Composing

I spent, no, wasted, two hours today at the piano, trying to come up with a new piece of music. It was just one of those efforts where it seems like everything you come up with is worthless. Every note I played sounded like garbage to me. The more I tried to force something out of myself, the more frustrated I got. It was like my brain had went on vacation, sitting somewhere on a beach in the Caribbean while I sat with an empty skull banging on the piano keys like a caveman. It's weird: the creativity seems to come and go as it pleases, and no amount of diligence and concentration will bring it back against it's will. Two hours of my life, down the drain.

Composing music should be effortless. When everything is just right, it should feel like someone else is telling you what to write. You shouldn't have to labor at bringing the music out of your spirit. You shouldn't have to force it out. The music should pour out of your spirit, and the process should happen just as naturally as a river arriving at a cliff and cascading down as a waterfall.