Do You Ever Take Breaks From Your LP?

[Rilles]

I make music, that's my purpose, it's going well, as an artist I've built up a pretty good following. 

Sometimes I'm just not interested in making music, I will be away from it for maybe a month, doing other things obsessively like listening to books or researching other topics.

This used to freak me out and make me feel unproductive but now I feel like I can't avoid it so I'm fine with it, I just let myself naturally get curious about music again, whenever it happens. 

Anyone feel like this about their purpose?

(not necessarily music)

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Rilles

[kagaria]

Yes sometimes. But you have to make sure you don't waste too much time.

[Rilles]

3 minutes ago, kagaria said:

Yes sometimes. But you have to make sure you don't waste too much time.

What would you refer to as "wasting time"?

[SgtPepper]

Making music is sort of my life purpose, but it's mostly a hobby as my career is focused on mental health. I just can't live without making music, its something important to me.

In my experience, taking a break is essential to my art as I play significantly better after like a 2 day break from my guitar, I am also a lot more creative and experimental. 

So I don't really see taking a break as a bad thing, it helps create a fresh perspective.

[Rilles]

10 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

Making music is sort of my life purpose, but it's mostly a hobby as my career is focused on mental health. I just can't live without making music, its something important to me.

In my experience, taking a break is essential to my art as I play significantly better after like a 2 day break from my guitar, I am also a lot more creative and experimental. 

So I don't really see taking a break as a bad thing, it helps create a fresh perspective.

Yeah, me too ,Ive been producing for 10 years now, and it just gets deeper with age, like fine wine, cant live without it.

I had an insight a few weeks ago that struck me, I realized why I make music... To create a sort of transcendent feeling within myself... Its just mindblowing... Thats what Ive been doing all this time... Thats why its so addictive... To know you can actually create deep emotion out of the blue feels amazing. To do that I guess I sometimes need to recharge, sometimes it takes a while. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Rilles

[Consciousone35]

When it comes to what I do I like to do a little bit every day regardless of whether I’m in the mood or not, really helps

[SgtPepper]

@Rilles YES!

I can relate. In the midst of playing music, I reach transcendental states where I am just playing without any planning. I just started producing about 1-2 years ago, but have years of music experience (I played in a metal band), so I am slowly learning all the techniques of music production, to make the sounds in my mind a reality.

My strategy for creativity is also taking walks in nature to get in touch with myself and my surroundings. And getting in touch with the senses and this can be fast tracked by naming 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, 1 thing you taste. Lastly, I will listen to music for inspiration and a jump start. 

For real though, I've had times where I tried forcefully creating projects, and nothing came of it. However when I am relaxed and careless, I come up with high quality riffs, hooks, leads, and lyrics, so it's important to maintain that mindset and do things that bring you closer to the source of creativity. 

 

[Rilles]

21 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

@Rilles YES!

I can relate. In the midst of playing music, I reach transcendental states where I am just playing without any planning.

I produce electronic music, Its not so much getting into a flow-state, although that happens quite often too, Its more about sitting back and being able to absord an emotion you created. I can imagine a painter feeling the same, stepping back and admiring his own painting. 

I just started producing about 1-2 years ago, but have years of music experience (I played in a metal band), so I am slowly learning all the techniques of music production, to make the sounds in my mind a reality.

My strategy for creativity is also taking walks in nature to get in touch with myself and my surroundings. And getting in touch with the senses and this can be fast tracked by naming 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, 1 thing you taste. Lastly, I will listen to music for inspiration and a jump start. 

Oh, man, Im living in the city right now... Nature could probably be good for me...  I will try to find some wilderness next week.

For real though, I've had times where I tried forcefully creating projects, and nothing came of it. However when I am relaxed and careless, I come up with high quality riffs, hooks, leads, and lyrics, so it's important to maintain that mindset and do things that bring you closer to the source of creativity. 

Yeah, and the more you do it the more you realize you just gotta let of go control, sit there and let the universe make something out of the blue for you, but thats hard when your ego wants it to be this way and that way. 

 

 

[Moon]

Sounds healthy if it isn't too often (like taking every other month off obvs haha) to help reduce burnout and perhaps spark more creativity when you come back to it

[flume]

Definitely feeling that. I get massive boosts of inspiration, a really specific idea and I work on it like a maniac until it’s done. It’s like it’s burning through me and then it’s gone. It makes planning things a bit difficult but I don’t really have a choice in the matter…
I think every artist knows that nothing good comes from forcing it.

It also helps to stop compartmentalising life. The ultimate life purpose = self discovery. You can’t really take breaks from that or do anything outside of ‘it’, can you.

Also pretty amazing to finally find out why you love making music so much A few weeks ago I found out that I write to find out the truth of who I am. I write ‘to myself’ to get to know myself better because if I wouldn’t externalise, I couldn’t grasp myself. One thing can’t know itself I guess.

[Space]

@Rilles If i'm honest, no. I'm working on my projects every single night. Longest break i'll take is a day or two. I think the key with a life purpose is having a vision or a goal that you really really want to achieve. I'm also quite inpatient so i'm just more eager to get there sooner rather than later.

Nothing wrong with what you're doing though. If you're actually producing work and making progress then thats all that matters.