How Much Time Do You Spend On Music

[indieshoegazer]

I'm guessing there are a fair number of folks like me in this forum - people who work 40 hours a week, but enjoy songwriting and musical activities in their free time. I was just wondering how much time you personally devote to songwriting and general musical activities per week. As for me, I spend probably too much time - averaging about 20 hours a week, which is pretty much all of my free time.

Edited February 24, 2010 by indieshoegazer

[Kirby]

I listen to music for at least 3 hours a day. I usually spend about an hour songwriting, and a little while playing drums or guitar. All in all, i'd say about 30 hours a week with something music related.

[indieshoegazer]

That's actually a very good question & I imagine you'll get a wide range of answers.

In my case, I'm an amatuer....a hobbiest, but it's also in my nature to get a little carried away with things I love. When I decided to reinvolve myself in musical stuff a few years back, I made myself a promise not to neglect the real-life obligations that come with being an adult......& for the most part, I don't! Like many folks, I've got a job, a home to maintain, finances to be dealt with, family obligations, aged parents, etc. Whatever's left.......that's what I spend on things music related. I phrased it that way because, unfortunately that also has to include, website maint., practice time, changing guitar strings, writing, mixing & editing, online forum participation...pretty much everything musical. Every time I start to get a little frustrated that I'm not able to move some of these things along faster.....I remind myself of that promise & how glad I am just to be doing something. Anyway....that's me.

Tom

Absolutely. I think you have a great attitude about it. It's important to live a well rounded life, especially if you have family and financial obligations. I also sort of draw the line at 2-3 hrs a day songwriting/guitar practice (on average).

[Hyardacil]

I spend at least 1 h + on simply listening to music with heavy thought. I spend probably about 30 minutes a day at least thinking about music... running through melodies in my head, thinking of arrangements and other stuff. And usually at least 1 h playing the piano.

[MikeRobinson]

I suggest that we can all take a lesson from the other creative arts that can be pursued (semi-)professionally: working with it every day is probably more important in the long run than "exactly how much time" you spend. (Even the most enjoyable effort can become an obsession.)

And, I think, you need to know that not all of that time is really going to be "enjoyable." Really, you've created a little "job" for yourself and you have to finish it. (Sometimes I think that the subconscious mind will quickly dump a good idea in your lap as if to say, "There! Now, can we please move on to something different?") Y'know, just to shut you up. And then again, sometimes it just won't.

There are days when you are capturing a flow of ideas; days when you are transcribing them from a scribble-pad and a hastily hummed sound file on your iPhone; and there are days when you are developing or arranging something from the recent past. I almost never have a day that involves more than one of these things.

I kinda like what Charles Schulz (Peanuts) once said. Every morning at the same time he shut his office to all distractions and put a pencil and a doodle-pad on his drawing board and that is exactly what he made himself do for an allotted period of time. I get up, start the coffee, feed the cat and sit down in front of staff-paper (software, actually...) and I do this every morning that I can. A new version of whatever I am working on is added ... even if it is exactly the same as yesterday's.

No, I do not make my living at this (yet...), but I know that somehow it "unlocks" my thinking, on whatever subject, for the rest of the workday at Reel Job. It's like the every-evening long walk at dusk ... it just makes you feel better. I write computer software for a living. And I know that sometimes my mind is thinking about both things at once. Some days, I swear the source-code is musical.

Edited February 27, 2010 by MikeRobinson

[ThoughtMonster]

I probably spend anywhere from 20-80 hours a week on music. Usually no less than 2 or 3 hours per day, though.

Some of that includes active listening.