Opus de OMAET

Reflections on my music

When we first got this assignment I was really excited. Although I have a fair amount of experience with music my whole life. I have never used the computer to write music or used any type of software to do so. Furthermore, I had not ever composed music, only sang and played so this would be a new adventure.

I downloaded the software and dug in. I came up with my melody by just clicking on the notes. My first inclination was to write something to sing. I later decided to make it a piano piece instead.

I named my music my babies to represent my two sons. The music is a series of melodies each representing one of my sons. It starts out with my oldest playing, then the younger son echoes and there are times through the piece they are playing together and mimicking each other.

I learned a few things about myself. First, despite having never done anything like this, I really enjoyed it. I would have never thought I would like to do composition or that I had the creative ability to come up with anything. I often discredit myself to not being able to come up with unique ideas. Sometimes I feel like I can’t be creative but when I see someone else come up with something I feel like I’m copying them. This was a good exercise because as I was coming up with my song, I would catch myself thinking that sounds like this or that. I realized during this process that with the millions of songs that are out there, it would be inevitable to have one song not sound a little like some other songs. This made me think of our conversations on original thoughts as well. How do we define original thoughts and are there original thoughts or are we influenced by others thoughts. In comparison to music, I think that influence of music you have heard is inevitable. Even if you think you are composing a completely unique song, your ideas are definitely influenced either consciously or subconsciously by music you have heard. I don’t think this means its not original music though, but I do think it is definitely influenced. Similar to thoughts, I don’t think our thoughts are completely original since we formulate thoughts on what we see, hear and understand and then form our own thoughts. On the contrary I don’t think they are exact copies either. Rather, I think thoughts evolve for different people depending on how they apply to a particular situation.

Another thing I have learned about my working style while doing this assignment is that it is hard for me to be creative. As a sole proprietor over my career I have focused my goals around productivity and profitability. It became very clear to me during my work on this assignment that it is hard for me to get into the “zone” I need to be in order to do very creative work. This would include something like music but also includes things like reflecting. In addition to being so business minded and constantly thinking about how many hours I need to bill per week and how quickly I can get all the things done I need to, it is hard for me to “let go” and really get into something or let my thoughts flow. In addition to my busy work schedule, I’m constantly trying to be as efficient as possible so I can spend my spare time with my kids. As a self employed person, I think this is more prevalent for me. The faster I get my work done, the sooner I can stop working. I’m not in a 9-5 situation where I need to be there anyway. I have found this has really influenced my thoughts and actions. I do think I maybe need to let myself get more deeply involved sometimes and let myself get to the point of reflection. I’m not sure what the answer to this is for me, I think moderation is key. This has been a very good exercise for me in priorities. It’s been very good for me to focus on some things that the final outcome isn’t determined.