Lesson 1: Effective Creativity Workshop
You Can And Should Make Better Music
Hello and welcome to the first lesson of the Effective Creativity Workshop!
From the bottom of my heart, I’m so glad you’re here.
IMPORTANT: HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS COURSE
This course is broken up into three lessons. You may be tempted to rush through this work, but please space out each lesson by a couple of days at least so you have time to absorb, integrate, and put this work into practice.
Below is the lesson article, followed by some exercises, and finally a video to watch after you’ve gone through the exercises and are beginning to integrate this work.
Paid subscribers, please drop your answers to this challenge in the DYL2M Discord Server under Course Work > #creativity. And be sure to introduce yourself so we can all get to know you and support you on this journey toward making the most compelling art of your career!
Make Better Music
As you begin this journey of growing your music career, make note that none of the music industry strategies and best practices I will teach you in coming courses will work unless you make really, really good music. So naturally, making really, really good music is the first thing we’ll cover.
In my decade spent working as a music publicist, I sent out hundreds of records, most of which were actually nice to listen to but not good enough to stand out.
I spent countless hours scraping all the meaning I could into the press releases for these records, hoping to create an inroad for someone to access some meaning from these records.
I did this because whatever meaning went into making a given record was not delivered clearly and boldly enough to offer an obvious opportunity for connection to listeners, much less busy music editors sifting through hundreds of daily emails from hopeful artists and publicists like myself.
The playing field is crowded. Over 120K songs are uploaded to streaming platforms everyday. I’ve said it before, but I’ll said it again:
If you can’t make a room of 20 people lose their minds, you’re not good enough yet.
Once you can do that, future DYL2M workshops that handle more practical promotion matters will be fun and easy.
How Artists Get Stuck Making Average Music
Fear is the main reason artists make less-than-incredible music.
You can only make compelling music if you’re committed to clearly delivering and embodying intense emotional meaning (like FUN or defiance or romantic devastation or whatever) and frankly, most people are embarrassed to do that.
It’s cringe to go all in on something. It’s cringe to believe.
But you can’t give a listener something to believe in until you yourself believe.
Here are common problems I see with music when artists are afraid to be seen:
It’s not simple enough
They shroud their story in nebulous or overcomplicated lyrics that hide the meaning of what they’re communicating.
It’s not clear enough
They’re trying to make their music into too many things instead of focusing in on the kernel of truth
It’s not human enough
They’re too focused on creating a sonic/visual esthetic and not focused enough on giving people a opportunity for emotions connection or release
It’s forced
The artist is trying to emulate what they think an artist should be rather than connect to their own creative joy
Notice how I don’t really talk about people not having good enough chops. You don’t need musical chops to play punk music and that’s one of the most emotionally driven, connective genres period.
Being Good Looks Different
As Susan Rodgers writes in her book, This Is What It Sounds Like, each listener profile is different. Every ear has a different itch they’re looking for music to scratch. She talks about how different ears need different amounts/flavors of authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm and timbre.
Your music isn’t going to be for everyone. Thank goodness.
And you don’t need to be good at everything! Even better!
You could have crappy tone, bad vocals, shoddy rhythm, and no new ideas, but if your authenticity, for example, shines through in heart-shattering lyrics, your music will connect deeply with the right audience.
It’s important to know what you’re offering listeners.
It’s also important to get things like your fear out of the way so that you can offer it to them clearly and consistently.
Let’s Get To Work
Auditing, editing, and planting the seeds of your best, bravest music yet is kind of a big deal, but I know you’re up to the task. Your future fans are counting on you.
The coursework for Lesson 1 is broken up into two sections, intended to be completed over the course of two days. I recommend gathering the following supplies:
A notebook and pen
Headphones
Your preferred music-listening device & platform
Day One: Understand Your Offering
When I do work like this, I like to go for a walk in the park or for a drive out to the beach. Obviously, don’t write down stuff while you’re driving. Be safe. Wear comfortable shoes.
Step One
Spend some time with your music. Pick 2-3 songs of your songs that are your favorite. More, if you have time. For each one, spend some time listening and journaling on the following:
How does each song make you feel in your body?
