1- Making good music needs various aspects. Is reaching speciality in any or all of them as a single individual possible?

2- What's your practice routine? How do you share your time among those aspects?

3- Which of those aspects is your main concern and why?

and many more ...

Practice makes perfect but practices put the person in bewilderment.

 

Hm...Sounds like you're asking for my "Ancient Chinese" Secrets! Me lucky Charms!

There are so many... Here's one aspect...When Listening as you create, If you think something sounds "off" or wrong...It probably is.
Listen to your inner voice.

 

There are many different kinds of "good music", and they mostly take different kinds of discipline to achieve:

aesthetically good: whatever most moves you
conceptually good: works as an idea or fulfills a more abstract goal
formally good: embodies certain processes, structures, symmetries
expressively good: conveys raw experience/emotion, catharsis
functionally good: serves a personal or social function, dance, ritual

...are the ones that occur to me now. And they are each compounded by balancing your criteria against those of listeners. For example, a work that satisfies you conceptually might not mean much to others, or they might be looking for aesthetic appreciation. Or a work might fail functionally as dance music, even though listeners recognize it as formally well-made.

I see music and other arts as being like education, they are all process, and never truly complete. Not only do you not know what you can accomplish in ten years, you can't be sure of who you will be in ten years, or if the same things will matter to you. My own impression, as of now, is that I only reach any definitive state if I become complacent.

My main practice is mostly tinkering. Building gear, maintaining computers and gear, compiling and tweaking software. It's interesting, but IMO not very creative usually. This has become my practice through being poor, so needing to DIY so much that it fills my schedule. So really I would be better off now as an engineer or technician than a musician. But I remind myself that it has its own kind of artistry about it.

 

You're a great person.

 

...is this vaguely related to the old, 'if you've done 30,000 hours at something you're a pro'' adage?

general first thoughts on opening this thread: always be practicing the craft, accelerating your own skills (burning basics into your intuition and second nature); the real trick is knowing when to call in someone more advanced (mixer, arranger, player), and learn from their next course of action or just be cool and ask to sit in with them. (If you do the latter , do NOT ask questions at this time. Keep a notebook {create your own shorthand if need be} and ask for insight when the job is done or during an appropriate rest}

..these type of questions.. what is the aim... to exploit the ego? it seems like just coming up with them is an excuse. exercise discipline.


:28 minutes pass==
Ok back. Though a bit more on this while folding the laundry, stoned:

peace

 

All off topic comments cleared.
Please participate to the thread or pass your way.

 

Thanks Olymoon but I love Eddie, he's a good guy.

 

Just read my signature, it says it all except how to get there!

The thing is, if you choose to sit alone in your room and attempt to write, mix, produce, play, master and try to get as many people to listen to your work, you will find it hard going. Get out there and go to shows, hook up with like minded musicians and network. There are so many details that need their boxes checked off that unless you are incredibly strong in all these area it is best to pass off some of the duties. The sum can thus be greater than the constituent parts, though of course one can achieve success flying solo, but like Petula Clark says...