Finding the time to create music

Time is a scarce resource. There's no news in that. When everything that needs my attention in my daily life has been taken care of, I have like five minutes to work on my music.

Is there a way to create something in those five minutes? Not really. Is it possible to make those five minutes into fifteen or thirty? Yes, there is.

The answer to making more time for the stuff I like is planning. Planning and creating music sounds a bit non creative, but it is not. I find that the more I plan to create those moments where I can focus on the music, the more time I find. 

For me there is an important ingredient that helps  planning: collaboration. I have had long non productive periods in my life, it's been really tough, and I've thought a lot about it. I find that the reason my productivity have gone down is because my work has lacked meaning.

I'm a social person, yet I have spent most of my time writing and recording by myself. The lack of social stimulance and feedback has not been good for my creativity. Whenever I've had an idea for a song, I haven't had the drive to finish it, because I haven't seen the meaning of it. Who cares?

But, now. I'm having the time of my life writing and recording with Andreas. The lack of time is pushing us to do more with less. When we started playing a year ago, we were talking about recording ten songs in the first year, with full backing: drums, bass, piano, for our first album. We soon found that it was an impossible feat. So, we decided to focus on four songs, and record them with just guitars and vocals. That way we would finish something. Not a full album, but an EP. 

By planning the music production together, we push each other to finish what we started. We find meaning in creating something together. Even if we are tired most of the time we are working together, we are having a blast and we get stuff done.

/Christian