nowaysj wrote: Now in my advanced age, everything kind of makes sense and I've become formulaic. Is that just me?
It's not just you. I am going through a similar phase right now. The more effort you commit to a certain creative outlet the more patterns/habits/comfort zones form around that outlet.
The way I see things is that the "innovation" available in youth is little more than working without the boundaries of familiarity. The more time you put into something the less "new ground" is available. Techniques are techniques and once you you have a broad pallet of concepts to draw from it is enevitable that unintentional formulas will surface during the creative process. I have had this happen in sculpture, production, performance, etc.
The challenge is to find ways to break things back down so that even though they are familiar they can still be raw and fresh. I am hoping that finally "recording" material will allow me to open up some new ideas and find some new techniques.If not, at least I will get my album done finally
As to the whole "too old" concept I do not believe there is such a thing. One of the guys I used to perform with started in electronic dance music when he was in his early 40s after a head-full of acid at a massive. He had little to no musical background and was more into Tangerine Dream / Steely Dan than anything dancefloor oriented. After a gig one time he went off about how refreshing it was to be apart of something that didn't fit in with his peer group and how exciting it was to be able to play the kind of music that made people simply want to dance.
I miss working with him at times because his background/experience really added something unique to the tunes we were doing. Myself and the other guy in the group were both in our 20s at the time and the cultural differences were often more of an asset than a liability.
I am already planning on rigging up wheelchair/walker as a midi controller so I can keep doing this long past my "prime.":)
