It’s difficult to be consistent and creative at the same time when making music because you cannot force creativity through discipline. However, showing up regularly to the studio ensures more opportunities for channeling your creative intuition, which can work wonders in creating something unique and authentic.
Balancing these two essential aspects of music creation comes from sticking to a fairly organized routine, but it’s important not to get stuck in a particular way since that could jeopardize your creative output.
Let’s explore the relationship between consistency and creative freedom in more detail.
Ways to Balance Consistency and Creative Freedom For Music
Creating music is often a creative process, especially if an artist comes up with a new album with a different theme, forcing them to create something original and unique that adds more depth to their musical versatility.
The balance between consistency and creative freedom is possible if you make a flexible routine and adhere to it, which may sound like an oxymoron but really isn’t.
If you decide that you will force yourself to create songs or mix loops in a recording for 6 hours a day and three days a week, you can prioritize the consistency element of music creation, which is certainly beneficial for artists who procrastinate a lot and only work when they feel like it.
Creative output, on the other hand, means you give yourself the liberty to create music at your leisure and when you’re feeling the vibe, which can serve to balance the element of discipline that may become draining.
Since music is closely linked to emotion, you may have realized at various points in your career that relying on your feelings is the best way to create music.
However, you may also have noticed that you spend way less time creating music than you ought to if you only attach value to creative freedom, making it difficult for you to consistently produce enough songs by a deadline.
Artists need to have full control of their music creation output if they are to produce songs and music consistently, meaning there needs to be a balance of strict schedules and creative freedom.
Musical Identity vs. Idea Generation
There is no doubt that many of our greatest ideas come at the most unexpected times and places, giving credence to the idea that creativity should be prioritized if you want to create music.
Many artists get stuck in their music identity and create the same repetitive songs over and over again while avoiding risk, experimentation, and growth.
However, if you are constantly changing genres, you might not attract a loyal fan base, which is why you must prioritize creating a musical identity before becoming too comfortable with creative freedom in an attempt to constantly create something unique.
Final Verdict
Many artists may find that once they’ve developed their work ethic and learned to consistently produce output without any internal resistance, they feel more comfortable taking risks and experimenting with creative freedom.
Creating a balance between these two aspects of making music is possible through conscious intention, creating schedules for yourself on some days, and giving yourself some flexibility on others.
Eric Dalius is The Executive Chairman of MuzicSwipe. Eric Dalius is also the host of the Weekly podcast program named FULL SPEED. Eric Dalius is also a philanthropist, who has established four scholarships for US based graduate & under grad students.