I mentioned in a previous blog, “Momentum,” that I started composing every day. Here is an update on that endeavor. As of April 1, 2023 I am on day fifty of daily composing. This small bit of creativity is a priority. I wish I could say I jump in each day with joy and vigor. Well, I am joyful on some level, but it also brings hesitations, questions, and insecurities. During the week when I work at my day job, I have little energy left. Sometimes it is not physical, but rather I feel that I have used up my brain power—my ability to think clearly or creatively. One idea that has come to the forefront in my daily composing is the idea that our limitations might be our strengths.
Maintaining interest and momentum in artistic endeavors can be a challenge. Life gets busy. Interruptions happen. Regular daily chores take longer than expected. I find my forward progress when working on a blog, a music composition, or any other creative project is easily sidetracked or even stopped.
. . . the professor said, “you should keep composing.” His words kept echoing in my mind. Just who was this person? What did he know? Why should his words change my life?
Is imperfection a gift? Imperfection hardly seems like a gift. In fact, it seems undesirable. Something must be flawed if it is not perfect. But is that true?
I feel driven to create every day. However, I do not always have the ideas, energy, or momentum to follow through with a creative project on a daily basis. I often tell myself I don’t have time or that other things are more important. My inner voice tells me that if I don’t have hours to devote to creativity then I may as well not be creative at all.
Often I get too caught up in work I have to do, work I want to do, and thinking about work I should be doing. Sometimes, to relax and get away from the grind, I simply turn on the TV and enjoy turning off the part of my brain that tells me to work.
From the moment in November 2006 when I decided to become a songwriter my life had a purpose and a goal. Although I could dimly see my destination, I was on a day-to-day journey not knowing exactly what was next. Going to Blue Ridge Song Camp was a huge step on that journey.
Make something that did not exist before you created it. Make some art: compose music, write a poem, draw, or, live as only you can. You are the only one living right now, in this moment, with your experiences, with your dreams, with your abilities, and with your unique perspectives. The world needs your art. You need your art.
Song Camp 201 was offered May 20-22, 2007 and I decided to attend. It was limited to forty-two people and offered six song critique sessions. The faculty for Song Camp 201 was Walt Aldridge, Rick Beresford, Craig Carothers, Don Henry, James Dean Hicks, Ralph Murphy, and Hugh Prestwood.
I wrote this anthem in January of 2018. The text by Frederick William Faber is one of mercy, inclusion, and love. This image he uses of God’s mercy being like the wideness of the sea is the seminal idea for the anthem. And, it is also the foundation for the tone painting throughout the anthem.
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