sharke ... I think there is something to be said for seeing music visually. I certainly have these vague cloud-like images of music in my head, just rough lines and shapes following the contour of the pitch and like Zappa says, having different densities according to how dense the arrangement is. I've always associated music with shape, starting from the way I learned guitar which was seeing shapes on the fretboard. And oftentimes when writing in the piano roll I will be influenced by the shape of the notes as they pan out. It's all very interesting. ...
LOVELY ... ABSOLUTELY LOVELY TO HEAR THIS.
The same for my writing. Sometimes, the words just want to go ... that way! And you kind of don't know what it looks like until you read it later ... it's a grand feeling! Other times, it takes you completely elsewhere, to the point that you feel it does not fit ... and you do not keep it in THAT piece.
I handle these by saving them for a while, separately, and then, if they do not come up anywhere, I usually dump them. Sort of like at the end of the month I throw it all away ... guess what ... 5 minutes later you get rewarded with something better and it seems to incorporate one or two bits that you dumped!
How's that for strange! But that's creativity for you! I look at it, that you "have it" inside of you anyway, so it being "written" or not, should not be an issue at all!
sharke ... I'm doodling a lot now and would definitely like to explore using the medium as a thought process to plan things out. I find it very relaxing and it really helps you think. ...
My recomendation is that you do this, but do not "take it seriously" for some time, until you feel you can look at it, from a distance.
It took us over 100 plus meditations, to learn how to turn "scratches" on a pice of paper into something ... amazing! It was there the "whole time", but in my friend's case, it was a matter of learning to define the terms with which to describe it all, for which the artistic style made it "visible" in time. It's sort of like being out of focus and it slowly materializes.
I think this can be done with music as well, but teaching yourself a meditation method with it, might be hard, and Daevid Allen, bless his heart, is passed on, and he can not do meditation classes with guitars anymore! That we're aware of, of course!
sharke ... Transferring any problem - whether personal, business or artistic - from the abstract shapes in your mind into visible shapes on a page, is incredibly helpful. I read a book about Mind Maps years ago and should have really stuck at it, because those things are an amazing way to organize things in your mind.
There are many. I have been on many of these for 40 years ... but admittedly they all started out confusing! In the process, you find some funny/weird stuff. Here are some examples.
The Bardo (Tibet) - The analogies for "monsters" and "things" would be a factor of their lack of proper wording to describe an inner feeling. Thus you have several doors to get through. This concept carries over to others many years later.
Carlos Castaneda - Many do not like his work, because he is so ... insulting ... sometimes, but his jokes are very literary and intelectual and only make sense later. The best one still is ... "did I need the drugs? Of course not you idiot, but we had to figure out a way to shut you up so you could see a few things!" ... and this kind of language is not something that many folks enjoy, or appreciate. His "The Art of Dreaming" is the best book on dreams ever done, however, it reads very hard and tougher than the likes of the Bardo, the Egyptian Book of the Dead and other books that try to show you a glimpse of "the other side".
There is a lot of literature that delves very deeply into this area. T. Lobsang Ramp is actually very good, were it not for the "stories" to make a point. I like reading the novels centered around this ... for example "Diary of a Drugfiend" by Aleister Crowley" is the best book about drugs ever written. His description of the inner sights are a bit skewed towards a magical thing, but once you see past that, the whole thing shines.
The hardest part, is sometimes separating the work you are reading from someone trying to instill some dogma into you. As an example, I happen to like the Saint Germain books, and they are neat with some nice stories, but the constant hammering of the religion side of it, is really boring. It kills the beauty of the well written stories and work.
There are some studies that you can look at. For example, Peter Brook and his video "The Tightrope" applies to 'acting", but watch it from an open mind ... and realize ... there is music in this too right there with the actors ... and it also is "open" ... and you might actually find a new exercise and "doodling" that you can even do with your instrument ... in this case, you can use a visual, but the real trick is to NOT DO SO, which gives you complete and utter freedom to create your own story, see? BUT, you do not see this story, until AFTER you did it, or it would mean you are not concentrating on what you are doing ... you are "watching" yourself, instead.
Or as I say often ... watch yourself from THE INSIDE ... and you will notice the difference soon enough. This is what "doodling" can teach you better than anything else, regardless of which art you do it with!