural to favor certain ways of doing things, whether it's a specific genre, DAW, or instrument. But even if cohesion is one of your top priorities as a creator, your fans probably don't want to hear you make the same songs over and over again.
Launching yourself into a new musical mindset every once in a while isn't just a good idea, but is a way to creatively thrive as a songwriter. However, finding yourself in a new mindset takes work. Here are five ways to change how ways of thinking as a songwriter:
Songwriting Exercises
Trying out a songwriting exercise is one of the quickest ways to put yourself in a new musical mindset. By design, exercises like trying to write in a different genre or creating lots of music in a short period of time help us to alter our mindsets in huge and enduring ways as songwriters. If you know you're in a serious rut, exploring these kinds of exercises and taking them seriously will help get you back to writing music you're excited about again, or they'll show you that bigger underlying problems are keeping you from making music.
Taking short breaks from writing
Breaks from music aren't just a good idea, they're absolutely essential. If you want a new musical mindset, it might be because inspiration and motivation are hard for you to find right now. By living your life, delving deep into your relationships, and assessing what's meaningful to you, you'll find all the inspiration and motivation you need. Whether it's a week or half a year, don't be afraid to step back from music when it's just not happening for you as far as creativity goes.
Seeking out new music to listen to
If you think new musical discoveries are only for teens and people in their early 20's, you're sorely mistaken. Why do we think we can keep being creative as musicians if we're no longer inspired by new music? More new music is being made now than at any other point in history, and a lot of it is incredible. And even if new music doesn't move you, there's more great old music out there to discover than you could listen to in a lifetime. By putting in the hard work of seeking out music that's new and exciting to you, you'll change your mindset around music listening as well as creation.
Fundamentally changing your writing process
There are countless ways each and everyone of us can upend our music-making process as musicians. But to do this, we first have to recognize our songwriting habits and preferences. If you always start writing new songs at the computer, move to the keyboard. Consider writing lyrics before anything else if you usually start with an acoustic guitar. Big changes like these will force you to use different parts of your creative thinking. One of the best ways to fundamentally change your process is by working as minimally as possible. For example, for those of us who are used to producing songs as we write and adding layer after layer of music, resist that urge and stick to a bare bones approach.
Embrace discomfort by trying something new
All of these changes can make songwriters uncomfortable, and, believe it or not, that's actually the point. When we've come to the point when writing music feels boring and unfulfilling, drastic actions are needed. Bring in a new collaborator, learn a new instrument, or try writing a 15-minute song. What exactly you do isn't important as long as it's truly new and exciting for you. Our default as humans is to embrace habits and avoid pain, but by doing so, we run the risk of creating uninspired and predictable work. This is why the idea of adding newness, risk, and curiosity into our songwriting processes isn't just something we do once, but for as long as we make music.
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JP_SMOOTHLY If your creative mindset isn't genuinely excited and engaged with the music you're making, one of these methods can help you shake things up and start fresh
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