Introduction
Over this past year, the idea that our surroundings directly influence and inspire our music consciously or subconsciously has begun to fascinate me. After moving from my flat in Glasgow to a Yurt on the remote peninsula of Knoydart, I found myself ‘inspired.’ Before moving to Glasgow, I knew cities were no great love of mine; but it wasn’t until moving to Knoydart that I became aware that living in a bustling town had stifled my creativity and artistic expression. After arriving on Knoydart, I started a list of moments and images about which I wanted to write music: one tune per moment. I found that looking out to sea, to the horizon and the seemingly endless open space, every day exhilarated me. My mind felt clear and free from the constraints of city-living.
I now believe that the landscape surrounding me directly influences my music. In Glasgow, I felt that inspiration rarely came naturally, and required hard work and conscious effort to find. Here on Knoydart, while I still need to sit down and make time for composition, I feel much more excited: full of ideas and images of this place that I find so beautiful. In addition, I have recently been attempting to phase out using my smartphone; I want my mind to be as clear and free of unnecessary distractions as possible. I find that when my brain has time to be without stimulus, I notice myself becoming much more creative and gravitating towards activities I consider productive like art, composition, and gardening or cooking. My best ideas tend to come when I am away from the internet: in nature, or when just letting myself be still. However, giving up my smartphone has proved difficult. I struggle to keep myself disconnected. The pandemic and the lockdowns it has brought have meant that, for me and so many others it seems, the internet has become one of the only ways to stay connected with others. And yet, despite the internet becoming an even greater necessity for my work and social lives, all of the ideas and inspiration for my tunes came from either being outside or by being directly affected by the natural world in some way.
Term Definitions:
Inspiration: “Inspiration is a feeling of enthusiasm you get from someone or something, which gives you new and creative ideas.” (“Inspiration Definition And Meaning | Collins English Dictionary”)
Creativity: “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination”. (“Creativity Definition And Meaning | Collins English Dictionary”)
Methodology
My purpose for doing this research project is to understand my compositional style better, learn more about inspiration for myself and discover what inspires my peers. In addition, I want to explore the idea of my music having a unique ‘sound’, and share stories from my time living on Knoydart through the tunes I have written. To help me achieve these aims, I have employed several research methods:
Literature review
It was necessary to establish a base line of knowledge about creativity/inspiration in the context of musical composition by reviewing existing research done on the subject. I used online resources only, since obtaining physical research materials on Knoydart is expensive and challenging even without the added factor of the pandemic, and endeavored to stick to reputable sources such as archives, journal articles, and videos from mainstream educational bodies.
Auto-ethnography
My primary source for this paper is my own auto-ethnographic experience of composing. This involves the analysis of my creative process, inspirations, and the stories behind my tunes.
It was challenging to keep a rigid schedule for writing the tunes, and during the first term, my tune writing was a lot more sporadic. During the second term, I seemed to find a groove and was able to write my tunes succinctly and timely.
Online survey
To discover what inspires my peers and what their processes are when writing tunes, I created a short online survey. My experiences with composition can then be compared to theirs to give further insight.
The Tunes
Seapinks
The first tune I wrote as part of this series, Sea pinks was inspired by a flower that grows by the sea on the rocky cliffs. I was mesmerized by how hardy they were, yet how delicate they appeared. After seeing them over the summer, it was clear I would be writing a tune about them someday. When I decided to start composing it, I would look back at a photo for inspiration. The A part of the tune came relatively quickly, but it took a few days to decide what would come next in the B part. The B part has a bar of 5/4, which I felt led nicely back into 3/4.
This tune was written right before the start of term one. Feeling slightly melancholy about the end of summer and warm days, as well as the freedom and lack of routine that the summer holiday had given me, the tune has moments of tenderness, yet it is overall hopeful and joyful. While the tune is about Sea Pinks, it still reflects how I felt when it was written. I was also looking forward to the start of the term and the beginning of my final year in higher education, so having elements of light was important.
The Rambler
The Rambler is the second tune I wrote for this project. Inspired by a woman whom I met over the summer: a hillwalker on her yearly trip to Knoydart. She had come down to our little yurt village on her walk and informed us that she would come down to the croft and mourn at the house’s sad state and its lack of inhabitants every year. I live in a yurt just next to a house site that my partner’s family has been in the process of building, and to say we were all a bit put off by the rambler’s announcement is an understatement. After chatting with us, she walked down to the house while we watched in awkward silence. It was such a strange meeting and situation that I felt it deserved a tune. It was my goal to write something that felt out of place. The woman intruded upon us in a personal way, and I endeavored to compose The Rambler in a way that reflected the uneasy, slightly uncomfortable feeling we had.
