welcome to my island
who I am, and what I am doing
Welcome to Open Studio. This is a newsletter about creativity and electronic music. It is the written companion to Ableton Open Studio, which offers curated creativity resources for the modern music maker.
I’m Bodhi Landa, an artist producer and coach, and the Education Director of Ableton Open Studio. My work over the past 15 years has focused on indie electronic music, experimental pop, underground dance music sound art.
I started Ableton Open Studio to help others discover their voice, develop their sound, and make music that matters. This is the digital extension of my existing coaching practice where I help others overcome technical and emotional obstacles. I teach to enhance my own creative life, expand my community, and hone my skills as an artist. I am not an expert in anything; I’m just a person who may have some valuable insight for you.
I started this letter to keep track of my own thinking. I take on some broad conceptual questions about how to have a creative musical practice in this historical moment; and I try to suggest some practical strategies for the ideas I’m working with.
My own path as an artist has been informed, on the one hand, by a persistent fascination about how sound makes meaning, and on the other, a tremendous amount of creative anxiety. I created this program to attend to some of the more intangible aspects of learning music online, that I felt like were missing from my earlier education.
Some guiding questions in the development of this project are: What makes Ableton Live uniquely well suited for the self-taught musician? What’s the best way to learn electronic music for those not especially computer-savvy? How do attention deficit issues affect the self esteem of the creative person? How can I create a flexible and simple learning environment that feels safe, fun and focused?
I have consumed an ungodly amount of YouTube instructional content AND self-help literature, and I believe I have developed a system that can help others. It is founded in creativity science, habit studies and mindfulness practice.
In contrast to the ‘tips and tricks’ approach you see often in online educational spaces, my program helps you design systems and practices that help you progress quickly, steadily and sustainably, no matter what your goals are. These are systems that helped me when I was younger, and that continue to support my creative practice today.
Open Studio is my offering to my former self, and to anyone who wants learn music or improve their artistry in a holistic way. It is an ever-evolving ecosystem of resources that will naturally expand and change shape as I learn what works and what doesn’t.
I am always happy to receive your feedback on my writing. You can reach me at abletonopenstudio@gmail.com, or respond directly to this email. I can also be found on Instagram and Threads @abletonopenstudio. If you have questions, need help with something or have suggestions for future newsletter topics, I am always happy to hear them! Thank you for being here.
PS. If you’re one of the few people that got this letter for the second time, please forgive me! I switched from the previous e-mail platform to this one, so now I’m trying to get all my writing in one place. After this letter, and the next, everything will be coming from substack, and it will happen once a week on Wednesdays.
What I’m listening to
10 new songs - updated weekly
Items of interest
Ableton Open Studio FOUNDATIONS is finally out - this is the beta version of my first educational product. It’s made up of a free Ableton Live Template Session, an interactive workspace with beginner tutorials, and a feedback mechanism to get personalized support from an instructor. If you or anyone you know could use something like this, please check it out. If you need a discount code, send me an email or a DM and I’ll share it with you.
Doing Music - this is a podcast about musical ideas from Ableton. In this episode, the Ableton manual author, Dennis DeSantis discusses learning music in some really fascinating ways
Learning Music - this is an incredible resource I learned about from the above podcast. It’s a web page that teaches the fundamentals of making electronic music. It’s the perfect primer for those interested in making music but have no prior experience. It sets you up really well to deal with Ableton’s learning curve as well! Check it out here.