Does quantity + learning = quality?
2009-06-08
I've challenged myself to write something of value every day on my blog, now.
It was inspired by Seth Godin, but also by this excerpt from the book Art and Fear:
The ceramics teacher announced he was dividing his class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right graded solely on its quality.
His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an A.
Well, come grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity!
It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Is there something in your life that you're trying to perfect?
Have you tried a quantity approach instead?
(Just make sure to learn from your mistakes.)
Yes, I'm a firm believer that we learn from our experience, by doing. Therefore if we write 200 songs, the 200th song will be miles and away better than song #1. If we only write one song, it will be better than.... 0.
Very interesting. Thanks, Derek. I had to think of Ryan Adams, a 'quantity-approach-musician'. He wrote SO many songs. It sometimes takes me weeks or even months to finish one, just because I want it to be perfect. Unfortunatly my approach increases the amount of pressure I feel, because this one song has to be the one....Reading your blog I realized that writing more songs might lower the pressure. It's worth trying!
This was very insightful! Thank you for sharing~. I will remember this when I sit down to write a song- I won't be focused so much on perfecting that one tune. I will just keep writing, and have more songs!
How interesting?! I think Gary V. took a similar approach as well. If you look at the first videos on wine library, they're pretty aweful. But he kept churning more and more out and they got better and better.
Thanks Derek--I think you're succeeding in your goal. So far I've found value in just about everything you've blogged.
-- Derek
My question: Is that a picture of a Japanese cemetery we're seeing?
Lanterns in the Kasuga Shrine. It was either that or birds.
A daily post - that's great. And a great challenge.
I had thought of recording my Morning Tune Ups daily. I ended up with 140 video clips within the last 13 months.
They are all improvised first takes, first thing in the morning and without warm up.
The risk and uncertainty that is in this setting produces wonderful music, that would have never been played if I had had the time to make it perfect.
I think that the good thing about quantity is, that you learn to let go. Let the song go, let it have it's own life.
It is like children - they come through you, but you don't possess them.
Perfectionism has a tendency to cripple things that once were living.
So letting go is a benefit for both the writer and the music.
We look at artists like Miles Davis, Prince, the Stones, the Allman Brothers and say, "this was their best era, this was their worst era, this was so-so," and so on. One of the reasons they've had such long careers full of these different chapters that we can observe and comment on is because they are/were constantly out there doing it. No peaks without valleys.
There's a cool story about Bob Dylan. He was touring Australia with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers around '86(?). During an interview the journalist is giving him hell saying stuff like, "Your new songs aren't as relevant as your old songs." Dylan's simple reply was, "I'm out here writing songs. What are you doing?"
I think it's a good idea to give yourself license to work the quantity approach. But there is value in the quality approach too.
Ryan Adams definitely is a quantity approach guy. He's blessed with great talent too. But one of the reasons he is unlikely to ever be mentioned in the same breath as someone like Elvis Costello (another quantity approach guy at heart I think), is because he doesn't know how to edit himself very well, and since he parted ways with Phil W, he hasn't seem too inclined to give anyone the power to make meaningful editorial contributions to his work (Phil W is highly underrated in this regard).
In her book book "Wild Mind," Natalie Goldberg distinguishes between the "Wild Mind" and the "Monkey Mind." The first is your open creative mind. The second is your editor mind.
Learning to separate these two things can be helpful. Goldberg suggests just writing something everyday, whatever pops into the mind, forward thought always, not looking back at what you've written. Just fill the page.
You can always read through it later, and apply the tools of the Monkey Mind at that point.
Good advice, but also hard to follow.
Bottom line, the really great ones often do produce in quantity, but they are also good at quality control as well (or if they aren't, they find someone they trust to work with who is good at it).
Well done. You have inspired me. I sometimes post a little something, just to write a blog post and keep going. I will make this my challenge as well: write something of value every single day. It will be tough, but that is why it is a challenge, right? I have discovered in my writing of a blog, that taking the quantity approach does work sometimes. A fluff piece I am writing will often turn into a pillar article that is actually quite good and informative. being sure to write every day does help to jump start the inspiration.