The tune is a slow reel with a few odd-metered bars. Something I have discovered while composing is that I naturally gravitate towards uneven bars. It’s not something I do intentionally; it happens organically. For this tune, I had a bit of fun with my levers. The second bar’s repeated Eb is my D string with the lever up and my Eb string. It allowed for a more open, less interrupted sound which I liked. The B part for this tune also took quite a long time to write. The A part came quickly, and I tried for a few weeks to develop a B part. Finally, I played something I loved, and it was complete.
Mother Earth and Sister Sea
Mother Earth and Sister Sea is one of my favorite tunes I wrote this year because of the journey that composing it led me on. I struggled to get started with this tune. Initially, I wanted it to be a slow air in Eb, but it was not coming out that way. It was as if the music already had a form that refused to be warped into my pre-existing conditions. Having so much writer’s block, I decided to go outside and look at the view, which was the inspiration for this tune. Every morning I stand on the hill and look out at the Sound of Sleat and the isle of Skye beyond it. While I stood on the hill trying to take in the view, I decided to listen for a note. The waves were crashing on the beach below, and I recorded myself humming along to the note it made, which was a D. Then I walked down to the burn and listened to the water rushing through the gorge. It was the same note. So that was where I started the tune. From there, it just tumbled out. It still took time, but it felt like a relief to get the tune out of me and onto the harp. I love how the B part the first time through is shorter than the second time through. The last three bars are only played on the second time through the B part.
I feel that the tune’s unevenness and how it balances together really represent the harmony and dissonance experienced in nature—the delicate balance of all living things. Somehow the tune flows naturally and smoothly, which to me is very much how the earth functions.
Chickweed
Chickweed is a special tune I wrote for my partner. We decided to get a civil partnership after we graduate, and we wanted to have a bit of fun still and surprise each other with our rings. Both ‘proposals’ were unexpected and lovely. Both also happened in our yurt in the evening when we had a fire blazing. My ring is engraved with a chickweed flower, hence the tune name. My memory of the proposals was of being so excited, happy, and warm. I tried to put that across with my melody. I wanted it to sound joyful and full of love and warmth. The tune is in E major, which on my harp means all the levers are up. This immediately adds a brighter sound to the tune. The tune is a slip jig with bars of 12/8 at the end of the A and B parts.
Moonbow
I had never seen a moonbow before this summer, and It was enchanting! A moonbow is precisely what the name implies: “A lunar rainbow or ‘moonbow’ is a magical sight created by moonlight passing through fine spray.” (The Guardian) They are much harder to see and a lot fainter than solar rainbows but stunning nonetheless. When writing this tune, I wanted to put across the magical and exhilarated way I felt when seeing my first moonbow. The tune is in G major and has a long A part compared to most of my other tunes. The B part is my favorite. The tune is in 4/4, and the second part has a few bars of ¾, which propel it and give it momentum. This effect of going from crochets to quavers reflects the bubbly excitement I wanted to portray.
Earth Soup
The sixth tune written for this project was inspired by a gale one night, when I was awoken by the howling wind and the feeling of the yurt being buffeted and pushed by the wind. As I was lying awake in bed, I felt as if the winds were stirring me in a pot of ‘earth soup.’ I wrote down the phrase as a tune name I wanted to use and then promptly fell back to sleep lulled by the rocking winds. Later, when writing Earth Soup – it was during another gale – I listened to the sounds of the yurt being blown about and picked a key that seemed to fit with the wind. I wanted to write in harmony with the gale as the flapping canvas can become very loud. I later raised the tune by a half-step to make it playable for the fiddle. The effect that the odd bars create makes the tune feel cyclical and less apparent when the A part ends and the B part begins. To me, this mimics the feeling of the wind circling the yurt.
The Window
The walls of the yurt in which I live are made of canvas and are insulated with sheep’s wool. It has a wooden door, and without a window of any kind it was quite dark inside initially. While staying inside during less favorable weather, I began to feel quite cooped up and restless. After a particularly long spell of bad weather, the answer was clear: we needed a window. One dry evening, we decided we couldn’t wait any longer; after a few hours with a saw and a pane of recycled glass, we had a yurt with a view. The window drastically improved my mood and made me so happy that I felt it deserved a tune. The melody is joyous and bright, much like how the yurt is now it has a window. The tune is in F major which immediately puts across the idea of happiness. The continual bouncing to and from a held C note in the A part adds a lightness.
