Keeping Creativity as an Artist 
From the Podcast: Chillin with the Breeze hosted by Z8phyR
Hey everyone! Here is the transcription of the podcast episode of "Keeping Your Creativity". If listening or watching the video isn't your thing, take some time to read through this. I am positive you'll find some value in this and connect to these words as a fellow artist.
Once you've read through this - give me some insight into how YOU retain your creativity as an artist? I want to support and nurture this process in every being, no matter the level.
Keep up the great work!! -Z
Welcome everybody to the podcast today it's me Z8phyR. If you don't know who I am my real name is Donovan and I am a full-time musician that makes the genre Melodic Progressive House. It's one that I really enjoy and one that I hope to spread to others. And well, I kind of started up my little podcast here and one of the things that I wanted to kind of talk about in the podcast session is, well becoming the artists, like what are some ways that we can become the artist? And what are some things that we can do to basically keep our creativity up as an artist? So, I think every Saturday we're going to meet up around this time maybe 1:00 PM, 12 or something like that.
And I'm going to chat if nobody's in The Stage and nobody's here, it's okay. It's not a big deal. It's not really about who joins. It's about really us putting out this content for other musicians to hopefully hear in the future. And hopefully they can be inspired to create their next tune. So that's kind of the whole big deal here is that we want to really help the artists get what they want to get done. So, what are some things, that you, your self, if you're a listener, what are some things that you can do to keep your creativity as an artist and that you already do? So, I originally posted this on Twitter and we can just go ahead and pull that up here. I posted it on Twitter and I was like, hey what, what is, it that you think would be good.
And this one, I first, when I got, was from I'll go and follow him, he's from, @ClementsEtc, on Twitter. And he says, it might sound obvious, but the desire to push past what will work to something that might not, but also might be perfect. And I think that's a good, that's a good suggestion because, you know the idea is you push us a little bit past your limits. You're not just sitting in your comfort zone the whole time, rather, you're, you're trying to find ways to push yourself past your perceivable limits because they're not really your limits. There's just what you think you're stuck at. So, kind of actually sitting through it and pushing yourself through to the finish is a great way of really kind of inspiring creativity from out of nowhere, because the creativity will sort of stem from the process of you sitting down and doing the work itself and trying to make it, what would you imagine it to be
So, I agree with @clementsEtc on Twitter. I think that's a great a great way to keep your creativity up. And then another tweet was from at @grimAvenue on Twitter. He says lately it has been working with more instruments and I liked that too. And, also, I got a reply from Clements, he says, that's cool, soon it might be the opposite. And I think those are both valid, valid points where it might be the opposite where we're not working with instruments, we'll keep your creativity up. But what's grimAvenue is saying, he's saying working with instruments is something that helps him be creative. And I think that's actually really cool to, point out because a lot of times we're in this world where we're just working in a digital kind of environment and sometimes taking a step away from your environment and working with a more like an, like an instrument something organic or finding a different method of producing a song is actually, more stimulating for your creativity.
So, you know, I actually do have a ukulele and I've never been like trained or anything, how to play it or anything. I've just practiced it and I love the way it sounds. So, it's something that I use to stimulate creativity, even within my own self when I create. So, not only do I think that's a good suggestion, that's something that I myself implement to keep my own self creative whenever it's time to become creative. So, you know, finding different ways to keep yourself creative is cool. Here's the ones that are really like and this one's from, @Jack_ LaGrange on Twitter, he says hearing a beautiful sound. And I really liked that one because honestly at the end of the day, that's kind of what really inspires me the most to be creative, I think is hearing stuff that is beautiful, like a beautiful noise that kind of like triggers all these other kind of emotions on top of it all as well.
