Sarah’s Blog
Hi, I’m Sarah. I absolved the preperatory course ‘Filmscoring and Production’ at Musicube Academy and now I am a first year student for Composition for Film and Theatre. In this blog I’m gonna share my personal experience as a student at ArtEZ in Arnhem.
Any questions: sarahs_blog@yahoo.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sometimes when I’m really concentrated, I breath out and simply forget to breath in. After a short while I recognise and gasp for air.
Breathing is important. Breathing is something so natural that you even don’t have to think about it, at least most of the time. When you’re stressed, a slow breath can center you again, to get back to yourself. But sometimes you need more air too.
Imagine yourself dancing. You need lots of air for that and still it’s pretty good for yourself. Your breath makes you alive. And it’s always a part of how you feel too.
This is the same with music. You can write music as simply as you can breath. Everybody can come up with a melody, because everybody can breathe. Whether it is a good melody or composition is another thing, but you can do it.
I experienced that if I try to control my breath, I often get the feeling that I suddenly forget how breathing works. It feels unnatural and I can’t do it for a long time.
Of course I’m not only talking about breathing here, I’m talking about composing. Breathe your compositions and it will all come naturally. Don’t try too hard to reach certain goals, just go with what feels natural.
And sometimes you need lots of air, and that’s totally fine as long as you keep on breathing deeply. Allow yourself to dance your music. Be aware that you can always write music, there is no such thing as a creative blockage. This is something your mind creates when you pressure yourself too much so you can’t listen to your instinct anymore. So basically it is an illusion no matter how real it might feel for you.
But you’re always in control, do something about it!
Don’t try too hard and work on the pressure and stress instead of forcing yourself to reach a goal. Be gentle to yourself and you’re gonna get the most out of it.
A teacher once said to me: Music is good as long as it floats. Of course it doesn’t mean that we can only compose music that literally floats with long legato bows etc. No, it means that as long as the music breathes, you can do anything and it will be great!
The most important thing is your mindset. It can increase your productivity immensely. Follow your good feelings, go with the flow! 🙂
All the best,
Sarah