Fairy Ring
Over the summer in the garden, I stumbled upon a ring of mushrooms. My partner told me it was called a fairy ring. I wrote the tune before I discovered the darker elements of fairy rings. “In English and Celtic folklore, fairy rings were caused by fairies or elves dancing in a circle. It was said that if humans joined in the dance they would be punished by the fairies, and made to dance in the ring until they passed out from exhaustion.” (Vickers) My tune is major and quite happy sounding because my perception of fairies was that they are light and floaty. The tune reflects that, and were I to write the tune now; it would sound very different. There would be many more elements of darkness and suspense. Not to say that it should be different, I am happy with the tune and how it represents my feelings and knowledge at the time.
Nature’s Velvet
I love moss. Ever since being a child, I would imagine that fairies lived in tiny houses made of moss under tall trees in the forest. On a warm day, I was sitting on some rocks and beside me was a lovely patch of gorgeous green moss. As I sat stroking it, it made me think how marvelous it was that something so soft and fluffy grew from the earth. It felt like nature’s velvet. I started writing the tune in one of my lessons with Corrina. I was having difficulty getting started with it, and she suggested I make a fresh attempt in our lesson. After only a few minutes of improvising, I had isolated three phrases to carry into the composition. The tune was then quickly finished, and it is a short and simple air. The process of writing this tune was much more focused on improvisation compared to the other tunes. It helped free myself the weight of over-thinking and allowed me to write much more quickly.
Magic Meteor
We don’t have a shower on the croft, but we do have a lovely bathtub outside. When the wood fired oven has been on all day, and the water is hot enough, running a deep bath in the evenings is a special treat. On a clear night, you can see so many stars. Before moving here, I never really looked up at the sky all that much. I’d certainly never seen a shooting star. Now I’ve seen too many to count. They really are magic meteors. Writing Magic Meteors was another quick composition. I wanted to try composing a strathspey, and it came together quite quickly. I wrote it in one sitting and was pleased with the result as all of my other tunes took multiple days to write. It’s a very short tune which perhaps, in the future, could be expanded upon and given a third or fourth part.
Rainbow Weather
An accidental eleventh tune, ‘Rainbow Weather’ was inspired by the sporadic, changeable weather of the Hebrides. One minute it’s sunny and the next it’s raining. I like to call it rainbow weather as you never know when you might see one. My goal for this tune was to write a major A part and a minor B part because I wanted to try and set a more concrete idea of the tune’s final form before beginning a composition. Using a more improvisational approach, I played around for quite a while, but once moving on to the B part, I lost interest in the A part and decided to scrap it and use the B part as an A part and not to force a major/minor tune. By doing this, I did not fulfill my original goal yet, I feel that the tune that emerged, sums up the previous ten tunes. There are recognizable phrases in it, and I think that’s quite poetic as it nicely bookmarks the end of this project.
In her chapter, Jackie Wiggins writes, “When researchers look at compositional process in action, they find considerable evidence that, as they work, individuals hold some kind of holistic conception or vision of the final product. If music is composed for a particular event, ensemble, occasion, instrument, etc., this will color preconception and establish some of the context. Beyond this, it is evident in composers’ descriptions of their initial conceptions and in what researchers have observed in initial stages of the work that composers generally work from a preconceived image of where they are headed and accept or reject ideas based on how they fit that image. Alternatively, the image may shift to embrace the emergence of an interesting idea. The interaction between germ and image of the whole is constant throughout the process.”
With ‘Rainbow Weather,’ I had an idea of what the final product would be before I sat down to write, but that image changed based on a phrase that altered the entire tune and its destination.
Survey Results
Throughout the process of writing my portfolio of tunes about Knoydart, I’ve watched myself learn, grow, and develop new skills in terms of composition. This was one of my main goals for my final year of study. Writing music has been such a powerful tool in understanding my musicality and in finding my musical voice. I love playing my own tunes because I feel like I can completely connect with them, and I have so much to say through the music as they are written about my own experiences. I wondered if this is true for other people in my community of practice as well.
Since I seem to have found that drawing from a specific moment or image is a successful method of finding inspiration in my own compositions, I created a digital survey to ascertain if this is also the case for other practitioners of traditional music. I only had eighteen responses but got a wide variety of answers.
The first question I asked was, “How often do you write a new tune?” Five people wrote a tune once a week and three said they wrote a new tune every month. The rest of the respondents said they wrote tunes whenever they felt like and very sporadically. I love the idea of writing new tunes whenever the motivation arrises as this seems the most organic and natural. But for this project, I had a deadline for myself, and of course, that encouraged me to write much more frequently than I had in the past.
