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The Spark Of An Idea Can Never Be Forced
By joseexist in Musings On Muses
February 22, 2010

The spark of an idea can never be forced into existence. The kindling is something you have to simply acknowledge either lightly or with determination until some force within or without causes it to ignite. You can think long and hard about it or without even so much as a passing whimsicalness. The best technique to use is no technique as far as I’m concerned. That’s one sure way to insure spontaneity. You can approach being creative with anything from a concrete methodology to letting the ‘accident’ happen. It doesn’t matter how the sparks fly, just that they do.

Being schooled exceptionally well in music theory, poetry, and the ways in which song combines the two or separates them is as much a guarantee that you will find success in the music industry as a guarantee that a snowball will not melt in Hades. To be disciplined 100% in music theory can easily blind you to other ‘outside-of-the-box’ possibilities. The same can be said of any profession (but don’t ever apply that reasoning to any profession outside of the arts, except maybe computer programming or game designing which to me anyway, are art forms). Having never attended college myself, (“You dare say!” I feel the fingers pointing down at me!) in no way means I have any disdain for those who have. Education was simply a luxury I could not afford to extend. With that said any artist, worth their mettle, that can cram for exams and ace the test, will, when it comes to creating new original music, use far more of their knowledge to create that music than just their music theorems.

I regard musical theory with respect but have no formal training. When I notice I might need to study a particular part of it, I will open one of many books or magazines I have on the subject and glean whatever I can for my particular need. I can’t read music nor can I write it on the staff. I can however learn a piece from guitar tablature. In any case, most of the songs I learned from that medium I soon found myself making personalized changes to the arrangement of. In my self-imposed ignorance I rely on my heart, mind, and gut instinct to tell me what something should sound like. Right or wrong, I do indeed take pride in the fun that I have.

Having no knowledge of music theory does not necessarily mean that you cannot or will not be able to create music. Not being able to ‘carry a tune’ doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance to succeed. There are some genres of music that exclude all theory and simply flow at will or within some form of structure wholly unrelated to music. These forms are music simply because, either their creators say it is, or dedicated fans do. That stuff is far off the beaten path but still, I have found a few gems there. I will elaborate here however, that I am certainly not talking about Hip-Hop or Rap. Those two forms are ‘music’, they are ‘art’. So are Metal, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and any other ‘genre’. You can fuse any of them together in any way imaginable and it will still be art and music to me.

Music sans-theory can be as simple as a silently panning scene in a movie. The images that you are presented with occur at the directors whims and are filmed under his guidance and edited to evoke your reaction. You might find quite a few of these at the beginnings of films. The other side of that coin of silent scenery might have a few sparse sounds. A breeze might rustle leaves, a hummingbird might flit by, or a dog might bark unseen in the distance. Some of the best examples can be found in anime. Granted there are many opening shots with the full fanfare of musical score, to limit yourself to those is to limit your own knowledge of emotional possibilities. Think about this question; how many times have you heard music in your head as you watch such a silently played scene? You are not insane. You are musical. I hope you hold that thought all day and apply it liberally in as many situations as possible. There are o exceptions, t the ‘muse’.