Ask yourself this. What am I trying to say with my music?
So… what’s your answer? Because it’s how to really succeed with your music.
This is one of the most important questions in the process of creating music. Understanding what you want to say with the piece you are about to make. Is it pain, is it happiness, is it love, or loneliness? All of those songs could sound completely different, even if they are made by the same musician. So let’s ask again – what are you trying to say with your music?
This was the main takeaway from our conversation with Angelo, a guitarist from Pompeii Italy who came to the States to attend Berkeley College of Music and graduated recently.
The main takeaways from this talk are:
FOCUS MORE ON THE ART
MAKE ART BECAUSE YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE SOMETHING
- GETTING PEOPLE TO LIKE YOUR MUSIC SHOULDN’T BE THE MAIN GOAL
YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOMETHING UNIQUE
YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO EXPERIMENT AND FIND NEW THINGS
LESSON 1 – FOCUS MORE ON THE ART
Let’s start simply. There are many sides to the music industry, from business to technology, but as an artist/musician, your job is to focus on the art. Juggling is difficult, don’t try it. You’ll hear us say it constantly – build a team. This will allow you to focus on creating your music.
More focus = more music = creating better music [evolution]
If you can’t build a team like a lot of us, don’t worry. Start by creating a solid schedule for creating, learning/executing business, and finding a team.
E.g. – Simple Schedule
Make Music – 6am – 9am
Learn/Execute Business – 12pm – 3pm
Find Team – 6pm – 9pm
LESSON 2 – MAKE ART BECAUSE YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE SOMETHING
Now that you’re focused on creating your art, you can focus on what you want to communicate with your music. When listeners go through an artist’s catalog they come across one of three things – a bunch of different-sounding music, a bunch of the same-sounding music, or a mix of the two. If all the music sounds the same, that artist could either be working on perfecting a certain sound or simply stuck in a creative slump, maybe without even knowing. If most of the music sounds different, or similar in ways, the artist is trying to communicate something different with each.
That’s what separates a copy-and-paste artist from those consistently putting out great original songs.
We encountered this same topic in our conversation with Mayowa. He says:
“Focus on expression.”
It doesn’t always need to be an emotion you want to express. You could try telling a story or describing something specific. When you try to tell a proper story your only concern is if it is understood. The best songs often tell the best stories. So focus on the art, getting people to like your music shouldn’t be the main goal.
LESSON 3 – YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOMETHING UNIQUE
What else separates you from others? What makes you stand out?
Angelo performs with a band and as the lead guitarist has to stand out. His key is in his solos and the techniques he uses to make them sound exactly like what he is trying to express at the moment. This leads his solos to sound choppy but in a rhythmic way. His playing isn’t clean and he loves that. In his words:
“Clean is boring.”
Perfect your style. Practice saying different things with your music and you’re sure to find something unique within the process.
LESSON 4 – YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO EXPERIMENT AND FIND NEW THINGS
Hate to sound lazy here but this is self-explanatory. In my experience producing and writing it was difficult to try new things, at least without some extracurricular help. Our DAWs have thousands of sounds so sticking to the few good ones we find at first is SO tempting. KEEP DIGGING. Why do you think crate diggers end up successful?
