Fear Of The Blank Page
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
I thought many of you might share an interest in a back-and-forth I recently had with one of our inspirational music composers. We’ve probably all experienced this perplexing problem at one time or another in our creative endeavors. The following contains excerpts of our dialogue.
Composer: I have been seriously stalling about doing some more composing. Fear of the blank page, I guess. I know you know what that’s all about… I’m not prolific at the best of times, but I need to start and get those first bars done…
Yours Truly: The basis of all this is that you have the music in you. There’s no question in my mind that this is true. If you can write (the songs I’ve heard of yours), you can go as far as your dreams. You have a great skill and talent and could easily have a terrific audience for your music. I think that “fear of the blank page” really means that you’re starting wrong. It means that you’re trying to start on the wrong beat, so to speak. I’ve seen it in so many composers and writers. I experienced it myself years ago until I figured it out.