And I really like how just basically one sound will inspire the creativity to make a whole song it's happened to me many times. And I think that that's something that you shouldn't neglect either is maybe you should just explore sounds that you think are beautiful and don't worry so much about the other stuff, just make that beautiful sound, even more beautiful in your head and keep it going. So, @Jack_ LaGrange on Twitter, man, thank you for that one that is a very good point. And he even put it like an ocean wave emoji, which to me is like, you know, like beats like hearing the waves on the beach, the waves crashing, which is a great source of inspiration, you know? Let me see there's another, I think this is the last one I've got and this one is from, @sparklyspookay on Twitter.
She's very active on there and she's has a great account, very positive I really like her tweets. Anyways her response was well I give my attention to my design passion and write a lot of poetry, sing my songs, and remember my younger self dreaming about the future I'm living well, to her, she has inspired me and her, she's referring to her younger self dreaming about all of this. And that's something that's pretty interesting too, it’s like, if you're not feeling musically creative, so to speak, maybe you have a lot of creativity in the other arts that you don't even know yet. So, it could be worth picking up another you know, another craft or another art or hobby or something like that and saying, hey I'm gonna try to make something like this and see what it turns out to be so like, I actually am becoming more and more fond of designing as I get older in the musician world.
I used to write stuff, you know, I used to write lyrics and stuff here and there, but I haven't really been a writer as much lately as more of a musician, I just want to write music more so, but I write stuff like that as well. And then, singing your own songs, so like, yeah, like liking your own stuff, you know, enjoying your own music, I think is important because if you enjoy what you create, then you're gonna want to create more of it. So being creative really is it's, it's a mental roadblock, because you have the, the melodies there, they're there so, you know, they've been there forever and you just have to stay there with them, hang out with them and put them onto the paper, however that is to be put down.
So, that is a great way. I think that you can do to create and retain your creativity as an artist. And I think that's a great suggestion at @sparklyspookay on Twitter. I do think that paying attention to other parts of your passions that is what can really stimulate some creativity within your own world. So, I think that's all-what people have to shout it out on Twitter. If I get any more though, because I've tweeted out a couple of times then I will post that or if anybody else chimes in, I will post that as well. But some things that I personally have used to keep myself creative is, I make sure I show up as much as possible. I think a lot of times a lot of the boundaries to creativity is that you just don't show up and sit down and do it to begin with.
So, I just show up. So that really kind of keeps me creative and two I'm very, I'm very curious. I let myself be curious about things and I think that is good for creativity because curiosity sort of breeds these new kinds of interactions with sounds or instruments or anything like that. And it breeds a lot of interesting outcomes. So, I think that if you sort of mull around and, and become curious and experimental a lot, the creativity sort of sourced through the roof, because with the experimental nature of what you're doing, you're bringing out these qualities in the sound that may not, may be overlooked by others who have, may have heard it as well. So, you know, being experimental helps me out also things that, things that I could [mumbling10:05], what else?
Oh, I'm trying, you know, like something that, a genre that you like that you haven't tried before that will open up a lot of things sometimes like the drum beat being different, makes your brain sort of approach it differently. And then when you do it like that, you sort of, when you come back to your main genre, whatever, so to speak, you then are making creative moves in that drawn genre that you made in the other ones. And that's inspiring these decisions inside of you that you probably didn't know were there and that's a bonus to creativity, you know, that's a bonus to your productions. What are some other things that I personally do? I freestyle a lot on my instrument, so I do play the piano; but I just play around on it a lot.
And usually playing around on the piano, you can discover a lot of sounds hidden from within that keeps me motivated to kind of push it towards the end. So, finding these little miniature storylines into the sounds and then taking those little storylines and converting them into bigger ideas it's very creative, inspiring. It'll inspire some different kind of moves and makes you want to create. Try things like yeah, like going out of your element or taking a good reset where, I would say a good reset where you have a stop date, but the stop date means you have a start date. So, you can't just really decide, hey, I'm going to pick a break and then, and then not really, you can come back whenever you feel like it type of thing.
