Repeating Yourself

Don’t you worry about repeating yourself?

That’s a question that might be lobbed at a prolific blogger or author or composer. I certainly used to worry about it with regards to my posts here, or even with my composition and arranging – I felt I should always seek to say something new with my creative works.

But 2500+ posts later, I can say unequivocally that I’m no longer worried about repeating myself.

Of course I’m going to repeat myself. It’s unavoidable.

So, instead, I lean into repeating myself. I use different words to address the same topics, because I think they’re important. I use the same harmonic language to arrange a different song, because I think it’s the right language, and because I know that a new melody will lead to something different.

And I also know that fear of repetition is only true in certain disciplines. Teachers don’t worry about repeating themselves: they know that repetition is essential to solidifying the concepts they’re teaching. Parents don’t worry about repeating themselves, because they want to make their views abundantly clear to their children.

And I don’t worry about repeating myself because the only one interacting with all of my creative works is me. I am certain that no one, not a single person, has read everything I’ve written on this site. No one has conducted or even heard every one of my musical creations. Because of that, any repetition my output does contain is likely only audible or visible to me.