Improvitaping
I’m discovering that songwriting is both easier and more difficult than I anticipated when I announced to the world, “Hey, look at me! I’m making an album!” But I figured, how hard could it be? Well, in theory, not very, but taking my own psychology into account, it’s proving harder than I thought. I’ve never actually completed a composition of my own, ever, so suddenly attempting to make an entire album’s worth of them is taking me into some dark, cold, uncharted waters within myself. In these strange realms I am discovering unexpected abilities (as I’d faithfully anticipated I would) but also some very annoying and stubborn barriers to equally important abilities that I need to develop.
Of course, I’m not surprised, just annoyed, and barriers are meant to be broken down and transcended, so I’m also not concerned. You can only transcend limitations once you become aware of them, and while becoming aware of them is painful and humbling, if you’re prepared to persevere through that discomfort, what awaits on the other end is well worth the effort. I’ve done this with enough fears and weaknesses in the past that I can say that with full confidence.
Creative limitations have their own unique challenges, of course. When you’re an artist, it can be difficult not to over-identify with your work, and to just let it flow unhindered, whether it’s filling you with happy, excited shivers of optimism or making you wonder why you’re even trying to do this when you so obviously suck. It’s crucial to allow yourself to become a clear, open vessel when you’re creating, to hold back the critic, force it to wait and sort it all out later. And when you have a very strong inner critic, and are a recovering perfectionist like I am, this is tough. When you’re dealing with a very raw, undeveloped ability on top of that, in which you haven’t any confidence yet, such as composing original music in my case, you (at least I) really need to lock yourself into something, a structure, a framework of discipline to help you force your way through those inevitable bouts of emotional resistance, and to strengthen those undeveloped creative muscles.
I’ve been trying for some time to create such a framework for myself, but with little to go on other than tidbits of advice from some creative friends (helpful advice, but often too vague for me), I’ve met with only limited success over the past several months. I have still been leaving myself too much to my own undisciplined devices, which can only make for slow, sporadic progress (of course, I have plenty of excuses as to why I’ve been so sloppy lately, but they’re mostly bullshit, lets be honest). Luckily, I think I’ve just found what I’m looking for. I happened upon it yesterday over at an excellent site called Project Renaissance. The technique I found is called ‘Improvitaping’! Here’s how it works:
The Improvitape Technique—
1. Simply play your chosen instrument (or bathtub-sing!) for a half hour per day while recording on blank tape. Try to make it sound like a “real” piece, keep going for a half hour per day….
2. In so doing, steer away from recognized themes and patterns. Keep on doodling for that half-hour per day, trying to make it sound like “a real piece.”
3. –And then the hardest part! –Play back the tapes you make, for an hour per day. –A half hour while paying attention to the contents; the other half hour as background while you are doing other things.
…Within 10 days, doing this at-least-90-minute-per-day program, as you run this simple flow-with-feedback process, you will be amazed to discover…
(read the rest of it, then come back. it’s short).
Simple enough, but I tend to dismiss things that I just come up with myself and give more of a chance to things that appear to be tried-and-true and are also clearly laid out in steps. Not always, but in learning a new skill, definitely. Also, I particularly like the fact that this involves developing abilities at the subconscious level that I would otherwise struggle with consciously (my left brain can be so incessantly intrusive in my creative process, I need to bypass it as much as possible).
The difference between this and just free-flowing for half-an-hour a day is the feedback aspect. It isn’t just a process of putting in creative time each day and hoping to come up with something usable out of all the wanking (which is basically what I’ve been doing lately), it’s actually a self-conditioning process where you are training and communicating with your (so-called) unconscious (right brain) through a process of cyclical feedback - a distillation process. You are teaching the inner creative part of you, in a very efficient manner, what you want from it, recieving more from it, refining and clarifying things further, and basically training it to more and more edit, refine and basically do all the composing on the inner level before it even comes out, instead of you having to sift through and edit and piece things together on the conscious level from a much more mediocre, unfocused pool of material, which is not only unecessarily time-consuming and frustrating, but not at all ideal in terms of the final results.
This is all somewhat hypothetical at this point, but it does make sense. Only way to know for sure is to test it, though, so that’s the plan, starting tonight.
This kind of technique can obviously be used in other creative pursuits. I’m going to work up an equivalent discipline for writing and another for visual art. Most likely they will end up supporting and enhancing each other. The writing one I can definitely see tying in nicely with the music one. Anyway, I’ll report back next week. If anyone has any experiences along these lines or possible improvements on this technique, please, comment.
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15 Responses to “Improvitaping”
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I think merging the technique into other disciplines will be the harder part, since there’s only so much time in a day. If you think I’m a “really productive musician”, there’s still a reverse psychology to it: every hour I spend working on music, what I’m really doing is procrastinating on writing a storyboard/animatic for my film. (Aha, the truth comes out.) The element of “I should be working on something else” is almost necessary for me to be productive. The downside is that I’ve never, ever felt at any point in my life like I was really doing enough. I suppose if we have talent at all, we feel responsibile for the world, and it’s frustrating that we have to pick a subset of it to focus on.
