What I learned from the Junto
I recently completed my 10th assignment for the Disquiet Junto and decided that it would be a good time to reflect on what the Disquiet Junto is and what is has meant for me as an artist
The Disquiet Junto is a series of weekly musical “assignments” based around the concept of constraint. Marc Weidenbaum, the founder of the project, describes it in much better detail here.
Since I have never had any form of musical training the only challenges I have had to overcome have been ones I have set for myself. This lead me to only exploring certain areas of creativity and neglecting the ones that did not appeal to me initially. Having an external source of challenges leads you to push yourself in directions you would not have explored on your own. Often you will find that within these areas there is a wealth of untapped resources. The problem solving you learn while completing these assignment become a tool to use in the future.
The four day time limit is another important lesson. I have always been an over-thinker with my projects, I would start a song quickly and then never finish it in the belief it could always be better. When I wrote this blog post I was speaking to myself as much as I was speaking to anyone else. By creating quickly and releasing through the Junto I have learned to execute a project in a short time frame. Through the generous feedback of the group I learned my worries about songs being half complete were unfounded. If you look at the pace of my album releases you will notice a significant increase in their frequency this year, that is due to lessons I learned from the Junto.
In your life as an artist there are certain events that change your way of thinking about your own art and about art in general. For me the Disquiet Junto is one of those events. I invite everyone to join the list, pick one of the projects in the next few weeks and begin. You may be surprised by what you discover.