do this
Published September 27, 2021
Want to take a 3 minute creative break right now?
Any creative time contains possibility: maybe it will change your state, maybe it will change your day, maybe it will shift something for the rest of your life. In 3 minutes? I dare you to find out. You’ll need: something to write with, and the internet-connected device before you.
1. Next, grab the book nearest to you.
2. Turn to page 37.
3. Write down the last 3 words on the page in reverse order. e.g. “are encountered abroad.” becomes “abroad encountered are”
4. Write down the next 3 words that come into your mind.
5. Go to https://chordchord.com and click on the “generate” button.
6. Sing the 6 words you see on the page before you. Improvise over the accompaniment. Let it be as absurd as you will. Don’t judge the impulses.
7. Let the accompaniment repeat and keep singing the phrase, letting your improvisation lean into a kind of repeated composition. In other words, as you experiment with singing these 6 words (and adding more, if you like; removing 1 or 2 if you like; breaking the rules if you like), let the experiment lead you toward one particular way of singing this set of words in a way that you can repeat the melody exactly.
8. Once you can repeat the melody, hit the PAUSE button on the accompaniment. Sing it again without accompaniment. It’s OK if it’s a little different.
9. Now record it on your voice recorder and give it a title.
How do you feel about it? Do you want to keep working on it? Do you want to try again, this time grabbing a different book and turning to page 59? And then dig into the settings button on chordchord.com and choosing “Minor”?
Anyone can do this. Even if you have experience with music, which often hinders our ability to hear things clearly, you can do this. And what is this? It’s a chance to let our egos step aside momentarily so that we can see something new and say yes to it.
Maybe you’ll happen to sing this to yourself tonight as you clean up the dinner plates. Who knows? Let me know if you do.
Thanks for joining me on this journey.
Encountered abroad are salient daytime things,
Gary
for golden lotus studio
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Gary Grundei, founder | composer
There’s a magic that can happen when you put creativity, growth, authenticity, generosity, and community all together in one virtual environment. golden lotus studio was established as an online community in 2018 to fill a need for composers and songwriters of all walks of life and experience and training and styles to be able to support each other in their creativity and growth.
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