For the longest time, I had an abundance of problems developing my musical ideas. One of my main beliefs was, "I am only good at writing music with other people." The constant juggling of musical ideas with another person tended to ignite the creativity inside of me, but for some reason I was unable to achieve this feeling on my own. I was a perfectionist, and faced constant self-criticism and cognitive distortions when attempting to compose music alone. This mindset hindered my creative process, and went on for almost 10 years! There was the odd time where I could spit out a composition I was happy with. There are a few things that helped change my mindset, and allowed me to compose more freely while quieting my inner critic.
1. Meditate
The most important thing that helped me overcome my inner critic and recognize when my thoughts were cognitive distortions and actually hindering my progress was when I first started to meditate. When meditating, thoughts still enter your consciousness, but your ability to recognize them as thoughts and make the choice to disregard them becomes much stronger. The more you meditate, the more control you gain over how your thoughts affect your day to day life. There are many methods of meditation that are widely available online. Right now, I mix and match a Nichiren Buddhist chant, as well as mindfulness meditation. The Nichiren Buddhist chant consists of repeating "Nam myoho renge kyo" over and over with your eyes focused on a target of some sort, and your hands in a prayer position. I just stuck a small piece of paper on my wall to focus on. A great video on YouTube to follow along is located here. After the chant, I usually take 5 to 10 minutes to close my eyes and practice a quick mindfulness session. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, clearing my mind of any thoughts.
Making this a daily routine will definitely aide you when developing your music!
2. Collect Musical Ideas
Most of my musical ideas come to me when I happen to be in the weirdest places. Something about grocery stores allows my mind to shut off and allows my brain to receive some amazing musical ideas. The voice memo app on your smart phone should be your best friend. I also carry around a small moleskin music staved book (which is pictured above) that allows me to transcribe the musical ideas from my phone when I am waiting for the bus, at the doctors office etc. When sitting down at the computer to start building on these ideas, it is much easier to get the ball rolling having them already prepared.
3. Set a Deadline
Not having a deadline combined with cognitive distortions hindered my creative output so much, that it sometimes took up to 3 months to finish a 3 minute orchestral piece! I would attempt to set a deadline for myself, but I had no way of enforcing it. I tried to be stern with myself, and even set up a reward system. That may work for others but it did not work for me. To help myself set deadlines, I became involved in communities that set deadlines for me. Consistently reaching out as a budding composer to other people who are working on projects that may need music is extremely important. It will get your foot in the door with some experience, and people always need music before a certain date! I offered my services for little compensation, and was happy to be involved with another project. Another community of composers is the website TAXI.TAXI is a paid service that lists opportunities for composers to write for television and film listings in a variety of musical styles. New opportunities are posted all the time with upcoming and manageable deadlines. If they feel that your music fits with what their client needs for their project, they will forward your music to the client and it may be used in their project. If they do not think it fits, they will tell you why. This critique of your music will help you improve for the next time you decide to submit.