This week, I’m stuck.
I’m struggling to come up with new ideas on the piano. I’m using all the same plugins and production techniques in the DAW. Nothing I’m doing musically feels particularly exciting or new. I’m feeling slightly devoid of creativity and spark, and not quite sure where to go from here.
It happens.
In fact, I find I often end up in cycles like this. I’ll go through a period of intense study and growth — of mining the materials I need. That’s where I was at the end of last year. I picked up some new plugins, I did a mentorship session with a producer I love, I was listening to a lot of music, and learning a lot. I was digging in the dirt, getting messy, and pulling up lots of raw materials.
Then, there’s usually a period of relentless creativity that overlaps and follows that, when I’ve started flinging those raw materials into my engine and the whole hulking enterprise begins inching its way forward, then gradually picking up speed. For the sake of this metaphor, I’m picturing my neurons as the mostly naked, sweaty, and soot-covered industrial age men shoveling coal into an old-timey furnace within a massive steam engine. These guys were hard at work late last year. I produced a few tracks, wrote a whole bunch of new stuff, and probably had more creative output than I’ve had in years.
Then, eventually the sweaty men run out of coal to shovel, and my steam engine starts to coast along the tracks, before rumbling to a stop. That’s where I am now — waking up in some spicy desert I was planning to pass through to get to Elysian pastures down the way, without really knowing where I am or having much water to drink. Some people call this strange, parched land “Writer’s Block,” but it can be even more expansive than that. I’m struggling to even think of what to play when I sit at the piano right now.
(To be fair, I’ve also been sick for like a month, so that might be part of it too. Having 3 kids in winter in a city is just one endless experimental lab of germ cultivation.)
So what to do now?
It’s easy to feel frustrated when things are like this. To feel like you’ve run out of ideas and you’ll never find new ones. The well is dry and can never be tapped again.
But the healthier way might be to view it as the end of one particular cycle and the start of a new one. If things aren’t coming easily, you may need to reset — and spend some time dredging up some new fuel for your fires, so you can go again. Sometimes it helps to be very explicit about that.
For example, spend a week on only research. Find new artists who are doing interesting things. Read a lot — biographies of your favorite artists, advice columns, stories of how other creators’ work. Set aside time for deep listening, and make notes on what you’re hearing. In fact, pull out your journal and make notes about everything, what you’re seeing in the world, what you’re feeling. Inspiration often starts with observation.
Then, you might need to spend some time cleaning up and reorganizing your room, so to speak. That means removing the clutter and bringing some new tools and routines to bear. Production-wise, maybe you get rid of some old over-used samples and bring in some new ones. Same with plugins. The synthwave artist Com Truise often does this at the start of working on a new album. He rebuilds his production racks so that he’s working with a fresh canvas for each project. Basically, the first step of the project is organization.
But also, keep forcing it. To pick up the metaphor from before, you’re still stuck in a desert with no water. You might have to get outside and push. This is where pianist Kiefer uses constraints and games to inspire his writing, like the Dice Game, where he rolls a dice four times and builds a chord progression from the specific numbers that turn up (e.g. a one is the I chord, a four is the IV chord, etc). You want to keep moving forward even while you’re shaking things up, since momentum can pick up at any point.
That’s where I’m at. My train has stalled — which is an opportunity to begin laying track in a new direction. First, I’m making a plan for both my piano playing and my production, with some things to work on in both areas. For piano, I’m going to learn a new classical piece or two, since I find they often support my playing technique — which can open up new composing doors. I’ve really taken to Elijah Fox‘s learning method of finding a new specific passage or technique in a piece and then applying it to a bunch of different contexts.
Second, I’m going to be a little more disciplined. I want to produce at least one new song a week, and practice an hour a day three times a week. Since things aren’t coming easily, I feel like some discipline is important to make sure I keep moving forward.
Third, I’m going to spend a bit more time learning. Specifically, I’m going to watch at least one new production / mixing lesson a week, and spend at least 15 minutes active listening each week — no distractions, no phone, just a notebook. That’s not a lot but feels doable within my schedule.
But the key to it all is just a mindset shift — a change in language from “this isn’t happening,” to “this is an opportunity to reset, explore some new directions, and kick off a new cycle.”
What about you? What do you do when you find yourself stuck or in a rut like this? What fuel do you draw on? I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to reply to this email with ideas, and maybe I’ll include one or two in next week’s email.
From your sweaty, soot-covered fuel-shoveler,
Ian Temple
