Quote:
Originally Posted by egervari
Sandy, I think you're missing the point on this by a long shot in your paragraph.
Yes, writing music when you're sad, angry, happy, in love, afraid, etc. is a HEALTHY thing to do. Expressing emotions is always healthy if it doesn't hurt anyone. In fact, it's the RIGHT thing to do.
So, why does this have anything to do with losing creativity? When you're not sad anymore, why can't you start writing happier music? Really, music is an art form - an expression of emotion. Why can't it reflect how the person is feeling, whether it's sad or joyful? There's a place for all kinds of music.
Also, the kind of sadness over someone dying or breaking up with a lover is totally different than a deep, psychological problem that has been unhealthy in the individual for several decades. It's totally different.
Also, just because you're over a bout of sadness does not mean you cannot summon it again for creativity purposes. This is just NOT true. In fact, having gone through something helps you connect with it in a very clear way.
And besides, when it's the negative emotions that are actually preventing the musical creation to even occur (hence the original poster's frustration that we are actually discussing), that's an entirely different thing than writing music about negative emotions - totally different.
Just my thoughts on it.
|
No, that wasn't my point at all. Music can be therapeutic for many, many great writers. One terrific exercise songwriting teachers give is to write something from your emotional center at the time, and then something completely opposite. I am certainly NOT advocating suppressing emotions, positive or negative.
But I was agreeing with Sam (Mishmannah) in that just as strife can be inspirational and writing from that "place" cathartic and effective, there are many who cannot do that--for some people stress hamstrings creativity and trying to summon it makes them worse (or at least they have no time or energy to do that while life is happening). And some life crises DEMAND that even the most creative people temporarily reorder their priorities and attend to the problems rather than their art. That doesn't make them bad songwriters.
And I wasn't talking about a bout of "sadness" and then being unable to write with depth and edge once one "got over it," despite the fact that dredging it up afterward could and should be an effective creative device. I was talking instead about real *clinical depression* and the fact that some very creative people felt they'd lost their edge and were unable to create (or even felt no desire or need to create) *while* being treated with antidepressant or antianxiety meds. It happens to some very brilliant writers--they need to summon the angst while it's happening, and the meds blunt it completely, to the point where if they ever discontinued them due to remission, they could resume creating but not be able to retroactively mine (or in some cases even recollect) the suffering for which they were being treated. (Fortunately, it never had that effect on me--it was during the depth of depression that I was lucky to even be able to think straight, much less creatively, or write out a check to pay the bills, much less write a song). Everyone is different. Every writer is different. There is NO ONE PATH to good songwriting. One size does not fit all.