Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers book club questions

1. 1.

   DeSantis divides problems into starting, developing, and finishing. Which of the three is the hardest for you in your own creative work, regardless of whether that work is music?

2. 2.

   The book argues that constraints accelerate creativity. Can you think of a time when limiting your options produced better work than having unlimited freedom?

3. 3.

   He addresses the problem of never finishing things separately from the problem of not being able to start. Do you recognize those as genuinely different problems?

4. 4.

   The tension-and-release model of musical structure implies that good music creates and resolves expectations. Does that framework feel limiting or clarifying to you?

5. 5.

   DeSantis is explicit that most strategies work some of the time for some people. How do you generally evaluate advice that comes with that kind of caveat?

6. 6.

   He suggests using reference tracks analytically — reverse-engineering specific decisions. What would the equivalent be in your own practice?

7. 7.

   The book is aimed at electronic music producers using DAWs. How much of the creative-block diagnosis transfers to other creative fields?

8. 8.

   Which of the seventy-four strategies do you think you'd actually use immediately if you had a current project stuck?

9. 9.

   DeSantis works for Ableton, which makes some of the most widely used music production software. Does knowing that affect how you read the advice?

10. 10.

    The finishing section argues that many people never finish work not from lack of ideas but from an inability to declare something done. What makes it hard to say a creative work is finished?

11. 11.

    If arrangement is about directing attention over time, how does that principle translate to the structure of a written argument, a presentation, or another non-musical form?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.