Screw the Rules

Funny how time flies. Striking a balance between making an album and writing about making it is really quite a trick. But even when I'm away from the computer, I'm always thinking about it, always going over in my mind what I've done so far and what I'd like to do next.

In the meantime, I've been busy doing other things which have yielded unexpected results. I've collaborated with my friend Mike Schrand from the St. Louis band Salt of the Earth, adding bits to some of his songs. I've also engineered and produced a couple of tracks for an album of music by the employees of Vintage Vinyl, a record store here in St. Louis that's sort of a musical institution here in the Midwest. I also have the opportunity to produce albums for other artists later this year--something I've wanted to do for a while now and that I'm excited about.

This month, I began the process of putting myself out as a composer for hire. I've always been able to do more than write songs. I can come up with ideas and write compositions that have nothing to do with traditional pop and rock songwriting structures. I love instrumental music and I'm musically conversant in a wide range of styles. But in my more traditional songs, I haven't been able to find a refuge for my more eclectic leanings. I've found an outlet for that in writing stock and custom instrumental music for sale. These pieces can be used for commercials, multimedia projects, presentations...whatever you can imagine. In this realm, people are looking for diverse textures. And I'm all about musical diversity.

These experiences have helped me get out of my own head and step back from my primary project. I came to realize that the rules I imposed on myself earlier in this project seemed reasonable, but are proving to be limiting. My musical imagination has ideas of its own that and doesn't really concern itself with adhering to a prescribed manifesto. Ironically, it was work I've been doing on commercial music that led me to reappraise my art project.

So now every day, I get up and write a new composition. My normal writing process is a bit slow because I have a tendency to self-censor (agonize is more the word here). But no more of that now. If it comes out, I write it. Sometimes I finish or at least start several compositions in a day and sort them out at the end of the day. It's wither good music for stock, a song idea to be developed or something that's hot on my mind that moves to the front of the line for further development for the album. It's a whole new way of working and so far I'm thrilled with the results.

This new way of working essentially does three things: One, it helps keep the lights on. By helping to pay the bills, I'm able to keep working on the album. Two, it helps me to get rid of musical cliches that are woven into my consciousness. Some of these I use in my songs, some of them I try to avoid. Writing commercial music means I have an outlet for things I wouldn't necessarily use. Conversely, in coming up with new themes to develop on the commercial sides, So thirdly. I often stumble upon ideas I wouldn't have normally found otherwise. Some of these are so good that I'm often prompted to say, "Well, that's way too hip to give away. I'm keeping that bit for the album!"

But of course, the very best part of all of this is that I get to work on creating music all the time. That's the part I like best.

I originally set out to make an album in a very traditional way, accepting limitations of the equipment and keeping an organic feel to the sound and organization to the tracks. Now I'm using sequencing and keyboard tools much more, but sticking with traditional sounds--indeed, all of the classic keyboard sounds I've been using so far have all come from software. I'm simply broadening my palette and building instrumental arrangements that have a little more depth to make the tracks I'm working on a little richer. I'll keep you posted on my progress.