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1 New Song Every Week

From empty notebook to release.

By Richard SteighnerPublished 4 years ago 2 min read
1
Miss Mae (Week 1)

Happy birthday to myself! Another trip around the sun and STILL a pile of unfinished songs on my phone.

You know the feeling? Short voice memos from 3 AM "dooo dooo dooo daaaa, and then the drums go bm bm bsh I looooove it when you..." Hundreds of them. That doesn't even factor in the songs you've kinda finished. Like the one from 6 years ago still on your old laptop? Or the 80 track monstrosity that you couldn't look at anymore?

Yeah, I'm there too. And I'm putting an end to it.

Starting on my birthday (November 7) I will produce a song every week. And release it. With a video.

It's time! The crazy thing is I've actually given talks to other musicians about creating as much as you can and putting yourself out there. "Don't be afraid!" I said. "Don't worry about being perfect!" I said. And here I am preaching with no practice. The tools are nearly free (or you already have them). You can do this.

I can do this.

So week 1 is complete, and I wrote a rap about my Student Loans. It's all a cappella.

I filmed it here in Melbourne on a super rainy and windy day (pretty much like 90% of the year). The tripod fell over a few times in the wind. I chose to film on a graffiti covered bridge that serves (apparently) as a busy bike crossing at mid day. I used a DJI Osmo Mobile 3 to lock onto my face and screwed that up about 100 times too.

But I did it. And finished it. And released it.

At one point during the process I convinced myself that I should call it a day and go through what footage I had. It was that thin line between perseverance and acceptance. It was also a time when I was cold and tired and wanted to be done. A feeling of giving up started to fill me so I turned back and took another few takes.

That's maybe the first lesson on my long journey. It is hard to tell when you're being too precious or perfectionist vs when you need to push through once more. But it's a sensation, maybe. Or maybe it's like leveling a picture on the wall: you know it's level when you can't imagine either side being higher. To translate that, I got to a point where I could make it more perfect and could use what I've got. That's where I stopped.

Ok, for your viewing/listening pleasure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=iXjXZKOxf0I (watch through the end for outtakes)

The internet remembers forever and forgets in a day.

humanity
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About the Creator

Richard Steighner

US-born beatboxer

Cultural diplomat via US State Dept

Producer/Writer/Award-Winner/Award-Giver

thisisbot.com

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