ASCAP Expo pt.2

Here I am again folks, going through a few of my notes that I took
from the panels, and I feel like writing about the very first panel that featured
Natasha Bedingfield, Sean Callery, Wyclef Jean, Ryan Tedder and Craig Wiseman.

Alright, so one of the topics that kept popping up was about ‘Writer’s Block’.
Yeah, we’ve all been there–cruising along, everything is fine, then one day
you look ahead and there’s a dead-end–or, maybe, you’ve ran out of gas.
That totally sucks, doesn’t it?! I know, I know.

There’s a lot of different cases of The Block and usually the one that I find myself hitting
is not knowing where to take my music next or which direction I want to go.
It could be that I’m not happy with the chord progression,
or the instrument used for the chords, or it could be that I can’t figure out a nice melody
that fits within the chords–or the other way around.
Man, recently I’ve hit The Block before I even touched my equipment.
I was overly thinking the definition of R&B and when you tell someone
you make R&B music, how vague that can be! The elements of R&B can range from
fully fleshed tracks with acoustic guitar/piano or a slightly deep-kick with synths.
I was thinking about what I should do, and, well, when my computer was turned on…
I had no idea ~_~

Natasha Bedingfield’s case of The Block, back in the day, wasn’t about,
‘I can’t think of anything to write’ but her own perfectionism was her yellow light
that slowed her down. She thought too much about her work, in a sense of judgement–
thinking that the song was not good enough.
That is a huge Block, no doubt; thinking that what you’ve just made
shouldn’t have been made at all.

The lesson here, people, was, not to judge your work while you do it.
Craig Wiseman told us to let your cautiousness go–stop worrying and just let it flow.

Great advice, folks! Stop thinking about whether or not your work is good or bad
while you create it. Simply because you have to focus on your creativity at that point–
Once it is complete–then make a decision!

Remember, just keep making music, even if it does not turn out amazing–its all practice.
When I was unhappy listening to my past tracks, my girlfriend told me, you have to make
bad ones to know which ones are good–word.
You gotta make a few crap songs (or MANY) to make good ones!

That’s all for now–I’m hungry.

–Quality Pusher

Remember, please Comment on my post–
let me know what’s on your mind

If you didn’t go to the Expo, man, on the real–you missed out!
The amount of first-hand experience/knowledge spoke to us by
professionals in the industry (whether, music, film or television) was
incredible. From many wise words by Johnta Austin about stop focusing
on making a “hot record” — cuz hot gets cold! Just focus on making a
great record! Also, Austin mentioned that you shouldn’t write a type of
‘Usher’ song or a ‘Beyonce’ song if you just listened to their latest CD,
because what you’re listening to is old already–so, you have to write
a song in terms of the future, for the Artist–try to figure out what kind
of mood/mind-state they might be in, in the future, instead–not what
they just put out. Johnta Austin is a wise individual, no doubt–
glad they saved the best for last.

Throughout my future posts, I’m probably gonna go on rants and whatnot
if something is on my mind, especially regarding the ASCAP Expo.

Shout out to everyone I met! I’ll be hitting you up real soon–
I wanna put up a few more tracks first.

What’s going on folk? Just wanted to let yall know that
I’m heading to LA for the ASCAP Expo. I’m really excited!
It’ll be my first Music Convention/Conference I’ll be attending.
Reading through their program schedule, there’s gonna be a lot
of learning involved from discussions about the state of the industry,
networking, publishing deals, and so much more.

I got my business cards ready, and I got my Demos ready–
gotta remember to bring a pen and pad to take notes!