Completing the #Jamuary music challenge, to create and share a song every day in January, is a feat in itself. But what would make Falling Islands, a Singapore-based ambient / synthwave musician, do this for three Januaries in a row?
For those who are unfamiliar, #Jamuary is an international music challenge to create and share a song every day in the month of January, analogous to the Inktober month long art challenge for visual artists who use ink as their medium. Just like visual artists do in Inktober, musicians in #Jamuary post their works daily on various platforms and use hashtags to signal what they have done.
These challenges have no prizes or competition but they provide real benefits. All artists, from visual artists to musicians, struggle with the discipline to keep practising and improving skills. You might think that a global pandemic, that has reduced outdoor activities like shows and socialising, would create more time for practice. But distractions also abound online, from games to Netflix to endless doom scrolling on Instagram to going down YouTube rabbit holes. Challenges like Inktober and Jamuary create a social incentive to keep to the schedule.
We asked Falling Islands why and how he was able to stay the course.
1. What has driven or inspired you to complete this challenge for 3 years in a row?
Just a desire to constantly change up my way of making music. I believe sticking to only one set formula of making music is a surefire way to get creatively burnt out, thus, by varying not only the styles of music one makes but also their modus operandi while making it, one keeps their mind constantly refreshed and agile and the creative flow is sustained for much longer.
(You can see from Falling Island's YouTube playlists for Jamuary that he really varies his styles - ambient, synthwave, chillwave - and his methods of making music - analog synths, Pure Data, VCV Rack)
2. Many start but few complete, what kind of challenges have you faced and how do you overcome them?
Some challenges involved balancing school and work commitments with recording, filming and editing the Jamuary videos. I had to adhere to a really rigid and disciplined schedule of recording and producing each episode of the series so that I would still have enough time for my other commitments.
3. What have you learned from doing this 3 years in a row?
There is never an end to what one can learn. There is always a new skill, a new technique, lurking just around the corner. The important thing is to find it.
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