The Walt Disney Formula in Songwriting

If you are an artist, and I assume many of you are, you have certainly had situations of mental blocks, doubts, too much pressure and frustration. These negative situations are sometimes necessary within the process of artistic growth and improvement. Often, they are simply unnecessary barriers, that can be easily overcome.

Today I´d like to give you some valuable insights into managing your creativity right.
Walt Disney, who had not only created a true creative empire with his many movie projects over many years, but had also been an innovator within the film industry, once brought to life a method that allows for ideas to spin off and be set to reality one step at a time: The so called “3 Walts and 3 Rooms” theory.

There was not just one Walt Disney…well actually- yes there was only one, but Walt combined 3 different personalities within. Those were:

Walt- the Dreamer
Walt- the Realistic
Walt- the Critic

All three Walts learned to look at topics from different angles and without disrupting one another. The three Walts not only worked independently one from the other, but also had their very own offices (rooms).

There was a room for brainstorming, where the dreamer would shoot with ideas and visions, regardless of rhyme or reason. This room was like a playground, where anything was possible; no limits, no restrictions, no nay-sayers allowed. The dreamer Walt would spend quite some time in there, until he felt like he´s had enough. A songwriter would use this room to collect words, sentences, pieces of melodies…without ever putting them into a certain context just yet. He would collect moods, emotions, titles and riffs. He´d play various chords, or hum melodies. He would listen to people, look at the world and scribble down notes.

The realist Walt would then open the doors towards the execution room. Within that room, stories were built by the realist, ideas would be transported into realistic projects. A songwriter would use that room for storytelling. Looking at the idea collection and picking out certain pieces that go well together and then building a storyline and a song skeleton around it.

This is where the critic sometimes comes lurking…disturbing, being noisy and blocking the poor realist in his working process. The realist is not as confident as the dreamer it seems- he gets easily distracted and insecure. Welcome to the situation I mentioned at the beginning.

The critic Walt however learned to stay away from the dreamer and the realist. He´d let them breathe and would patiently wait for them to hand over their results whenever they felt ready. He would then look at everything from a different angle. Does the material work commercially? Does it really catch my attention? Does it trigger emotions? Does it sell well?
A songwriter critic would ask questions like: Does the song make me feel good or bad about something? Does the arrangement stand out? Is the melody catchy? Does it sound too cheesy? The critic would decide whether to work with that song, whether to recycle it -e.g. by asking the dreamer and the realist to work out some similar ideas again – or whether to throw it away.

It is important for any songwriter to strictly keep the critic away from the other two alter egos. The critic should look at stuff a couple of days later I suggest. He needs distance and neutrality. And the dreamer and the realist each need a surrounding without pressure or specific instructions. Working towards a concrete goal might keep those two individuals from doing their very best. It might keep them from including unexpected, interesting aspects, which are often the heart of a good song. It´s those aspects that can´t be planned. They are what every artist mainly chases after.

So, get down to your various Walts and embrace your inner dreamer, realist and critic. I´m sure you´ll be able to overcome doubts, pressure, frustration and mental blocks easily by handing over your work to the right Walt at the right time!