Steven Wilson: The Songwriting Process
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- This is how Porcupine Tree songwriter/producer makes music.
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►Watch all the Steven Wilson videos in this series: • Steven Wilson: Make Mu...
NEW Porcupine Tree album CLOSURE / CONTINUATION out now!
►Porcupine Tree: porcupinetree.com
►Steven Wilson: stevenwilsonhq.com
Porcupine Tree studio footage taken from "Of The New Day (In Session at AIR Studios)" • Porcupine Tree - Of th...
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ABOUT
Hack Music Theory is the fast, easy and fun way to make music. Taught by multi-award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony, and his protégé wife Kate. Ray started teaching music theory in 1995, and has made music with Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend, Ihsahn, and more!
CREDITS
© 2022 Revolution Harmony
Revolution Harmony is Ray Harmony & Kate Harmony
Script & all music in video by Revolution Harmony
Studio footage of Ray by Billie Woods
All stock footage courtesy of Pexels
Know the rules before you try to break them, that's awesome advice! And I'm a great adept of your "song whisperer" method, it's actually the only method that works for me. Thanks for this interview, very informative and helpful!
Hi again Eric, happy to hear this interview is resonating :) We'd absolutely love to hear what you're making these days, so please do share over in the apprentice network! Wishing you a lovely weekend :) Kate
@@HackMusicTheory Hey GUYS 😋🤪🤣🤣😜🤣. I'm well thanks. I take some MACA. IT'S a Roots from Peru. It Gives you a crazy wild boost. I was depressed. (a Little 🤣) but since Ieat this. 2 pills per day me q
Steven mentioning the style Picasso chose to paint in his best works reminded me of one of the many great things Picasso said: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child." Keep these interview snippets coming, they're gold!
"....I still beat my head against the wall..." 🎶🎵
Goosebumps, now that I understand that line!
That song is about fighting against the music industry I believe. Same metaphor different application.
Steve Wilson despite his success and popularity is still underrated compared with his importance and impact. Everything he says resonates.
Interesting that Picasso was referenced here, yet no one mentioned his great quote on this very topic. He said:
"Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist."
I bought "Anesthetize" yesterday and I am enjoying it like a child. Listening to the CDs in the car is a real joy. Thank you for your love of music Steven and Porcupine Tree! You are real beasts. Few groups make me feel emotions as intense and meditative as you do. Hands down.
Thanks for your kind words to a friend of mine. You rock!
I have noticed that the more effort I start pouring into my compositions, the more they seem to try to elude me. However, I wrote over a melody that was pre-made this morning, and the music seemed to blossom on its own while I piddled with my guitar without thought. Somewhere along the way, I lost the original melody and the song became its own. Music, hell, all art, seems to be cut from the same cloth as quicksand and Chinese finger traps; the harder you try to impose your will, the slower the progress. I am grateful for every moment you guys dedicate into guiding us along with our musical journeys. I have a love for you both, as well as Steve, for your talents, personalities, understanding, and creativity.
I've always been a huge fan of SW and really appreciate him (at least to me) sharing his thoughts on music seemingly much more, recently. I'm a guitarist that struggles to be confident with what I'm writing, so I tend to just noodle and play along with songs on CZcams. If a songwriter as good as him goes to bed depressed without making a dent in the wall after days and days I shouldn't feel bad or ever give up
Thank you for posting this part of the interview, I absolutely loved it! What I hear, or infer here from both Steven Wilson and Ray is the idea of perseverance and resilience. This came through for me when Steven Wilson talked about finding "[t]he music on the other side of the wall," and when Ray talked about allowing the song to "come into existence," letting it do "what it wants to do next" and that we need to "get out of the way." This was most insightful and inspirational. Thank you! 👍🙏🙏🙏😊
►Part 1 of this interview: czcams.com/video/ziKYBFki3kI/video.html
This part of the interview is like a description or definition of the meaning behind the name of your channel “HACK Music Theory”. You have to first know the theory before you can hack it. Thanks once again for sharing this interview. It’s been such an inspiration for me
2 things:
1) My melodies often feel childish to me. That comment about Picasso using childish/childlike techniques reminded me of this thought that's been in my head..that maybe that it's okay, that they're meant to be like that. Like God, or Providence, or the universe made them that way, wants them to be that way.
