Can Drugs aid the process of composition ?

[Adrian Allan]

Or is it a myth ?

Did you ever dabble with any drugs and find that your compositions improved ?

I am including all legal and illegal, from caffeine upwards.

Does a cigarette help you to concentrate.

Did you write a great tune while stoned ?

And listen back to it the next day and decide it was garbage ?

Didn't the Beatles' music improve after they discovered weed (Rubber Soul) and LSD (Sgt Pepper etc) ?

Did composers of the classical period get high in German coffee parlours ?

[Paweł Jeleniewski]

Drugs don't give you ideas, but composition is not just the idea. A key to succesful composition is the processing of that idea. Whether drugs help, or get in the way with that - i guess it all depends. But they affect the process never the less. And that's cheating! :P

[Adrian Allan]

how about people who smoke cigarettes to help them concentrate - is that not a drug? (in fact a deadly one, but legal) - is that also classed as "cheating"?

 

How far do you take this argument - stimulation from a cup of coffee?

 

Can any composer say they have never used any drug when so broadly defined?

[Paweł Jeleniewski]

For me anything that affects (i.e. artificially alters) your consciousness / thought process, is cheating. Coffee or cigarettes affect mainly your body functions, or your state of mind at most.

[Simon Godden]

When I used to drink (a truckload every night), I would really enjoy composing and really get into it.  But then in the morning with a clear head (although a painful one, plus the shakes), the music would sound terrible.  However, if I ever composed something sober and then listen to it smashed or stoned, it would sound amazing.

 

It's just getting your priorities in order that matters.

[Adrian Allan]

It's the sonic equivalent of a man wearing "beer goggles".

Drunk, she's beautiful, but the next morning you find yourself waking up to the local monster/ hag.

Trust your judgement sober, but use drugs to get some new ideas/ perspectives.

[Adrian Allan]

Wise words.

This is why I think people shouldn't try anything until they are in their twenties. Nothing worse than teenage pot-heads who lose their way before their life has really started. Psychotic drugs help you to look back on your life so far in a new light. I also think it's dangerous to take drugs when the body is still growing/ developing. 

[Adrian Allan]

Glad your brother is recovering. 

 

The thing that made me question pot is the fact that you're inhaling all that dirty smoke and tar even when smoked pure - eg. look at the tar residue on a pipe. That can't be good for the lungs long-term. A pity there was no way of extracting the THC and taking it without the smoke.

 

It's interesting that when it comes to weed, some people just don't "get it" and find it tiresome or just confusing. Never met a woman who was a committed weed smoker, sorry to sound sexist, but the coffee shops are very male-oriented too in Amsterdam - I wonder why.

 

strongest thing for me now is Douwe Egberts coffee. Middle Age looming...

[Spiros Makris]

I think there is extracted THC, I believe hash is the most pure you can easily get, plus you can even eat it, smoking is not the only option, and googling can get you more (I dont want to go too much into this-we're in a music forum after all ;))

but smoking a joint a day is not bad from your health due to smoking. I've read that 1-3 cigarettes is the amount your body can take and fully recover from any damage (ie, smoking one a day is really harmless). Even if that is not entirely true, one cigarete a day will not have a great/noticable effect on your health-unless of cource you have other conditions, like asthma.

 

For me it's coffee and cigarettes, and an occasional night of getting a-step-before drunk. But I do that for fun, I cant really function drunk, I even have trouble making coffee the next day.

Adrian Allan said:

Glad your brother is recovering. 

 

The thing that made me question pot is the fact that you're inhaling all that dirty smoke and tar even when smoked pure - eg. look at the tar residue on a pipe. That can't be good for the lungs long-term. A pity there was no way of extracting the THC and taking it without the smoke.

[Adrian Allan]

So I think we can conclude that for inspiration or ideas drugs can be a help if used sensibly, but for the detailed technical stuff it's very likely to lead to confusion and mistakes.

 

And let's face it, nearly all cultures have used drugs of one form or another. (I also think that a lot of mass media including television is a drug, but a mind-numbing one).

[Tom Jensen]

i partake in THC regularly. It can help you think up things you wouldn't normally come up with, and also motivate you to actually write something/work on something. of course, there's downsides, you get tired/want to play video games/become a zombie etc, but the trick is to spend the majority of your day straight, work on music etc, then at night.... after dinner or something, you (insert way of smoking weed) and see what you feel like doing. One great aspect i found with THC is the motivation. you get home from a long days work/study. you sit in a chair and say "im soooo tired" but then you take some THC and suddenly you are inspired to work on something!

[Adrian Allan]

I'm interested in the inspirational effect. It seems to me that it doesn't work for everybody and some people just get "monged out". The people for who it works understand its benefits, whereas the others just think of it as a poor substitute for alcohol - ie. the don't seem to get the euphoria. As I repeat from before, I've never met a female THC fan, but maybe I've led a sheltered life.

[David Prouty]

Life's short with little time to write. Its best to know exactly what your writing. Write straight when your finished sit down for a listen and only then if you need .... puff puff.