When you sit down to write a song, what motivates you the most – curiosity about where an idea might take you, or wanting to write a great hit? It is very difficult to give up thinking about our previous experience, from the method that we are used to using and which has always worked. But knowledge and techniques, experience and past successes and failures are all inextricably linked to our expectations of current and future work. And at the same time, it can greatly interfere with experimentation and overshadow pure creative energy.

WHY EXPECTATIONS HINDER THE SONGRITING PROCESS?

We all want to be successful in music, whether it’s the desire to create something meaningful for people, to make money, or both. But when the desire to surpass our own past success, or do our best job in life right now, outweighs mere curiosity, it limits us greatly. Ideally, you need to understand the context in which we exist and at the same time put pure creativity first. Of course, being free is hard, but trying is very important. It is necessary to learn to hear oneself and to recognize the moments when the baggage of experience begins to dictate the conditions of the game, and by all means try to get rid of this.

“I really wonder where this idea can take me. But actually, I don’t want my music to sound like this. ” Have you ever said something like that to yourself while writing songs? Such thoughts can crush the best ideas, deprive them of any chance to turn into good songs, albeit completely unexpected for you and your listeners. It is possible that you have felt or heard from other musicians that life lacks inspiration for music. But we often forget that sources of inspiration can and should be looked for in new places, perhaps not the most comfortable ones, but definitely different from those that we are used to contacting and getting the expected result. If you listen to expectations more than your creative intuition, you stifle inspiration.

If your need to be successful and write a big hit is in your process from the start, how will you create your best work? The question becomes even more difficult if you are a professional musician, accustomed to success and a certain level of comfort associated with it. But the more you can resist your attitudes and how they affect your creative choices, the more honest and free your music will be.

ESTABLISH A SONG WRITING PROCESS THAT IS AN ADVENTURE

Focusing on experimentation is much more difficult than trying to live up to your own expectations and the expectations of your audience over and over again. Why? Because, having some experience, we know what we will get by performing certain actions. We can easily use familiar methods with specific goals in mind. When we write with confidence, there is no room for uncertainty and new exploration. A completely different story is pure creativity without regard to the baggage of experience and the pressure of expectations. When we allow ourselves to play and write freely, we leave room for experimentation. And the more experience and success we have experienced in our life, the more difficult this task becomes. But, oddly enough, this drive for success often leads songwriters to write safe, predictable music that falls far short of their true potential.