Completely agree! My period of quickest development as an electronic music producer so far has been when recreating existing tracks from scratch, in their totality. It is painful and tedious work. Which is a good hint that it is productive.
I hadn’t thought of it this way - I’ve always seen that as a strategic move to hone in on one’s ‘true form’ but it’s true it’s a necessary arc on the way to comprehensive mastery.
One’s own true form is clearly a desirable end state! But there is no unique such state, and there is also the question of how to best get there. What becomes your own expression is always contingent your skills and techniques. You need to construct your expression from some basic ingredients. If you know more technique, more aesthetic landscape opens up for exploration. More techniques can be combined to create something novel that feels like you. Of course, the difficult question is finding the exact balance between recreation and creation. At what time do we have enough technique? I think you know when you know, and conversely I think we often know when we haven’t found it. And in those latter cases it is always a good bet to spend some time on recreation, in my view! You get more lego pieces to put together in novel ways.
Worth noting that personal expression in art is very old. I know mostly about the written word. It's clearly present between the lines in Plato's dialogues, for example. In Sappho. In Christian written works. It's always been part of the game, to varying degrees.
That is why any aspiring artists must first master other artists' voices (regardless of the art form) before even dreaming of finding their own.
Completely agree! My period of quickest development as an electronic music producer so far has been when recreating existing tracks from scratch, in their totality. It is painful and tedious work. Which is a good hint that it is productive.
I hadn’t thought of it this way - I’ve always seen that as a strategic move to hone in on one’s ‘true form’ but it’s true it’s a necessary arc on the way to comprehensive mastery.
One’s own true form is clearly a desirable end state! But there is no unique such state, and there is also the question of how to best get there. What becomes your own expression is always contingent your skills and techniques. You need to construct your expression from some basic ingredients. If you know more technique, more aesthetic landscape opens up for exploration. More techniques can be combined to create something novel that feels like you. Of course, the difficult question is finding the exact balance between recreation and creation. At what time do we have enough technique? I think you know when you know, and conversely I think we often know when we haven’t found it. And in those latter cases it is always a good bet to spend some time on recreation, in my view! You get more lego pieces to put together in novel ways.
Worth noting that personal expression in art is very old. I know mostly about the written word. It's clearly present between the lines in Plato's dialogues, for example. In Sappho. In Christian written works. It's always been part of the game, to varying degrees.
I definitely agree it is part of the game! It’s the blown out of proportion part I’m getting at.
Most art (if not all) is just craft.
I would strike the “just” though! Craft is worthy of veneration
I agree. However, many artists would not. Even those who are highly derivative.