I came across an interview with ambient maestro Christopher Willits recently. I found it really inspiring. Unfortunately I don’t know where I sourced this from, so apologies to the journalist for re-printing it here without permission.

This is pure gold in terms of creative advice. (All emphasis is mine.)

“For me, creating music is a process that happens as it needs to through listening, discipline and play. It’s about listening to the moment, being present with the energy I’m feeling, and the sound I’m expressing. It’s about setting space to explore, and follow my heart while just being real with myself; setting boundaries, drafting deadlines, and knowing when and how to take meaningful breaks.

“Creating is work. It’s a space I set through discipline, yet I surrender control. Creating consistently takes patience and persistence, letting go of expectations while fueling the fire to complete the process.

“When I compose, I begin with an open mind focused on a feeling, or an intention, a space I want to create with the music and share with others. It emerges through disciplined play. I feel where the music can go and let it come through me in whatever way it wants to.

“Often the music flows without any effort and sometimes it’s like solving a puzzle. The key is to stay out of judgment while discovering the path forward. I envision the space, energy, narrative that the music wants to create and let go of any expectations of how it gets there, and even if it gets there. It’s like setting out towards a destination, but the focus is on the journey, the process, and less about the outcome. When the process embodies the product, the music completes itself.

“Music is medicine for both the artist and the audience. When I’m creating, it’s very autobiographical in that the process is teaching me something, and that becomes encoded into the music. I’m expressing and processing feelings and stories that seem to elude words. At the same time, it’s not about me at all; the music is moving through me, expressing something more universal than my own story.”