When my son was three years old, a giant Canadian Goose chased him 30 feet across the beautiful Huntington Botanical Gardens of Pasadena, California. Her beak squawking, wings flapping, and my outstretched arm inches from swatting the wild fowl back onto the manicured lawn it came from, I realized something. I shouldn’t turn my back on my toddler when the sign clearly reads ‘Danger Geese Aggressive.’ But I also realized that writing a song is sometimes akin to chasing a wild animal. One minute we’re getting along lavishly, and the next it’s turned on me, chasing my inspiration and confidence clear off the civilized pavement.

The chase can look like hesitation, fearing I’m getting stuck in the same old lyric lines, harmonic progressions, or melodic stylings. It keeps me waiting in the weeds, stalling and hoping for some kind of inspiration to tell me where to start or how to keep going. If only inspiration were there whenever I needed it, and stayed as long as it takes to finish the song.

But inspiration isn’t ours to control. We can, however, learn to tame it, understanding its ways so it drifts by more often. That’s where the craft comes in. Studying tools of the songwriting trade enriches the soil where inspiration roots. Or, to put more bluntly and without metaphor, makes us more consistent, productive, flexible, intuitive writers.

Every aspiring writer improves with practice. The reason why many of us don’t feel we’re budging from our nest in the weeds is that we aren’t sure what to practice. So we fill our days writing new songs, collaborating with anyone we meet, recording every song we write, entering song contest after contest, playing every gig and pitching every publisher night because a successful music career seems to demand we do everything all at once. There are an endless number of actions we could take with our music every day of the week. But none of us suffer from insufficient opportunities. Our problem, I believe, is knowing which are the highest growth opportunities to pursue. Those are the opportunities we should practice, over and over again until they yield the fruit we want to see in our lives.

When it comes to your larger goals with our music, which opportunities are right for you? Answering this question starts with knowing yourself. This week, take some time to reflect on some questions that will help you to know your intentions with your music for this year. You might consider:

Why is song your chosen vehicle to express your thoughts and experiences?

How is songwriting or music involved when you feel most yourself?

What is the most essential effect your music will have on your future listeners?

What is the most essential effect making music will have on you and your life?

Understanding the role music plays in your life keeps that northern star in sight, and helps distinguish growth opportunities from busy work.

When it comes to our songwriting, we can see growth opportunities when we know our own writing successes and pitfalls. Consider these questions for reflection:

What element of songwriting feels most natural to you to create?  Least natural?

What keeps you in the weeds of songwriting, hesitating to start or finish songs?

What qualities do your songs have as reflected to you by your listeners?

How frequently do you feed your creativity and idea bank by listening to music within and outside your preferred genre?

We may never fully know what drives us, or clearly pinpoint all our areas of growth, but we can keep holding up potential opportunities against the measure of our own desires. 

Stay true to your own intentions with your music this year. Know by what measure you’ll assess your successes. Be willing to pivot when your activities are no longer in line with your values and your goals. Let music blossom in your life by becoming a source of joy and deep satisfaction. Gravitate towards others who share you values of musical expression. You can restart, recenter, and re-imagine the space that music creation holds in your life. 

And if you feel like reaching out and sharing some of the answers to these questions, your goals and realizations, my team and I would love to hear about them. If you’re an alumni member, we’ve posted a thread in our Facebook group where we can share and engage, inspiring each other and providing accountability. If not, my team and I would love to hear from you via email, and you can connect with us here. I look forward to hearing anything and everything you’d like to share as you clarify your goals with music this year.

Stay creative,
Andrea Stolpe