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  4. PROCRASTINATION IN LONG-LENGTH COMPOSITIONS

  • PROCRASTINATION IN LONG-LENGTH COMPOSITIONS

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  • MackerM
    MackerM

    Hello Vesp,

    your sound design in your "Alchemist" works is impressive. Well done! And thanks also for discussing this aspect of creativity and innovation, which very, very rarely sees the light of day.

    I think your struggle is not principally with procrastination, but with perfidy versus fidelity. Specifically, it seems you are - somewhat sporadically - flip-flopping between fidelity and perfidy within yourself, vis-à-vis the music-making to which you are, on the one hand, supposedly 'wedded', at least for the duration of the lengthy main project; and on the other hand, tending to neglect or even forsake in favour of other musical ideas you are 'having a fling with on the side'.

    You said it - creating a lengthy opus is like a marriage, albeit not the kind of marriage that should last a lifetime.

    Let's be clear - without perfidy there is little if any chance of artistic innovation. In politics and in social affairs, perfidy is generally regarded as a sin - sometimes a very big sin (for example, in times of war, traitors may face the death sentence). But in activities that are supposed to involve art and creativity, perfidy is often given substantial license if not simply deliberately overlooked.

    But here's the thing: perfidy is not faithlessness - far from it. It's the voluntary switching of fidelity; the disconnection of fidelity to one realm or domain (however large or small), and its new connection to a different realm or domain. Those who are permanently sceptical to the extent that they can never commit fidelity: they are the faithless and they are most unlikely ever to be counted as true artists, or indeed as lovers. Artists are very different from sceptics. Artists cannot be artists without fidelity, and artists cannot innovate without acts of perfidy in their art - however big or small those perfidious acts may be.

    You've described a problem - or at least a struggle - wholly within yourself; one that, hopefully, will not lead to contractual delinquency. How best to manage perfidy within oneself? In my experience that's an art in itself. And alas, as I've always maintained, art cannot be taught directly. Nor can self-discipline.

    So, am I able to offer any help? Sorry, other than my bit of terse philosophy above, I doubt it. Is anyone likely to be able to help? I wouldn't bet on it, but let's see.
  • W
    W

    Macker,

    Your discussion of perfidy is fascinating as all your posts.  I first thought I shouldn't reply because of various twerps on this forum but I decided why let it preclude my perfidious exhortations? That is always to be enjoyed, like your posts which have been some of the most discerning as well as highly detailed and intricate. 
  • MackerM
    MackerM

    William,

    thank you so much for your very kind comments. And thank you even more for coming back to ... Stepford.