The Problem With Creativity

[catsittingstill]

I keep coming up with clever little additional things to do in my arrangements.

And as a direct consequence, they keep getting harder to play.

That is all.

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Inspiration
© thnidu

It is no tame bear
that will dance to your drum.
It will seize your hair
and command you to come.
You will sing of its dance
as well as you may
and it will, if it likes,
call you back some day.

(Afterthought: Something like "Not a tame lion"?)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

I have found, to my frustration, that my idjit thumb, still recovering from surgery, won't let me play my little arrangements,either. Spring is not good for achy bits.

Your arrangements are already beautiful, so the clever additional things you do shall only enhance, I think, as your skill level improves.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I hope your thumb gets better soon.

The spring is not bothering my hands particularly--that's the boat work. I always have to be careful not to overdo, and especially now when I'm doing so much musical instrument practice on top of the woodworking.

Thank you for your kind words about my arrangements--the ones I am changing are the dead simple strum-a-few-chords ones like what I was doing for "True To A Sixteenth"

But I could play it better this morning than I could yesterday, so that's progress.

[erin-ruston.livejournal.com]

This would be why it is very difficult for Utah Filk Org to perform our songs in small numbers... complex choral arrangements.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I *like* complex arrangements :-)

[billroper]

Well, yes.

That's what practice is for. :)

(I'm learning to play barre chords at my advanced age...)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

(I'm learning to play barre chords at my advanced age...)

I'm still hopeless at them, so it makes me happy to know there are others who are as well. I sometimes think I'm the only one. :)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm rotten at them on the guitar. There are about three I can do and that's it--and I can only do them if I'm all practiced up and my hands are strong.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the bar chords.

Actually one of the "more complex things" I was complaining about above is a bar chord on the octave mando. Which I could play better this morning than yesterday (which is not to say I could play it *well* or *easily* but still) so I guess that's progress.

[pondside.livejournal.com]

giggle

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-)

[janeg.livejournal.com]

I look forward to hearing you play even more now!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) Thank you.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

That's why I used to write so much computer music!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes, the computer can play it perfectly!

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Rush has talked about doing that all the time.

I remember hearing an interview with Geddy where he was describing how they wanted to start playing "Red Barchetta" in concert again, and it's one of those songs with lots of little clever bits in the arrangement. Stuff like, coming out of the guitar solo on the bridge, they suddenly decide to drop bars out of the chord progression, meaning the time signature changes and it's a fast turnaround into the last verse.

When they had to re-learn it to play in concert, they said to themselves "WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!? ARRRRGH!".

So, yeah.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Another issue is that I *might* eventually want to be able to perform these in public, yes.

So it's not enough to be able to play the countermelody against a recorded tape--I need to be able to play the countermelody while singing the melody. And it would be good if I could look at the audience instead of peering alternately at the music and my fretboard. And for the voice-against-voice stuff, what the heck am I going to do in circle? I have to re-learn it voice against mando, or work out another arrangement. Maybe voice against iOcarina?

But hey--I like doing this stuff, so doing more of it is theoretically not a problem, right?

Right?

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Whenever I run into something difficult in an arrangement, I generally triage the problem:

- How accurately do I really want to reproduce it live?
- Can I get away with it in a less-accurate rendition and still get the song across?
- How much work is it going to take for me to do it accurately live?
- If I try to reproduce it accurately, will a screw-up trainwreck the song?
- Do I want to look at this as an exercise to improve my chops?
- Do I want to save it off as a production number that can only be played with other musicians?

That sort of thing.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) considering that I intend to make extensive use of the multitracking and playthrough capabilities of the Zoom, I am definitely going to have to triage some of the arrangements.

And to tell you the truth, there isn't much I write where I couldn't get the song across with a simple arrangement--lyrics are my strength, in my opinion, and for that I need (generally) one voice--on key is good--anything else is gravy. Which is part of why I can get away with dead simple strum-some-easy-chords-on-the-mando arrangements so much of the time.

But I would like to dress things up a little for parties, you know?

Good point about considering the failure mode--I need a performance arrangement where I can screw up the instrumental without falling completely off the song.

And this is definitely an exercise to improve my chops, such as they could be said to be--heck, regular practice is improving my chops. Like, noticeably.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

"But I would like to dress things up a little for parties, you know?"

I have a mental image of a sheet of music quietly picking out accent marks and extra notes because it wants some accessories to go with that nice melody it has.

On the other hand, it's just past midnight, and I clearly need sleep.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I have a mental image of a sheet of music quietly picking out accent marks and extra notes because it wants some accessories to go with that nice melody it has.

:-) Yes, that is kind of what I was thinking of. Except that the sheet of music is quietly picking out a nice countermelody overcoat and a pair of descant shoes :-)

[filkferengi]

Well, it's spring. If the world is putting on new clothes, why not your music?

As Charles d'Orléans said, http://www.irelandcalls.com/.599cd7e6/4 [the English is rather formal, as the song is rollicking & fun, but you get the idea].

Here's a better translation [bearing in mind that, in French, time & weather are the same word]:

CHARLES, DUKE OF ORLEANS

The Time hath laid his mantle by
Of wind and rain and icy chill,
And dons a rich embroidery
Of sun-light pour'd on lake and hill.

No beast or bird in earth or sky
Whose voice doth not with gladness thrill,
For Time hath laid his mantle by
Of wind and rain and icy chill.

River and fountain, brook and rill,
Bespangled o'er with livery gay
Of silver droplets, wind their way :
So all their new apparel vie ;
The Time hath laid his mantle by.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) cool.