I find deadlines to to be incredibly helpful when it comes to my songwriting. As an editor and writer in my daily work life (though I don’t consider the marketing writing I do all day long to be in the same brain realm as creative songwriting), I’m practically addicted to the deadline. If not for that looming end date that requires me to create that helpful “backwards calendar” towards project completion, I’m sure I would procrastinate my days away.
In my songwriting, the deadline is dandy too — I have relied on the potential shame of showing up empty-handed to my songwriting circle as a powerful songwriting prompt.
Now, I have another deadline on the horizon. I have booked my first full-length solo show after nearly 3 years of performing almost exclusively with my duo, Sweet Bitters [okay, here's my bracketed self-promotional moment: I'll be performing on Thursday, October 15 @ 7:30 p.m., at Googie's Lounge above The Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, NYC].
And I’m already feeling the pressure of performing songs that I haven’t played in a very long time. I may have written them, recorded them and performed them regularly after their debut, but it’s funny how even songs you baked from scratch seem somehow completely unfamiliar when you haven’t performed them in years.
The practice, too, is as daunting as ever. It feels strange to have lost all muscle memory for these songs that, when I wrote them, were so easy and effortless — and that now require some torturous practice to get back in shape.
The good news is, of course, is that deadline looming. No matter what, I know I’ll be motivated to sing those songs, to make sure I don’t fumble on stage.
Tell me: how do you get your old, creaky tunes back to fighting form?
