Why I won't listen to music anymore
How to create my own musical language
Hey you all!
In today’s Weekly Wandering, I’ll tell you why I won’t listen to music anymore and how that will influence my compositions.
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Last month, I visited my Conservatory piano teacher, Jeroen van Vliet, because I faced a challenge: How do I create a personal framework of harmony, melody, and rhythm for an album?
Or to simplify: How do I develop my own musical language?
My initial approach would have been to research—learn all the possibilities and then select what feels right.
However, after our conversation, our solution was completely different: don’t listen to or study other music.
Let me explain.
The idea is that the only way to create a truly unique framework is to shut out external influences and rely solely on your own taste, because you must decide what you like based on your own instincts.
Of course, it's impossible not to listen to music, but there's a crucial distinction between absorption and influence.
Influence comes from the music that reaches you directly—albums you're currently listening to, commercial tracks, background music, etc. This is the music that often directly impacts your composing.
For example, if I listen to a lot of Bach, my taste will subconsciously lean toward the Baroque side of classical music.
But is this really you? Or are you just replicating what you've heard before?
The music that's truly you is the music you've absorbed—the music that has become part of your identity, residing in the deeper layers of your memory. For many, including myself, this is often the music we listened to during childhood and other formative years, like my early days at the Conservatory.
Absorption also leads to unique combinations, which is what we recognize as originality—especially if you've been exposed to a strange mix of musical styles that resonate with others as well.
For me it’s probably somewhere in between Bløf and Miles Davis. What’s yours?
I listened…..
I thought…..
Why is there no book-music like there is film-music?
I played…..
31 August, 2024 - Grachtenfestival / Amsterdam (NL)
01 September - Landschaftspark der Tegeler Stadtheide / Berlin (DE)
01 February, 2025 - De Harmonie / Leeuwarden (NL)
28 February, 2025 - t.b.a. (put it in your agenda!!)
Thanks for listening and reading this week!