What are you most proud of from the songs?
If you’re getting stuck on this, consider the following things human ears respond to in music: authenticity, realism (whether and how a tone sound real or synthetic), novelty (does it scratch your itch for something new or is it a fresh take on something comfortingly familiar), melody, lyrics, rhythm and timbre.
Step Two
Pick 2-3 of your songs that are just okay. Spend some time examining them and journaling on the following:
What were you going for in this song?
What were you hoping it would sound like?
Who were you emulating?
Step Three
Journal: What do you get out of your music?
Journal: List 2-3 artist who deliver a similar emotional energy to what you get out of your music. What do you get out of their music. Be as specific as you can about where and when you listen to it and how you feel when you do.
Journal: What do you hope people get out of listening to your music.
Day Two
Step One
Find somewhere comfortable and spend as long as you can imagining the following scenario:
Your debut major label release is met with critical acclaim, a classic overnight success. The artists and critics you most respect go crazy for what you’re doing. You spend a year touring the record and now it’s time to go back into the studio.
You’ve been lauded, and are now trusted, as someone on the cutting edge of your genre, with a deeply valued perspective.
Your friends, even the judgiest ones, have all come to see that you’re the real deal, every bit deserving of the success you’ve garnered.
You arrive at the studio one morning, the first of many months allocated to the creation of your next, highly anticipated record. It’s just you and your most trusted producer. Someone who really sees the art and meaning, not just in the music you make, but in you as a person.
For me, the person I see is Sean Beresford, the best producer I ever worked with. A soft-spoken brit in his mid-50’s who sees beauty and meaning and romance in everything. He will gently reimagine my vocal phrasing on the second half of a verse to breathe absolute magic into a song. He has wept with me in the studio. He once mentioned casually that Cassidy is a fitting name for me, wild and windswept. He said this in front of some other producers, like it was the most natural thing in the world. He is so deeply generous and gentle with me.
Imagine someone like that, who trusts magic to emerge from you.
You come in and sit down in the garden with a warm cup of coffee and your trusted producer, and they say:
The world trusts you. The world is listening. What album do you want to make?
What will it mean? What will the story be? What adventure will you take the world on?
Journal on each of these questions. Go into as much detail as possible until you have a very strong sense of what this album needs to be.
Step Two
Imagine your first show post-album release. What room are you playing?
Journal: The audience is singing along. Are they dancing? Holding each other and crying? Rushing the stage?
Journal: A fan comes up to you at the end of the night asking for an autograph. What do they say to you? How have you changed their life?
Step Three
Now imagine the studio budget is limitless.
Journal: Who do you need in the studio in order to make this album?
Journal: Who do you *not* need in the studio to make this album?
Journal: What external sources (people, media, stressors like traffic, etc) get in your head and interfere with your connection to your vision for this record? How will you wield your limitless studio budget to insulate yourself from this?
Journal: What physical/practical needs do you have that will support the over-the-top absolute victory in executing this album? Is it ample sleep to get your mental health sturdy? The ability to work all night? Friends around you in the studio? Solitude? Starting every day in the redwoods?
Step Four
Envision this record getting made in the most ideal, honest, and authentic way possible, pulling the very truest magic through you, straight from the creative source at the heart of the universe. Feel the record. Hear it. Feel how the knowledge of that record feels inside your body.
That record is yours. It’s the record you were born to make.
Making that record is your true north.
You must dedicate yourself to moving ever closer to making that record.
Now spend some time examining the distance between where you are now and making that record.
Journal: What fears stand between you and being able to make that record?
Fear of being seen? Fear of being judged?
Not trusting your collaborators? Not trusting yourself?
Not having the right collaborators?
Journal: Write down 3 things you can do this week, even if they’re super small, to begin addressing these fears and/or logistical limitations.
Finally, here are some thought I shared in our live call that might be helpful to mull over as you absorb what you’ve began to uncover.
Can’t wait to see you in Lesson Two!
Sending nothing but my very best,
Cassidy