Here I am, sitting in Underline Center on a random Saturday afternoon, trying to write about how I approach something creative. While writing this post is also a thing that I'm tackling, the rest of the post would cover how I would approach making music, if I ever lock myself in a room and come out only when I've exported at least a minute-long piece.
We, as humans, collectively consume something or the other daily. Art, books, movies, music, games, heck, even tweets, to keep our minds stimulated and busy, busy from all the piles of thoughts that would strike us out of nowhere otherwise. While consumerism is here to stay, not many think about creating something new.
In this era of generative AI spitting out content just because the system thinks two words (or any other media) go well next to each other because of mathematical vector databases (yep, that's exactly how it goes). I sometimes picture AI as a stressed, clueless kid who is churning out content just because maths told them it's right.
I am going to stop this train of thought from completely derailing, so let's go back to the topic. What do I want to create? For someone who plays balatro, checks Twitter, replies to messages, while on a team's call, the stuff that truly interests me does not have a visual media or even words are optional - music.
I have always liked music, and I joined keyboard classes one day in my fifth grade out of spite because my desk neighbour had a fancy piece of sheet music and told me I'd never understand it (suck it up, Mahima). I was a carefree, lazy schoolkid who joined the keyboard and picked it up because my mentor was ruthless if I showed up for classes unprepared. I soon liked playing it and the theory behind it. Music, as abstract as it may sound, follows rules and principles, and somehow ties to maths, but without being too maths-y. The sweet spot really clicked with me, but while I was really good at playing new stuff, I struggled coming up with something original. This was back in school, and years have passed now.
Now, what do I do if I were to write music from scratch? I got myself a MIDI keyboard for my birthday last year, and it has been collecting dust in my cupboard for almost 6 months now. What would I do if I decide to lock myself in the room, vowing only to come out after I've churned out something?
Heck, it's going to be short and something that would interest me. I know the genre that I'm going to do and the basic set of instruments it would have:
- Electric drums
- Keyboard
- Sitar (yeah, that)
- Bass guitar
- Church bells
- Saxophone
- Harp
- and others
I know this already sounds like an unholy mess, but there is a pleasure in finding meaning in chaos, and that is one of the reasons why I love music in the first place.
I have the basic drum pattern I'm going to start with, and I think I know the rough sitar tune that would come in, but I don't know the rest. I just know the bells have to come during the beat drop. I'm not even going to think about the lyrics, because I know the feeling I want to convey.
I have always liked terraces, and every terrace offers a different view - amazing city lights, corporate jungle, random parks, and horizon. If you've been to terraces too many times, you would find yourself getting lost in thoughts when you're looking at what's outside. You're usually accompanied by silence, with just your thoughts. When you return, you feel something has changed, but you can't really put a finger on what.
That is exactly what I want to convey in my first piece. Something new for everyone, such as terraces, offering a nice, soothing view for people. I know what I say probably makes very little sense, but I want to take a shot at it.