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One thing my guides said directly to me, or as “directly” as they can at this point (if I’m right in sensing that it’s “guide approved” when a thought is immediately followed by a shiver and a sense of heightened clarity), is that my very inability to draw realistically will be what makes the images in my storyboard so… personal? Original? Compelling? So to not worry so much about the specifics right now but just start creating them. And I have all these false starts where I sit at a desk with paper and pens/pencils, play my iPod and just “jam” visually to what I’m hearing. This would be great if I did it every day, but I haven’t made it a habit. I keep wanting to go back to the comfort of the music editing software. The comfort of knowing I’m already a master, and that my learning can merely be incremental. You probably have a similarly comforting modus operandi that you keep wanting to go back to the comfort of.
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But back to the significance of “your own inability to draw” — and I say “inability” as a shortcut, because of course I’d be able to draw well if I practiced — but there’s probably a parallel to whatever aspects of the songwriting, recording, producing, etc. that you feel some kind of ineptitude in; yes, put in the practice and get your skills up, but at the same time, love what’s coming out, because it’s you.
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I was kind of stunned when you told me you wanted to do an original album, without having ever finished writing a song. It’s not that I don’t think you can — I certainly have faith in your ability — it’s more a question of how you can be so sure that’s what you want to do. Unless you’re just looking to make catchy background music, there’s a personal journey involved, and personal journeys tend to involve dark places. I know you’re not afraid of the dark; it’s your desire to face more of it than you have to that intrigues me.
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Also, remember there will always be readers here who could benefit from your updates and all the wisdom and tips you pick up as you go. (Probably moreso than reading my blog, because I tend to microblog about very specific things without providing a fuller context.) Not to mention, your own clarity will benefit by way of you putting it into words. I’d love to see a production journal start to emerge here.
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Improvitape… I wish I’d thought of that (*coughredmeansgocough*)! Oh wait, I *did*. ;) Well, I didn’t specifically say to do it daily, or to listen both actively *and* passively — so I’ll give them some originality points for that. :)
Haha, Keith, I knew you were going to bring up ‘Red Means Go‘. That was in fact a huge help and I’ve read it several times. I’m sure after this 10-day improvitaping experiment I’ll want to tweak the process for more long-term use, and I’ll be referring back to ‘Red Means Go’ (among other of your posts) for ideas, no doubt.
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But see, you pointed out the very things improvitaping adds to the mix that, for me, make all the difference. I strongly feel at this stage that *have* to make it a daily discipline, and the active/passive listening feedback loop thingy also strikes me as important. Likewise there are things you covered that this doesn’t, so don’t fret, I ‘love’ both techniques equally. ; )
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I also (in reference to your surprise at my lofty ambitions) have to have a *big* goal, something that gets me excited. It also puts me under some pressure, which if I handle it badly, can be bad, but if I handle it well, can work wonders. I learned in art school that working under tight time and other constraints made me a better artist with a lot less effort. More fear, but less effort and resulting in far more interesting and ultimately ‘great’ work, as opposed to just good. I had to let apprehensions drop, I had no choice. This allowed me to tap into a deeper and more aggressive kind of creativity. Making this a daily and extended discipline, I’m hoping, should help me to learn to do that at will, forge and strengthen new neurological pathways and all that jazz.
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Of course, what’s right for me isn’t necessarily right for the next person. My strengths and weaknesses may not be another’s.
Oh, about being sure that’s what I want to do. Well, I guess it’s like having a dream to climb mount everest (yes, exactly like that… totally the same level of challenge… anyway)… I relish the challenge, and I know I’m up to it, and it deeply excites me when I think about it. Whenever I’m listening to a song, a part of me is always trying to figure out how the artist did this or that, not only technically but creatively, psychologically even. When I go to a live show, I wish I was the one on stage, even though the thought simultaneously terrifies me. I don’t know, there’s a lot more to it than that, but it is something I want to do. Not ‘thee’ thing, but definitely one thing.
A production journal.. That’s occurred to me numerous times actually, and for whatever reason I haven’t pursued it. Any further suggestions on that would be great. : )
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That could actually be another way my writing discipline could tie in with the music one. The other way is lyrics. I figured out an approach to lyric writing by sort of accident that works way better than anything I was trying to do previously. But perhaps I’ll save that for a future journal entry.
Just so you know, in the post that I’m writing right now, the reference to mountain climbing was already there before I saw your follow-up comments here. I’m not copying you. :)
It’s cool, I’m in one of those weird heightened synchronicity phases these past few days, so I’m not even surprised.
ok, now it’s my turn to read Keith’s response (along with subsequent dialogue) at three different speeds ;)
even though you both boogie across some similar dancefloor here, i’m still sticking this post/link to both my mental *and* non-mental refrigerator doors (never hurts to have backup appliances), right next to ‘Red Means Go’. My grocery list & ‘things to think about maybe getting around to possibly doing sometime’ list, will just have to find some other fridge to crash on for awhile. Is there the equivalent of the Pulitzer prize, or the Academy Award for best supporting inspirational blog anywhere on the net? if so, you guys better start working on your joint acceptance speech.