I think it's more like, you know, decide that, Hey, this Saturday, this Sunday, I'm not going to do anything that has to do with producing I'm going to go outside, I'm going to go read some information I'm going to ...maybe I'll play games, something like that, you know, take yourself out of the element of having to produce all the time and make something out of it and go do something else. And then, and then come back to it, of course always come back to it, you know, don't, don't just leave it and say, well, I left it because I was having a hard time and I don't even want to try to figure it out. Like, no, you come back to it, come back to it and figure it out, it's okay. So, you know realize how insignificant you are.
That's probably my final kind of philosophical way of, trying to help you keep your creativity as an artist, realize how unimportant insignificant your music is. And it doesn't mean that like, don't try just you know you're not as big as you think, and you're not anything special. And the greatest part about it is, well, you don't have to really impress anybody and keep up this façade, that you're a great thing, just be yourself. And yourself isn't anybody big, yourself as just a normal person like me and you were all normal people. So, you know, we like to help each other out and do things along the way. So, keeping yourself humble to what you're doing is a great way to kind of remember that, you know, you don't have to figure out that melody, you don't have to figure out that chord, instead you just sit with it and you work with it.
And I think this kind of starts to build a resilience and it keeps you from stepping away from it from too much, because, you know, the idea is you really want to commit to finish the project. And if you run out of creative options to go through, then you know, that's, that's a barrier to you completing your project, which we don't want. You know becoming the artists, you should stay creative, you should stay creative. And the minute you lose your creativity you, you need to assess that and find ways that you can rebuild that or regained that from within yourself or through others. So, if you, yourself, aren't feeling creative, we'll go hang out with creative people. Let me tell you that much, go hang out with somebody who is creating a lot, not trying to shut myself out, but hang out with anybody who's creative and that you enjoy and go, go enjoy their process, go be a part of their creative process, because you're really learning a lot about how to be creative yourself.
And then while you're doing that, I think being supportive at the same time as great, you know, so go study other people and then yeah. Share their music, comment on their videos, comment on their YouTube videos, comment on their SoundCloud. Don't be so selfish with it, that's something that I personally have kind of had to realize, like my SoundCloud, isn't this like sacred place where I'm only allowed to repost certain things. And I'm only allowed to like certain things, my Instagram isn't like that either. You know, now of course I'm only going to like, and repost what I like, but just because it isn't in that genre or something doesn't mean I won't. So, because I still find creativity from it all like, wow, that was a creative way he did that.
So go to Twitch, go to Twitch, and go to the music producers on Twitch. You'll find a bunch of people zero to one viewers and they're amazing, amazing, I promise. So, if you need some help or finding some creativity go find these other producers and musicians on Twitch. There's so many, and they're always on there and they have little to no viewers and they would love to have somebody to hang out with, you know it's always nice. And then you come out to being a little bit more creative, because, you know, at least you're supporting a creative person if you're not feeling creative and the thing is about it is doing good stuff like that kind of comes back around, tenfold on you, you start becoming more creative just naturally. I do believe that.
So, keep that little nugget in mind. Go see other people's stuff, go watch other people create. And then and then I think that's really my final sort of nail in the coffin about it. But you know, believe in yourself, believe in yourself, believe in what you're doing. Believe that you are an artist, believe that you can create the music and create it and believe that is what you were supposed to create. You'll get better over time. You will always be improving as long as you stay at it. So don't give up, keep it up. And we will keep trying to keep you creative. So, a massive thank you to everybody who had threw your topics and suggestions out on Twitter. Thank you to everybody who are tuning into the live streams.
We are on Twitch live pretty much Monday through Saturday in the morning. And we will be doing more music production. We've done some tutorials already. We've gotten this discord server growing as a lot of great people. A lot of good stuff is going on and it's just great to see the growth. So, I hope to see more of you and I hope that this was helpful and beneficial to you in some way. And if you did find any value from it, just leave me a comment. You know, post something about it. Tweet at me at Z8phyr Twitter. Let me know what you thought about this podcast episode. Massive love everybody. Thank you so much for hanging out with me and tuning in and I hope this was helpful for, to you. Bye everybody.