Cognitive neuroscientist Wilma Koutstaal studies and teaches about creativity at the University of Minnesota. In this episode of Composer Quest, she shares words of wisdom with all of us who want to be more creative. We talk about how to to get unstuck from writer's block, how to move between abstract and detailed thinking, and how to avoid procrastination.
Jazz trombonist Nick Syman has challenged himself to write a large jazz ensemble piece based on the St. Anthony Falls collapse in 1869. In Episode 16 of Composer Quest, Nick talks about how using a story can help you structure an instrumental piece of music. Nick also explains how the tension and release system of Afro-Cuban rhythms can help make more compelling melodies. And finally, we talk about our experience starting and finishing our Cagetones album in one month last February, for the RPM Challenge.
If you've been following my musical history, you'll recall that back in February my friend Nick Syman and I resurrected our experimental improv group Cagetones to complete the RPM Album-in-a-Month Challenge. We recently had the opportunity to play our first live set together in four years, at the Continue reading... 
After a grueling but supremely fun month of writing and recording, Nick Syman and I finished our album for the RPM Challenge. The album spans a ton of different sounds and genres, and even eras. The one-month limit forced us to work with ideas we might have otherwise thrown away. And I'm glad we kept Continue reading... 
Less than a week to go in the RPM Challenge, and Nick and I have 11 tracks in progress. I still have a ton of mixing ahead of me, but I thought I'd share some of our demo songs (titles pending):
The Day Breaks Fast...
[audio:https://www.charliemccarron.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cagetones-the-day-breaks-fast-demo.mp3]
Nick Continue reading... 
Here's yet another sneak preview of our RPM Challenge album:
I started this track with the underlying synth chords, and brought it to Nick on Sunday to add some tuned percussion, including vibraphone, crotales, tubular bells, a gong, and glass shards. The final mix may end up with even more instruments.
This Continue reading... 
Nick and I got together again on Wednesday and recorded a trombone trio he composed for our RPM Challenge album. I wasn't totally convinced when he first played the idea for me on a MIDI keyboard. It sounded sort of interesting, but the harmonies seemed kind of random. As soon as we started recording Continue reading... 
Nick and I ended our session on Saturday by trying to co-compose some music for our RPM album. But it was kind of a slow and not-very-fruitful process, compared to our improv jams. So we came up with a new plan for our next meeting: we would each create a background music bed for the other person Continue reading... 
After our first RPM jam session, Nick Syman and I went off on our own to do some songwriting. I came up with 3 half-songs. Here's one of them, filmed by Jeffrey Schwinghammer:
This is a totally different vocal style than anything I've done before. Where I'd normally sing phrases that have the Continue reading... 
It's official. My friend Nick Syman and I are crazy. We've taken on the RPM Challenge, which means we're going to have to write and record an entire album in the month of February. We had our first jam session on Wednesday, and Jeff Schwinghammer was there to film the process:
We hadn't really Continue reading...