Q:  4.20.20  4:54 pm I am curious about ideas generation process. When you have one idea on the piano, how long do you usually run with that? I've been getting back into creating music recently after a several years hiatus and I'm finding I am running with an idea for between 10 and 30 minutes or so before I can really move on to another totally different one. If i try earlier than that it is too similar. This is just idea Gen stage not songwriting so it feels way too slow. Any advice?
A: if you are looking for ways to come up with more different ideas quicker, you could try using various random prompts. a random image. a random word. maybe even a random song, and make it a goal that you are going to write a song in some way related to that song but definitely not that song. or you could use a movie as a starting point. you could even have a totally different type of session where you just come up with different types of starting points. then another type of session where you go through each of the starting points you came up with, and use them. you can use anything as a starting point, but ironically what often happens is if you generate ideas for a while, even if you seem like you're not getting enough, often as soon as you stop and do something else the ideas will fall on you. the truth is that ideas are everywhere, in every molecule. at the rate of about a kajillion ideas per molecule. so if you ever think there are not enough, the ideas will wait for you to stop paying attention and then laugh in your face, flaunting their abundance at you. the question is will you be quick enough on the button, to catch them, regardless of whether you are in the shower, a business meeting, in court, ........ and if the answer is yes then you know you're really in the game