Thinking Quick in the Creative Process

When writing the first notes of a song, there's no need to feel confused or nervous. From one note grows another and then another and then another until an unseen network, harmonious and vivid, comes to life. The first lines of a song's vocals might be a masterful hook grabbing the audience's attention, or they might give off a subtle effect that doesn't immediately evoke a strong emotional reaction. Doesn't matter. If it's written with purity of heart, then the rest of the process will soon transform from a march through a blinding snowstorm into a blissful walk in paradise. Besides, anything can be revised ad infinitum, so there is no need to be nervous when writing a song during the beginning, middle or end stage of the writing process.

Let’s look at music videos. When performing for a music video, there is no need to ask oneself how to perform or how to move the right way. How should one's facial expression be, or how will all this turn out in the editing stage? Doesn’t matter. Extra layers of thought are unnecessary added weight. Thinking itself is a function of the mind that is best utilized in a lightweight fashion like the flying fists of a fighter shadowboxing with dumbbells no heavier than 2 lb.

Every pound counts. The longer one premeditates on the how behind an action, then the more dull and confused each subsequent action becomes.

When an audience listens to a guitarist perform a jazz improvisation, they don't want to feel like they're listening to a rehearsed session. They really want to feel like they're hearing an artist express him or herself in real-time no differently than how a professor gives a passionate lecture on quantum mechanics or how a shopkeeper enthusiastically breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of each product. What an audience, student or customer wants to feel is that the performer, teacher and shopkeeper know their stuff. So, if an artist keeps practicing and feels that raw, personal connection with his or her art, then, why should the artist overthink? Because of nervousness? Why? Because of what people might think? Again, why? The audience just wants to hear the music of the artist’s soul. There is no method behind how to do so except to just enjoy the process.

Performance and songwriting in the privacy of one’s creative studio are very different processes, but fundamentally, the vividness of their creative output is based on how comfortable an artist feels with his or her own art. Think quick to let the passion exude across the stage, across the screen and across the page so that people know how much you love doing what you do.

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