“….and the ‘googly’ goes toooooo…”
somewhere between the vastly different, yet kindred approaches you & Keith take in regards to the joyful agony of being creative, lies common ground enough for anyone so similarly inclined, to sample a rhythm loop or two from before not-so-easily easing on down their own long & winding road. (”….but it’s my destiny to be the kiiiing of vaaaaague”).
as for improvitaping, the technique sounds suspiciously similar to what i’ve been intermittently attempting with my fisher price set-up for longer than i care to remember myself wincing & groaning.
3 to 5 *days*?!!….where’s the improvitaping smallprint clause that reads “however, in the event that this 3-5 day period should last longer than the span of time between Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam albums?: step 1. break glass
step 2. press this button
step 3. no! not *that* one, you fool! the *other* one!
step 4. sorry pal, you’re on your own now.
but as far as basic barrier pushing & never give-uppityness is concerned, definitely trying to keep all that inevitable wincing & groaning in check is essential; nipping it in the bud before its tendency towards perverse over-confidence gets the better of you, summarily grabbing the mic from your hand and electing itself your new lead singer. A little audible self-disgust never hurt anybody so badly that they couldn’t shake it off and walk away from it. Just as long as it doesn’t bleed through onto the few tracks of faint musical sparkle we put so much time & effort & heart into trying to capture.
But i don’t sense any of us toying with the idea of donating our guitars to goodwill anytime soon, so there’s obviously more than an ember or two still getting their glow on somewhere within our respective
belly firepits.
Shine On Brightly, guys :)
“…um…he-hello…my name is boo. And i’m an analogyaholic.”
(it’s your basic 8-fold, 12-step, catch-22-with-a-locked-screendoor-on-one-end, kind of program).
Yeah, that 3-5 days thing, I don’t know… Thanks for the backup instructions. This Fisher Price setup up of yours has me intrigued. Does that mean you’re writing and recording stuff of your own? I hope so. Lets us 3 synchronize our CD release dates and throw one big party.
Hi Brooke, found your site via Tim Boucher.
I have to say that i like this feedback idea, mostly because I’ve been doing it without calling it something formal, and it does work. I’ve played guitar since I was 9 yrs old (and that’s a long time ago) and written original songs together with others in jam band format. But about 6 years ago I started playing drums as well, and got meself a nice digital 16 track recording device. So I started recording myself playing drums (alone) with no real structure for about 30 - 40 mins. All flow of consciousness type drum flow, and then I would record guitar over-top again in straight ahead flow format. Sometimes I would immediately add some other crap too like keys or whatever noises. But I would also make myself a quick mix and burn a CD of this recording, and listen to it during the week while driving or whatever. So the good stuff would stand out. And after doing it more regularly, it was amazing how much good stuff and even like the dude in the article mentions whole songs would come out of it. The particularly memorable stuff (whatever stuck in my head) I’d then re-learn alone or with my band members, and it would produce the basis for some cool tunes. So, shit - keep at it. (BTW when I just sit alone with a guitar and decide that NOW IS THE TIME TO WRITE A SONG it never really works.) And, to let u know I only write musical bits and melodies, not the lyrics (sometimes but not regularly because I tend to think I suck at it). This is probably a more difficult part. I am blessed with a few close friends / musicians who like to write good lyrics and sing as well, so I’m covered :). see ya.
Hey Dan. word to the Tim.
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thanks for sharing your personal experiences with this. I’m glad to hear it’s worked so well for you. I’m getting surprisingly good results too, especially for so early into the experiment. most of that though is just pushing myself to play for 30+ minutes straight developing one song. I used to bounce onto something new as soon as I would came up with and record a chord progression or melody I liked. I wouldn’t stick with it and develop it further right then and there. Because of that, I have over 30 of these little song ’seeds’ which I need to return to and develop into full-grown songs. But I have a plan.
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The benefits of the feedback aspect, specifically, I think will become more and more apparent over time. As it is now, my most recent improvitape session was the least fruitful. 3,4 and 5 ruled, though!
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I thought I sucked at lyric writing too, by the way, but I’m starting to get glimmers that would indicate otherwise. You just need to play around with different approaches until something clicks. Of course if you have good songwriters around, there’s nothing wrong with collaboration.
IMPROVITAPING: is going surprisingly better than expected, and I’m only doing it at half the speed I’m supposed to (every other day instead of every day). The half-hour minimum time requirement was definitely a missing link. I’ll be making this an ongoing thing, and even posting clips from sessions here and there to appease your curiosities (and embarass the hell out of myself). …
This “dude in the article” likes very much your handling of this topic of Improvitaping, and hopes to hear your album once it’s available. …win wenger
Thanks, Win! What an honor to have you stop by.
Wenger of Project Renaissance asked me to write an article for his site about my use of his ‘Improvitape’ method, which I’ve had a lot of success with. I’ll post the article here too (probably in …
Improvitaping! Courage. Resolve. Divination (via cootie catcher). Jello. Hollow Earth radio. Supernatural things. Making things out of magic. …