I think this is a very good article. And Seth Godin's observation is a very good one. It relates to something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO. Doing is so completely different from thinking about doing. The learning that we experience by doing.
But I think this is unfortunately only half of the story. There is a yang to this ying. Just as theory is no substitute for practice. Practice is no substitute for theory. Sometimes, you have to think about your process and then do something different, otherwise you will not improve.
Great point, Mark! Doing the same thing, over and over, without improving, defeats the purpose. Definitely crucial to constantly improve and learn from mistakes. -- Derek
Last year I wrote over 130 songs... I ended up with 30 really good ones that I am happy to record on a two-volume CD. If I'd just used the first thirty I wrote I'd have nothing of value to record. Currently recording volume two of the two CD set, then working on writing another 130 songs...
I should also add that editing and drafting are as important as producing large quantities of work. For example, first draft " do I deserve to live or should I seek death?". Final draft "to be or not to be, that is the question".
Funny that... in October 2008 I started releasing 2 new songs per month to my subscribers at http://matthewebel.net (that's a HELL of a lot of work, by the way). I thought that it'd be all piano/vocal short ditties that came off the top of my head, but over the last 9 months my production techniques have improved greatly. The constant deadline forces me to produce.
I think I'm getting better because I'm cranking out so much material, and my fans love it!
Pax,
Matthew
Thanks, that's just what I needed.
It's a great idea and I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce.
Maybe I ought to give it a try myself...
Tynan
Derek, Fortunately for the artist who have been the beneficiaries of crossing paths with you and your knowledge base. It is really more than that, for every time; not sometime, but every time throughout the last year or so when my prayer has been a thankful help, please. Along comes an e-mail or a helping hand from Derek and his listeners. No kidding, without going into the worn out alligator swamp analogy, you folks have the chain on the plug. Thanks for the consistent awarness of our struggles. Rick
Great article Derek.
It appears to me that quantity produces quality. Dylan, Beatles, Shakespeare, da Vinci. Look at the quantity they produced.
Not all their works were great though a large part was.
The more you do the work the more the Muse gives you to do, oh, and she'll give you the great works too because you're always the one working, while others wait!
This is such a fantastic point...and it's also a scary one because it requires a serious letting go of the importance of each song you write. If you bang out songs, you are easily going to stumble upon some great ones, but also, have to be humble enough to not put them on a pedastle and make them all "perfect."
Right on!
I would recommend this book "Art and Fear" to anyone doing creative work. Opened my eyes to several gems of insight. At one point of my guitar development my instructor told me that I was practicing too much.
He told me that I needed to play more. Firstly to reap the fruits oy my labor and secondly to find my own voice. Today I have my voice which is subject to change as I/we continue to evolve. Many many pieces have been begun over the years, mostnot completed. Yet something has been learned either in my hands, hear or intellect in each effort.
Create,create, and create.With time and consideration the quality will be there.
For me: 2 new songs / day
You've really challenged my sensibilities with your latest entry. I'm one who lets the perfect get in the way of the good. I've suspected for a while that I need to "loosen up" a bit. You've inspired me to act on my inkling.
...and last but not least: Thanks.
Just keep in mind that making mistakes in a ceramics class is pretty well zero-risk.
When mistakes become high-risk and costly, quantity might cost you too much too soon.
Reality check: would you aim for quantity instead of quality in your relationships, or try to perfect the one you've got?
I have always thought of this approach but I have produced 4 albums in my first year of releasing music and arranged countless other songs. My songs and art keep gidn't write 1 work every day. etting better.
JS Bach wrote at least 1 musical work a day. His masterpieces would not be as good if he d
Interesting point. In 2006 I made the effort to write 365 songs, and while some were practically worthless, there are others I still perform today.
Thanks, Derek, this one's a keeper (!)
The pottery class experiment reminds me of another, and the analogy isn't direct.
A group of programmers was divided in two (it was actually three but I forget the third group). Everyone in both groups was supposed to write a program to accomplish the same task. The first group were told to optimize their programs to run as fast as possible. The second group was told to write their programs so as to be as clear and easy (for humans) to read as possible.
The programs written by the "clear" group were faster than the programs written by the "fast" group.