make music everyday
the imperative of daily practice
In thinking deeply about how to improve my skills as a creative music maker, I have, time and time again, returned to one very simple and practical methodology: making music every day. I can’t recommend this practice highly enough. For those interested in cultivating their creativity in music or sound, it is the best thing I can suggest.
What Do I Mean by This?
Setting aside a minimum amount of time—ideally the same block of time—every day is the surest road to progress, no matter what your artistic practice looks like.
Establishing a daily ritual around your creative work ensures the steady development of hard skills, increases the likelihood of success (however you define it), aligns your sense of self with creative work, and creates more opportunities for your work to circulate and find its audience. Like meditation or weightlifting, incremental progress is almost imperceptible at first, but it becomes remarkable over time.
Practice Works
Doing something repeatedly with a clear goal is how you develop any skill. That’s no major revelation. But it’s worth emphasizing here, as many people who learn music on a DAW are presented with so many options for how to produce a piece of music, that they never really get around to designing a process that gets them to their desired result consistently.
A common workflow for creative music makers today—especially those who learn music online—might involve shopping for samples, playing around with loops, watching tutorials, reading about new plugins, and a whole host of other activities that might be related to music making, but do not exactly qualify as focused creative work. Having done way too much of all of these things myself, I can definitely understand the impulse to consume new information, rather than produce new artwork.
For me, it’s connected to an anti-disciplinarian mindset about learning. I remember being forced to practice piano at a young age and hating it. Traditional music education didn’t work for me, which is why I eventually turned to the guitar, then to punk music, and ultimately to working on a computer. Now, I realize that if I had tolerated playing scales for longer, I’d have a level of fluency on the piano that I still lack today, and that would allow me greater freedom in my music making. Developing my piano skills as a young person would have been a worthwhile pursuit, but I didn’t have the perspective, or the support to keep it up.
I know I’m not the only who feels as traditional musical education was too rigid to feel like a creative outlet, especially below a certain level of technical proficiency. A mistrust of traditional education—and DIY mindset—is what leads so many to turn to computer music—but it also prevents those people from actually learning to make it.
My goal, here, is present a theory of practice that has nothing to do with discipline. I see the imperative of daily practice more along the lines of a personal ritual, one that can support creative growth, and align your actions with your intentions.
Higher Quantity = Higher Quality
Consider the often-referenced study from Art & Fear, in which photography students were divided into two groups: one assessed on a single, high-quality image, and the other on the sheer volume of work produced. Predictably, the group that generated more work also produced better-quality pieces. Those that focused on quality rather than quantity, didn’t engage in the process nearly as much. They deprived themselves of the practice required to get better.
This is what James Clear has called the “rule of equal odds.” It tell us that each attempt made at a certain goal has an equal chance of success. The more attempts you make, the greater the likelihood of achieving that goal.
Defining “success” here is depends on what your practice looks like, and what you’re trying to accomplish—it could mean creating a song that resonates with thousands of people, or getting the drums to groove just right. Whatever the goal is, pursue it frequently, and in great volume. Create abundantly, knowing that you can always edit, and that only the best of your work will be shared.
On this note, I do believe that pushing past the fear of sharing your work (releasing your music) is worth doing. I echo Rick Rubin’s advice, here, that if the work is good enough that you’d show it to your friend, it’s probably good enough for you to show it to the world. Releasing your music when it’s finished, thank yourself for letting go of it, and get started on the next project.
Becoming
This is the most importance piece, for me: the more time you make in your daily schedule for your creative work, the more space you make in your life for the person you want to become.
As someone who suffers from imposter syndrome, I find this very helpful. You never have to wonder if you’re really a producer if you sit down to produce music every single day. If you meet someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, and they ask what you’ve been up to, you’ll likely be forced to mention your music making activity. Over time, this builds a powerful internal narrative: you are someone who does music. It doesn’t matter if you have expensive outboard gear, or thousands of followers. If you have your daily practice, you get to be whoever you want to be. The music you make will exist as proof of this.
Finding Your Audience
This isn’t a letter about how to market your work. The benefits of daily creative practice are real no matter if anyone ever hears your music. However, if you do want to find an audience (which I believe is a productive exercise), it is very helpful to have a lot of original musical content to use in your marketing efforts.
Making music everyday means that you’ll have a stockpile of ideas, loops, sketches and instrumentals to help attract an audience to your creative work.
Staying Consistent
The best way to stay consistent in a creative practice is to create an environment that feels safe for experimentation and free play. Knowing you’ll make something new each day takes the pressure off having to make something “good” every day.
In fact, setting out to make something “bad” can often lead to unexpected positive results. The point is that continuous, playful experimentation keeps you creatively engaged in a sustainable way.
Think less about discipline and more about dependability. Your art practice should be something you can rely on—not only to produce art, but also to keep you connected to your truest self.
That’s all for now.
What I’m Listening to
10 new songs - updated weekly
Items of Interest
James Clear’s Mastering Creativity - the main guy on habit studies wrote this guide to creative thinking. I should say here, that the title is ridiculous. I don’t believe in the idea of ‘mastering’ anything and that my personal theory of creativity is antithetical to the very notion of mastery. But anyway, the essay is helpful.
ICYMI - there’s a bit more information about this letter here:
Art & Fear by Ted Orland and David Bayles - I found a free PDF of the whole book. This text is a cornerstone of Ableton Open Studio and an all around great read.
Ableton Open Studio FOUNDATIONS is finally out. If you or anyone you know is new to music production and needs a wealth of creativity resources, and beginner Ableton instruction, you can check it out here.
Stop Taking Your Music So Seriously - an anti-serious music making manifesto from my friend, Hermes at Sound + Creativity. He is an excellent thinker on creative mindset for musicians