2) It's a funny thing about learning theory. You learn enough of it, and it recedes into a sort of learned instinct. I find that I favor the descriptive style of music theory, as that says "If you want X, here's how This One Dude did it". Then I can think in terms of what I want, in terms of goals, rather than paralyzing fear.
I find music theory to be freeing, as then I have ways to figure out what's not working, and turn it into something that's either compatible with the original goal, or a "happy accident", as Bob Ross puts it. In his shows, he always says something like "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents." Dude is/was awesome. That philosophy of "happy accidents" lets me freak out less. I'm still learning to believe it, but it's such a sweet, tender, supportive perspective that he had.
Hi orchidcolors, happy July! We hope this finds you well :) That's a great observation that theory helps you to figure out what's not working, it's definitely true. As always, we're happy to have you here in the community, it wouldn't be the same without you :) Wishing you a lovely weekend, Kate
Totally agree with #2. I like to deconstruct songs I like so I can understand them and if it's some detail that I hear that I really like I can replicate it by understanding the theory behind it
1000% this! I felt like you two were describing my composing process to a T. Thank you!
Been jamming the new PT album quite a bit. Great timing on these interviews. Very insightful
Hey hey Jason, happy to hear this interview is resonating! That's awesome that you're enjoying the album :) How's your hand doing?
@@HackMusicTheory I have weeks of occupational therapy ahead of me to get my wrist to move properly again, but the cast is off so I can palm mute now at least haha
Happy to hear the cast is off! We wish you all the best with therapy, so you can get back to full on music making mode :)
This was a good one...it resonates
So much interesting insights to watch! Must watch this after work; but just to add something. The rules are already there, ready to be found, and it's in the pleasure of kings to find them, paraphrasing Mendeleyev when he found the order found him and not the other way around.
gold advice from an absolute legend
Not surprised by what he's saying here after listening to "Buying New soul" so many times.
I think basic theory is very important: Knowing about modes, how to indentify a scale, how to build chords, intervals, so on so forth... Some techniques such as substitutions are so beneficial to know abut as well because they allow you to repeat chord progressions while making them sound slightly different every time. But a lot of the theory is really only useful for classical and orchestral music. I learned a lot from basic theory, especially while playing the piano (as it also taught me how to translate what I play on the guitar), but outside of that essential stuff I really don't use that much theory while writing a song. What matters the most, imo, is to be able to play your instrument well. When you know how to play your instrument it just gets way easier to write a song. Too much theory can also be bad and kill originality. I find that playing chromatically without caring about scales, by trying random chord progressions, is very beneficial. That's what Opeth does and that's the reason why their chord progressions are so unique.
He has nice stuff to say.
By the way, since your channel title is Music Theory, I'd love to see some videos like you do but for microtonal harmonies.
Is there a full interview for this?? 😃😃 Love it!
Need it too. Where can I find the full length Video
This is awesome advice, thank you!
And you're awesome, HAZARDOUS88!! Many blessings on your weekend :)
@@HackMusicTheory Thanks. Hope you have a good one too!
The brick wall and the small chip, it is very close to what I feel. I want to create some music, I imagine it in a crude form as how it should sound generally, but the small chip in the wall can change everything. I can get absolutely different music from what I initially imagined. Not to complain, any music is still music.
Fantastic interview! The backing music was a tad distracting for me personally. Having said that, overall this was fantastic. Thank you for posting!
The saddest day of my music journey was the day you stopped posting like the old days, You had a huge impact on the way I write & see music and I wish you nothing but the Best !
Our regular theory videos will be back very soon, my friend! Ray :)
PS: We've been through many stages in our CZcams journey, so when you say "the old days", what year are you referring to?
