How Is Creating Solo Different from Creating Collaboratively?
We're mostly in solo mode by default, right?
Transitioning from the hustle-bustle music-packed days and nights of the Walden Young Musicians Program to the hermetic solitude of a teacher's summer vacation is always a bit of a rough shift. When I'm working with other musicians all day every day, my brain gets stuffed with great new ideas, and I crave time alone to work on them! And yet, when I work alone, I crave the fun and challenge of collaborating with other musicians.
What are some perks of working solo and being a lone wolf?
You get to decide your own goals and work at your own pace.
However, you can fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over again. Even if you are willing and able to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, are you pushing yourself as far as someone else would? (I teach the 10,000 theory to my students, flawed as it is, and one of the qualifications is that you need to spend those hours doing something a little bit harder than what you did before. If you spend your time doing what you're already good at, you're not growing.)
You can pursue your weird oddball goals for which it might be hard or impossible to find collaborators (Puppet opera! Death metal tuba! Generative visual novel soundtracks!)
What are some perks of working in a group?
You're surrounded by other musicians who know things you don't (and are good at things you aren't)
You're given external goals - from leaders, but also from your peers
You get pushed out of your comfort zone
You are supported…hopefully!
What's the ideal situation? As with most things, a combination of each in just the right amount.
As I look back on different eras of my life (it is truly bizarre to think that I am old enough to have had different eras of my life, and yet my memory says it's true...), I think of a few times I've had the perfect balance, and a few times I leaned too far one way or another.
In my early 20's, I was in a cover band that gigged every Friday and Saturday. As a rule, they never rehearsed! If they wanted to add a song to the setlist, they'd let you know. It was up to you to find the time to learn your parts well enough that you could play them with no rehearsal in a few days.
In my 30's, I got the chance to do a lot of jazz piano gigs, which was great, but I didn't really put in enough time woodshedding on my own to reach the next level of musicianship (I'm trying to make up for lost time now, because why not?).
My college jamband rehearsed 4 nights a week (and generally gigged at least 2 other nights a week). We were super productive, but it didn't leave a lot of time for individual practicing. Also, I think it may have been a little too much together-time...
My sophomore year of college, I tried to make up for lost time on piano by practicing 3-4 hours a day. It was productive, but I wasn't really playing music with anybody else (not even taking lessons), so, in retrospect, I wasn't practicing what I needed to be practicing (I am super fast at those Hanon exercises though!)
I think my perfect balance was when I was in my graduate school, Vermont College of Fine Arts. Even though at the time I was also VERY busy getting my sea legs as teacher, the "low-residency" structure of VCFA gave all us composers time together to collaborate and be inspired but also time apart to develop our ideas.
How about you? What situation do you prefer, working solo or with others? How are you creating currently?
Oh, and if you're reading this, you might like to know that I've got two new songs out for this Halloween season! Lemon Halloween offers eerie vibes and spooky beats that I'm sure will give you chills in the best way possible. "Funereal March" takes Chopin on a lo-fi journey, while "Grin Goblin" infuses Halloween spirit with a warbly organ and haunting melodica. Join me on this journey to the Halloween heebie-jeebeies!
If you use Spotify, you can listen to it here:
And if you don’t use Spotify (I understand!), you can listen to it on whatever streaming platform you prefer! Just click the link: https://fanlink.to/natetrier