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Comfort Zone: Enter at Your Own Risk
By Mary Dawson
What is the greatest fear of any writer? Probably the dreaded malady known as writer's
block -- that terrifying experience where you sit down before a blank piece of paper
and absolutely nothing comes to mind. Not one creative flicker! You may sit there for
hours and still -- nothing! Then the Doomsday fears begin... What if you are never able
to write again? What if your best days are behind you and your artistic cells are
turning to mush? Most writers have been there...done that...and have lived to tell.
Writers block, though very uncomfortable, is usually not terminal. When you least
expect it, a great idea rises to the surface of your mind and you are back in the
"divine flow" again.
I would suggest that there is a far greater danger for the creative soul -- the perilous
area known as the Comfort Zone. You know how it goes. First, you become aware that you
have a talent for songwriting. You like to do it and people respond to what you have
written. You enjoy the creative experience, the recognition that follows -- and so,
you do it again. More pleasant feelings and responses. Pretty soon you are cranking
out melodies and lyrics by the dozen. They're coming easier now...and faster...but if you
are not extremely careful, you will wake up one day to find yourself in the dreaded
Comfort Zone -- that place where all your songs begin to sound alike.
Be honest. You know what I'm talking about. Every songwriter has struggled with it. You
know four chords well on the guitar, so you write every melody over those same four
chords. Your fingers just naturally gravitate to them…that same progression...that same
sequence. And in case you are still in denial, there are only so many melodic notes
that can connect those same harmonic dots, so pretty soon your melodies start sounding
the same. But it's not just guitar players who are guilty here. Keyboardists…time to
'fess up. We do the same thing. Even the great Burt Bacharach admits:
I can't say enough about where your hands tend to go, because they've been there
before ...You'll write what your hands can play instead of what an orchestra can play.1
And lest you think I am picking on composers, lyricists can fall into the same trap.
We become comfortable with single syllable rhyming words like true-blue-do-you, and
we keep using them again and again. After all, it's so much easier to use those
familiar rhymes than to force yourself to learn a new vocabulary word that might
require some thought and creativity to rhyme effectively. Jimmy Webb states the
problem succinctly:
The consistent use of overly familiar language in line after line nudges the writer
inexorably toward cliché. Why so? Because generations of industrious rhymers have
already applied themselves to wringing out the possibilities of such standbys as
"love-dove-above" -- "heart-start apart" -- and "eyes-cries-tries." The cliché is
waiting in the tired rhyme with a Cheshire cat grin. 2
In my more than twenty years in the music business, I have seen the Comfort Zone
snare many talented songwriters/artists/musicians who never achieved their full
potential simply because they were too comfortable to try for something higher or
better. Many of these people failed to use even half their "suitcase" of abilities
and talents because they were sidelined by satisfaction with the status quo. Do you
know that many studies have revealed that the average person possesses from 500-700
different skills and abilities? How many of these can you identify in yourself?
Or are you just complacently strumming your guitar or playing your keyboard, using
the same chords you did ten…fifteen…twenty years ago? Have you ever considered
launching out to try a completely different instrument? A different genre of music?
Even a completely different skill altogether (like photography, graphic design,
woodworking) that may stimulate your creative juices and increase your options for
success?
Change takes courage, so if you need some motivation in this area, I highly
recommend the new ABC television series, Dancing with the Stars.
In addition to breathing new life into the long-neglected art of ballroom dancing,
the program features several very courageous, non-Comfort Zone, celebrities whose
fame and talent had nothing to do with ballroom dancing. Take Jerry Rice, for
instance. Famous for his sixteen seasons with the 49ers, Jerry may be "comfortable"
on the football field, but when he agreed to become a celebrity dancer on Dancing
with the Stars, he was definitely out of his element. When the show teamed Jerry
with Russian pro dancer, Anna Trebunskaya, Jerry's football accomplishments "didn't
impress her much." She was out to train this non-dancer and win the competition.
I remember clearly the first episode of the program when Anna (who believes that "real
men play hockey") set out to make a dancer out of this football player. She put
him through some paces he had never experienced and deflated his Comfort Zone
confidence quickly. When the interviewer asked Jerry why he would subject himself
to such punishment, and the possibility of humiliating himself on live television,
Jerry simply explained that he wanted to try something new. He had achieved
remarkable success and recognition in sports, but he wanted to find out if he
could dance as well. The competition has proved that he can -- and it has made
Jerry a more multi-faceted and respected celebrity than ever before.
I promise that you have talents and abilities you know not of! Why? Because you
haven't even tried them yet. Who knows? That undiscovered gift may be the very
one that will set you apart and make you the Star you have always dreamed of becoming.
How and where do you start? I would suggest the first step is to make a list of
all the things you enjoy doing or wish you knew how to do. What are you fascinated
with? What skills would you like to develop -- musical or otherwise? Then begin with
some baby steps. You might take a music theory course at a local college to expand
your harmonic options as you write. Perhaps you simply need to read some great
literature to expand your vocabulary and stir your soul. Or maybe you could learn
a completely new skill like oil painting…cross stitching…sound engineering…graphic
design…golf. You may need to just get out more -- meet some new members of your
music community and try writing with some different collaborators. It's always
scary to enter a new co-writing experience, but I can personally testify that by
meeting and collaborating with composers in many varied genres of music, I have
been published in styles I would never have attempted on my own.
Whatever you try, it really doesn't matter whether you succeed or fail. Either
way, your brain cells will be stimulated, your capacity will be enlarged and you
will be amazed by the potential that was in you all along. It is the experience
of trying that grows you, develops you, enriches you and keeps you out of the
clutches of the deadly Comfort Zone.
Never underestimate yourself. Make it your aim to leave this life with every
last brain cell having been used up! As author Ray Bradbury has said so eloquently:
We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and
will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for
another. The Universe has shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts.
1Bacharah, Burt, The Look of Love Compilation
© 1998, Rhino Entertainment Co.
2Jimmy Webb, Tunesmith, p.54
**From her earliest childhood years writing simple songs
and poems with
her father, through her twelve years as an overseas
missionary, to her present,
multi-faceted
career as an author, lyricist/songwriter and conference speaker,
Mary
has always been adept at using words to communicate her heart to
others.
She is the President of
CQK Records &
Music of Dallas, Texas, a company which creates and
produces songs in a panorama of musical styles for a
variety of audiences,
She is the host of "I Write the Songs,"
a nationally syndicated radio talk show,
especially created to
inspire and instruct the more than 40 million aspiring
songwriters in the U.S.
Mary is a frequent public speaker and seminar lecturer
and teacher of songwriting in her popular Living Room Seminars.
She is a Contributing Editor for The Internet Writing Journal
®. You can visit her website at:
www.cqkmusic.com. You can reach Mary
by email.
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