How to Create More Art

0:00 Music Appreciation. Welcome back to Music Appreciation 101.I'm Scoobert Doobert and today I want to talk about breaking down excusesto create.

0:16 This is something I think everycreator artist deals with, where you struggle to find either the timeor the space or the setup in order to actually sit down and make the work.And I get that, I mean, I feel that all the time too.The biggest thing that you can do is to just make do with whatever you have.

0:48 So if you only had 15 minutes in a day, you only have your laptop or you only have your phone, you don't have any instrumentsaround you.

0:57 Don't let any of those things be an excuse.The majority of my music I literally make on TV trays.I understand like I do have some pretty cool gear.I don't know, Apollo Twin, a laptop, and then some instruments that I plug into it, but that's the majority of what I do. I record on an SM7Bthat I got used. My whole rig, yeah, I understand it'shundreds, if not thousands of dollars, if you include the computer itself.

1:24 But it's not the top of the line MacBook. It's a mid-tier used MacBook Pro.And I don't always have all the gear even. Sometimes I'll just have thelaptop. Sometimes I'll just have my phone. And I've tried really hardto not feel like I need to create the ideal spacein order to create.

1:45 Again, I'm literally propped up on TV trays right now.That's how I made the majority of my colon record is just wherever there is space. I live in a one bedroom.There's noise around me, different apartments, and stuff like that.It's so easy to use those things as excuses. You say,hey, there are leaf blowers outside.

2:07 I can't record.It's like, yeah, you can record guitars because guitars don't need ambient sound. You're plugging it directly in. So just record guitars and try andtune out the leaf blowers. It's that kind of thing thatI just want to extend to other creators out there to try and break down thatmentality because it's a daily struggle. I deal with it too.

2:27 But I think that's one of the biggest things that holds people back from beingprolific and from exploring more. I firmly believe thatevery single moment has a different creative energy andoutput. And I don't just mean that like metaphysically.

2:40 I mean, that justwhere you're at mentally, what you've eaten that day, what you did yesterday,how much you slept, all those little things factor into a different creative you. And by allowing yourself to havelittle barriers to access creativity, that that means that you can tapinto more of those moments.

3:00 So even if you're hungover and you feel like, I don't feel like writing because I'm hungover, it's like, you know what,that's perfect because that's going to be a different time than you usually write.Hopefully. But like, like, pull, pull whatever you have from that space out.Even if you feel exhausted, that's going to give you a different creative output.

3:22 And I'm not saying that you have to try and write like a hit song in that moment.It's just like making the habit of turning creativity into daily effort.And not just daily, like, you know, many times throughout the day.Seeing what you can make, given the different headspaces that you inhabit,and given the different environments that you inhabit, the different abilities for you to reach

3:44 and grab different instruments. Like, yeah, the best times that you're going to createusually are going to be when you have all of your tools.

3:51 Makes perfect sense.But I also think that there's like, think about like a carpenter or something like that.Yeah, the carpenter is going to do their best work when they have all of the tools and their wood shop.

4:04 All of the best wood, everything that they possibly need to make the best thing.But carpenter sometimes can make really cool stuff if they're like whittling and just playing with, you know, a stick and carving something into it.

4:21 I think that it engages a different part of your creativity. So yeah, like while you can't make abeautiful desk or dresser given very limited tools, you can still, you can still make somethingbeautiful and you guaranteed would make something different than you would if you had all of yourtools. So don't let that hold you back and also treat those as exercises.

4:42 And then you never know what you're going to come up with. Like maybe like say, for example, a carpenter that works onminiatures when they don't have their full table, you know, table saw and stuff. Maybe they comeup with like a really unique design idea from the miniature that they can, you know, fully indulge whenthey have everything that they need to create. I think that there's value in that demoing process.

5:08 And sometimes the demos are cooler than the final product and then you release those like mysong, a little hug, you know, that's just me on a rock in the middle of June like playing ona ukulele. That's it. And a bunch of artists do this, right? It's the demo that ends up gettingreleased.

5:26 In my head, I thought, oh yeah, like I'll lay down this idea and then when I have my tools, I'll actually make it into a song where I'll record the ukulele in a nice environment, maybe add alittle reverb, all this kind of stuff. There won't be, you know, screaming children around me, but

5:43 in the end, it didn't have the same vibe. So I released the demo. And it's kind of cool havingthe sound of families playing and enjoying each other at the very end of that song. Because itkind of sums up what I was trying to angle towards and writing it. So the environment influencescreativity, your headspace influences creativity, the tools that you have influence creativity.

6:07 So turn that into a strength rather than a weakness, let it be something that opens you up rather thanholds you back. And by doing that, you're going to be more prolific and you're going to surpriseyourself because you're going to put yourself into uncomfortable situations. And sometimes the bestthings come out of uncomfortable situations.

6:22 You have like, say that you have to wait too much on your plate. It's impossible to write a song today. Maybe try and capture a little melody as you'rewalking from place to place as you're like whistling.

6:32 And like, maybe, I don't know, you mightsurprise yourself because you're not going to be thinking in the same way as you normally would sit down and say, okay, it's writing time. You're you're finding creativity in the gaps of life.

6:47 And by doing that, you're going to be more creative. You're going to have more timebecause you're going to add that on top of the creative, you know, the dedicated creative timewhen you have all of your tools. And so it's also like a daily exercise kind of thing where

7:03 you do something daily and you're just going to be more creative and you're going to be more open to

7:09 things just in your world that that normally might just kind of go over your head or go in oneone year out the other.

7:18 You'll by by engaging with creativity on a moment to moment basis, you'll have more of a net to catch things as they flow by. So don't let stuff hold you back because reallywhat it is is you're holding yourself back.

7:39 And see if you can have some sort of ritual that pulls you in to a creative headspace quickly. Like even something as simple as the little sound ofmy Apollo twin when I turn it on. It's just a little switch. And then it goes through this kind ofwarm up sounds like little clicks.

8:00 That has become this weird like portal into I click that and I know here comes music time or podcast time. And like I've got planes flying overhead. This isnot an ideal podcast environment. Again, on a TV tray looking at a a window. There's literallyglass right in front of me. But yeah, it's not 100% what I want want it to be.

8:25 But it's a whole lot better than just not doing a podcast. At least I think so. And hopefully you think so.

8:33 And with that, this short one. I just wanted to give you something that's been on my mind for a while

8:38 about turning creativity into a daily practice finding the gaps and using that constant

8:48 engagement with your medium to turn you into something prolific. And this is something that Iwant to say for myself because this is something that I have been working on for years and I wantto double down on.

9:04 Because as life gets busier, as responsibilities grow, the impulse to have excuses and the impulse to stop creating is a forever insidious and permanent thing in the minds of artists.

9:20 The best way to push back against it is by flipping that little switch as often as possible,diving into that world. Tools or not, positive environment or not, positive headspace or not.

9:35 The act of doing is the thing. If you want to hit me up, scoobertdoobert.pizza. You can find all my links,you can find my music. That song that I referenced, a little hug is off of my EP, little hugthat you can find on Spotify too. And I hope you like it. Anyway, that's all I got for you.Talk to you guys next week. I'll see you next week.