@@HackMusicTheory The old days for me was the longer videos, I remember the melody masterclass and some other videos that were like 30 mins.. Now ofc im not naive, please whatever can grow the channel & I know that youtube usually prefer shorter videos 😁
Oh wow that was way back in the early days of our channel in 2017. For the record, we actually started making short videos at the exact time that the CZcams algorithm started promoting longer videos haha! CZcams decided that they wanted to focus on watch-time, instead of views. That's why you'll notice other channels started making longer videos around 2018. So when we decided to start making short videos, it actually hurt our channel growth, and we've been growing slowly ever since then, which is why you'll see that our peer's channels have all gotten way bigger than ours. We decided to start making short videos for two reasons. Firstly, we respect our viewers' time. And secondly, our mission statement is to teach people how to make music in a fast and easy way, and obviously a 30-minute video is not fast, and it also implies that the lesson within that video is not easy. So yeah, short videos convey the fact that music theory is fast and easy! I hope that explains our transition to short videos. A heartfelt thank-you for being here in the Hack Music Theory family for so many years, llEdokll, you're awesome and we appreciate you a lot! Hope to see you over in the apprentice network. Ray :)
The wall analogy is deeper than you might think, for me that wall is the only obstacle between me and the world of noumenon.
Hi Ahmet, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts :) What kind of music do you make? Wishing you a fantastic weekend ahead!
@@HackMusicTheory I used to make melodic dubstep for about 2 years. Right now I'm more into post-rock
Cool, thanks for sharing Ahmet! All the best with your music making :)
I love the focus on creative expression offered by this channel. I am currently reading ‘Becoming the Instrument’ by Kenny Werner. Possible future guest for you to book (hint hint😇).
Aww, we love your positive attitude and contribution to the HMT community, thank you so much for being here, Mike! Ray has read one of his books, and says he's great, we'll add him to the list :) Do you have other suggestions? Wishing you a fantastic weekend :)
@@HackMusicTheory thanks, I’ll have a think on it and save it for another upload. I don’t want to bombard you lol. Have a stellar weekend to you both.
Haha, awesome, we look forward to it :)
I understand Steven, but you have something that we don't.....his name is Gavin Harrison and just knowing that you count with such a great musician that will provide you with the most solid, yet beautiful drums arrangements should be enough to have an endless source of inspiration!!!
I always act like I'm hearing an actual song by someone else while writing my music. That way if I insert something I can kind of tell if it seems plausible or if I'm totally off the marker.
I’ve always said we don’t create music. We discover these particular vibrations and arrange them. Musicians are to music what mediums are to the dead
Where is the hole interview?
"One book that made a million"
Beginner mind after all is learned.
Song whispering is a phenomenom of your brain. You need to let your brain do your thing without getting in its way.
This is exactly how I feel
Hi Devan, great to hear from you! How's your music making going these days?
Thanks for being here in the Hack Music Theory community, we're wishing you a lovely weekend :) Kate
To paraphrase Rick Wakeman: You have to know all the laws of music theory before you can break them.
The Joker: Never start with the head. The victim gets all fuzzy. He cant feel the next...
(Batman punches the Joker's hand. The Joker pauses for a moment waiting for it to hurt)
The Joker: See?
Thank you Steven for hitting you head for us... :D
Yeah man 😎. Kill the rules 🤩🤡👀👀👀👀🐼🍄🍄🍄🍄😋😋😋😋 Hello 😎 Guys 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲. Break on thrue to the Other Side 👀👀👀👀🤡🤡🤩🤣🥸🥸🥸. Have a nice Sunday 🔈🔈🔈🔈🔈
Hi Philou! Thanks for the pretty pictures :) We had a great Sunday, and are wishing you a fabulous weekend ahead!
I know Steve doesn’t read music but I’m sure he understands theory
Thanks for stopping by and connecting, John! Wishing you a fantastic weekend ahead :)
ps. your dog is super cute
@@HackMusicTheory
Hey thanks she sure is 😎
The devil is in the details. You have to cultivate that process until you discover music that almost feels like it is "writing itself". Its that cultivation process that plants those seeds that sometimes sprout, and then bloom into a new creation.
Hi Brian, great to see you again, and thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts :) We really appreciate you being here in the Hack Music Theory community and are wishing you a fantastic weekend!
I think you need to get out of the way to let the music write itself, the best songs i have written came to me this way.
How come this guy is 54 years old.... bro I'm 27 and look older than him xD
Why ever write music, if it feels like hitting brick wall with head? Music is for fun!
"the song just writes itself"- bingo. holy words . I would also say :" it only use us to get out" ;)