On Dictation and Songwriting

In terms of songwriting, the notion of taking Dictation is the process of getting the material from elsewhere. It’s like Jean Cocteau, in his film Orphée, at his car radio, taking dictation straight from the Other. As Cocteau explains, “I feel myself inhabited by a force or being. It gives…

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Clear the Mechanism

I believe a relationship exists between the meditative state, clearing the mechanism, and being receptive to dictation.  Dictation is the destination.  Describing this condition in relation to the songwriting process, I want to be in that place where ideas seem to come from beyond me.  In this state, ideas arrive…

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