The second question posed to the respondents was, “On average, how long does it take you to write a tune?” The most common answer was one hour (five participants). Others said a day, a week, or less, five to ten minutes. It seems to vary quite dramatically between everyone as they all presumably have differing creative processes. There was a tune that took me a month to write; others that took only an hour. When I over-analyze a tune and try to listen in to the silence for the following phrase, it takes me so much longer. When I sit and improvise, I can write a tune much quicker, yet phrases I have already written pop up more frequently, making the tune less unique.
For the third question, I asked, “Which comes first usually, the tune or the name of the tune?” This question’s answers were almost unanimous, with seventeen out of eighteen people saying the tune came first. For me, the tune name always comes first. Having the name allows me to visualize what the tune is about and how it will be once it is completed. I like knowing the tune’s name as the name and the story behind the tune are crucial to my compositions. I can imagine that writing a tune without a name could be freeing because there would be less pressure to fit an established preconception.
The fourth question was, “Do you tend to have a certain story or moment in mind while you’re composing?” The respondents could answer on a scale from zero being no to a hundred being yes. The average answer was fifty-three. Only one person answered one hundred. For me, having a story or moment in mind is so helpful. While my current emotions and feelings impact the composition, I believe that is special, and I love that how a tune written on a different day about the same subject would be different. There is no one way to tell a story with music, and because we are emotional beings, our feelings will be different and therefore affect the outcome. I find it fascinating that so many people write music not knowing about what it will be. It’s not something I’ve tried because I feel like my music would be less impactful without a purpose.
The fifth question was, ‘Do you need to feel ‘inspired’ to write music?’ Again, people could respond in the same way as before, from one to a hundred. The average answer was sixty-five. If I was to answer that question, I would put my response at a hundred. I used to believe that I needed a special moment to write music and could only compose when I was bursting with passion. Now I can appreciate that little things in life inspire me, and when I sit down to compose, drawing from those moments helps give me inspiration.
The sixth question in the survey was, ‘What inspires you most?’ The options were:
- Music/Sounds
- Art/Visuals
- Experiences
- People
- Other (please specify)
Nine respondents chose Music/Sounds, zero chose Art/Visuals, seven chose Experiences, One chose People, and One chose Other (please specify).
I was surprised no one chose art and visuals because, as a very visual person and am often inspired by landscapes and my natural surroundings. The respondent who selected other said that emotions inspire them the most. I have observed that my experiences are intrinsically linked to emotions, and they are a powerful inspiration in my music.
Question seven was, ‘Do you feel that the music you write reflects your physical surroundings?’ The average answer was forty-nine on a scale from zero being no to one-hundred being yes. I’ve heard lecturers and teachers mention the idea that landscape from different areas of the world reflects in the culture’s music. I have found that my compositional style has shifted so dramatically since moving from the city to the highlands. I’ve felt my body and soul become freer and less restricted while living closer to nature. I believe this has a direct correlation in regards to my compositions.
The eighth question was, ’Which physical locations inspire you? For example: the city, the countryside, the beach, the park, etc.’ Most people described areas in nature such as the sea and the forest, and a few said the city. One person said that no locations inspire them. Nature is one of my biggest inspirations, which seems to be a shared feeling with many.
Conclusion
As I mentioned at the start of this paper, I have been endeavoring to use my smartphone less this year. As I read more about creativity and inspiration, There is the idea that inspiration often comes when we are simply being and allowing our minds to be empty. In his TedTalk about the Art of Creative Inspiration, Victor Shamas says the two tools you need for creative inspiration are “Emptying and filling. First, you empty your mind of all thoughts to attain mental silence. Then you fill that silence with a total body experience that is sensuous and alive. In essence, your body leads your mind to the profound realizations that can result in major creative breakthroughs.” By swapping out my smartphone for a brick phone, I forced myself to have moments of quiet thought.
As someone with ADHD, I struggle to be without mental stimulation of some kind, whether that be a podcast, audiobook, music, or something visual. I have since realized the desire never to be alone with my thoughts is an anxiety coping mechanism. When taking away those coping mechanisms, I was able to appreciate little things that I found inspiring. Every moment of inspiration for my tunes occurred when I was being present and allowing myself to be in a fallow period. In his book, The Art of Thought, Graham Wallas describes the creative process in four stages, the second being the incubation process which “is both conscious and unconscious. This step involves thinking about parts and relationships, reasoning, and often a fallow period. Inspirations very often appear during this fallow period. This probably accounts for the popular emphasis on releasing tensions in order to be creative.” (Rhodes)
It was the moments in which I was living fully and presently that I found inspiration. One of my biggest takeaways from this experience is that living a life I love and allowing myself to experience every aspect of it enhances my creativity. By doing this, I am finding inspiration everywhere and feel bursting with creative ideas. The American painter Robert Henri said, “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
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Terra Burgoyne 