Modern Marvels: Voice Memos

Songwriters have never been able to stockpile ideas like they have in the past 10 years. iPhone voice memos let us record fleeting melodies and chord progressions in spurts and starts. Notes apps on smart phones permit songwriters to make lists and lists of titles and concepts and stories. The creative process for so many of us has been forever changed by this development. We can both record with a sense of immediacy and then access those ideas just as quickly.

It can be overwhelming to imagine the creative process of musicians hundreds of years ago. Relying on sheet music by candle light in order to document work must have been exhausting. Lacking any way to immediately record an idea that came to you on a walk away from the piano must have been an anxiety inducing experience. Who knows, maybe the ephemerality of inspiration - its appearance and sudden disappearance - didn’t bother centuries old creators. Still, when I think of the past, I’m thankful for how easy we have it.

Sessions can run so smoothly because of the ways in which writers are able to prepare. In the absence of immediate inspiration, we can all reach into our backlogs of quips and phrases to try to get the ball rolling. We might pull something from years ago in order to write a good song today. The immediate accessibility of our creative archives, resting in our pockets, can stymie the forces of writer’s block and set loose our creative spirits. Indeed, every recorded note and an idea is an act of preparation for a future moment of creativity.

The efficiency of it all is exhilarating. The writing process has never been as efficacious. These technological developments serve us, especially when we’re in sessions on a regular basis. These are things that most of us take for granted everyday. I just wanted to remind you of how wonderful these modern marvels really are.