So, this whole Lied Time thing has crashed and burned. I severely misjudged the amount of time I would have to do something like this right now and it has, to be frank, bit me in the ass. After 6 attempts, I’m throwing in the towel.
So what did you learn?
I still enjoy writing things quickly and I enjoy writing short pieces. I love dealing with text, pushing against it and reflecting my own interpretation. Writing melodies is something I really dig, writing harmonies, especially ones with a sense of functional tonality, is still something that doesn’t come easily to me.
You clearly failed in doing this for any substantial length of time. How did you succeed?
I made a few good songs. I wouldn’t say that I posted anything that I’m not happy with or anything that I don’t want to have performed in public. And most of the stuff I want to hear again, too. I really like that last haiku. It gets stuck in my head some days, which I can only take as a good sign.
I also learned that I can apply for a course release and a New Research Initiative at CMU. What would I do with such release time and funds? Write More Vocal Music. I can directly cite this blog as a reason for me to get a course release in order to write more vocal music and build vocal composition at CMU. I can also cite the fact that my regular creative output time is being eaten up with instrumental/electronic composition commitments so I simply need more time to develop this genre.
Why did it work last time?
You mean the Unsafe Bull Podcast? First of all, I had a significantly lighter teaching load in the spring semester of 2007. As my output built up more steam, the quality of the podcast began to suffer. I probably did it longer than I should have (86 weeks).
Which brings back the problem of goals and Why I Don’t Like to Do Them. The tail wags the dog. Is Lied Time really a failure? Just because I didn’t write something every week? Just because I didn’t get to the arbitrary duration that I put on myself for no real reason? Nope. Not a failure. The goal was arbitrary, the achievement of it equally so.
I’ll still crank out some short songs over the next few months. Just watch me.
One Comment
I’m glad you don’t see this as a failure, and aren’t discouraged! And congrats on having created some songs that you’re proud of – that absolutely makes the project a success, even if you didn’t meet some of the goals you’d set for yourself.