Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sketches, Thoughts, and Outcomes

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Inspiration comes from all directions when I am open and free.  Today, a friend Jenni Pinnock, mentioned she had completed three sketches today.  I was ready to work with transcribing a piece from a recording. but decided to dive in and see what happened with composing something new.

Telling myself that sketching a piece was easy to do, I approached this with a confident frame of mind. Where to begin? B minor came to mind, and I was off.  Exploring the possibilities, venturing away from B minor and back.  A little over an hour later, I had a sketch of a solo guitar piece.  But could I do three?

A break for dinner and thirty minutes later I was back to work.  My focus is seldom strong after eating,  and now my confidence was lagging a bit.  I knew I needed to pick a note or scale to jump off with and G Phyrgian came to mind.  From there I moved to G Dorian but still nothing was happening which fed the lack of creative confidence.  Finally I played with F Dorian and found a few chords I liked, but noticed I was modeling an older piece. 

Letting go, I decided to take a walk.  Sligo Creek is always a welcome sound environment for me, particularly when the water is flowing a bit high.  The insects were beginning their evening serenade and I enjoyed the walk.  Reflecting on how my frame of mind was so important in these two efforts.  A positive frame of mind lends itself to positive outcomes.  The first case I thought a sketch would be easy and the process was.  Then when I allowed doubt to creep in, coupled with a lower energy state the results were lacking.  Directly experiencing this so succinctly is very good information.  Being in the process and working with composition is more important than the results.  Learning and how to stimulate my learning is an ongoing process.

Again and again I am reminded of the power of my thoughts? Am I paying attention? Are you?

1 comment:

  1. Your dream of making music is real and alive in our home and in the lives of all who hear you and read this blog about your process. Keep your dreams coming.

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