Hello everybody

I have been producing music for the last 6 years of my life, i learned all by myself, how to play the keyboard, writing melodies, how synthesizer works, mixing... everything, you name it! after 2 years i started to become popular on forums and some other sites like YouTube and the community of the genre i used to produce.
I got a lot of positive support so i started to see a possibility to maybe become a professional electronic music producer.
I released a few tracks for free and got offered to get signed to some labels interested in my music.

So i transitioned into female for almost 2 years ago, started hormone therapy and started living full time as a women, today is almost a year, i pass really well, i guess im lucky, my family supports me a lot so my transition has been easy. Music was still my passion when i started transition but this last couple of months i have started to notice that i cant concentrate anymore, im not as technical as i was before, i don't have any inspiration anymore and the love i had for music is starting to fade away slowly... and i really don't know what to do? is like music is the only thing im good at!! i have not been able to finish any new tracks lately!! i dont know why i feel like this??
Any musicians here that can relate to this?
Can estrogen affect creativity?

Thanks

You will find a lot of musicians here, myself included.  It's pretty common with transfolk as it seems, as is being left-handed and having ADD.

I'm not sure estrogen helped my creativity or if testosterone hindered it, but I can improvise much more easily now.

Hmm yeah I can to an extent. I'm a musician myself but it was the opposite for me when I started hrt. It made playing guitar and learning theory/training my ear that much easier. In my case I'm pretty sure testosterone hindered my learning process. But regarding your current predicament amazed91, you might want to try making and listening to new music you've never tried playing before.

My tastes in music changed pretty drastically when I started hrt. I still love a lot of the music I was listening to before transition but things got old really quickly concerning what kind of music I was interested in during that time. Hope this helps!! 

my main fancy is art. HRT didnt effect my talent, but it did cause me to be abit more sexual with my art.
http://ushida.deviantart.com/ (NSFW)

but I also play guitar and sing
http://tindeck.com/users/birdy+reene

I am professional musician (guitar and piano player, composer) for almost all my life and I've been a little bit scared, that the hormones will affect my abilities in a negative way, but I was nicely surprised, that I actually started playing more accurately and not that messy like before. Also, I am more relaxed and have more desire to play and now I am in much better technical state, than before the transition.... In fact, I had close to no desire to play in the last years before HRT, so it definitely helped me

Estrogen hasn't impacted my creativity, though I don't have too much to begin with.   I do write poetry, lyrics and songs, but I'm a very private person and keep them to myself.  Kind of don't want people to laugh at my poems or songs, ya know?  So, I'm a musician that does it for a hobby; therefore, I can't relate too much.

I find that the best way to get inspiration or be creative is to listen your heart and follow emotions.  Maybe you relied on a lot of the angst prior to transition to find that emotional component?  If you are happier now, maybe you may need to find a new way to be creative.  Find something else that inspires you.  It could be anything.  I've never had my love for music die, but I have had a lot of different changes in my taste, usually acquiring something new and becoming more open minded to something I couldn't appreciate at one time. I'm not sure estrogen can change creativity, but lifestyle and mentality shifts may.  While I could be wrong, I've got a hunch that may be part of the problem.

What do you think the source is? Anything you specifically notice that may have led to this change?

Same story, different trans*
I have not seen any negative effects on my creativity after HRT. Still inventing on my piano, still playing the kayak (my bass). One thing I did notice was that I have to do more finger exercise to keep ahead of the (upright) bass, but that comes down to a physical strength issue. I'm still pulling music out of the air

I'm partially deaf and yet still seem to have an ear for music. My primary instrument is the bass guitar, but I can play by ear on the piano, mess with the guitar and any other instruments I get my hands on. I hope that won't change, because it's one of the very few things I enjoy.

Crap, I'm partially deaf as well.  Unfortunately it's my own damned fault.  And Jim Marshall's.  I once jokingly told him that he should make hearing aids in black with a tiny Marshall script logo.  "From the people who screwed up your hearing in the first place..."  He wasn't amused.  Ironically I had to yell that in his ear!

It's funny, give me any instrument I've never played before and I'll figure out how to play a tune on it.

Former pro musician here - classical/flamenco/metal guitar player. There are going to be LOTS of us here

Quote from: KelsieJ on April 21, 2014, 06:19:04 PM
Former pro musician here - classical/flamenco/metal guitar player. There are going to be LOTS of us here

Crap, you too!?  I'm starting to think there are more musicians here than not.  I really wish I could play classical and not sound like an idiot.  Sometimes I listen to Segovia and just want to give up completely.  I can usually get through Bach - Bouree in E minor without screwing it up too badly, but that's about it.  I did do a pretty cool metal arrangement of the rockin' parts Beethoven's 7th, 2nd movement though.  Making that chart was an undertaking with my ADD.

Guilty as charged. I play guitar, mandolin, and piano. I mainly played piano to write.

I think I can relate to what your experiencing in that I used to play guitar 40 to 50 hours per week and when I began my transition several years ago it dropped to maybe 10 hrs a week, I pretty much quit the mandolin and piano. Writing seemed to no longer flow, it didn't just come to me. It bothered me that I no longer felt inspired and I worried that my love for music was fading to a hobby; but my transition is now over, and my final goal (srs) is 4 weeks away.

What I've noticed is that as I began to not feel so consumed with my transition, I began to "have" time for music again. Recently I've noticed that I've been playing a lot more. The guitars and mandolins are out of their cases and the dust is off the piano keys. I'm now finding that my love of music has returned.

I guess I would say is that you will never lose your love for music, it comes from your soul. It may take a back seat to a different priority, and allow you time to focus on another part of your character, but trust me; it will always be a part of you, and you it. You can't be separated.


Kristin 

I don't play Music. I play Noise. I love listening to Music, but I can't play it. My dream is to play a show somewhere to a completely hostile audience. That would be a LOT of fun.

Quote from: Laura Squirrel on April 21, 2014, 07:19:27 PM
I don't play Music. I play Noise. I love listening to Music, but I can't play it. My dream is to play a show somewhere to a completely hostile audience. That would be a LOT of fun.

*Chucks empty beer bottle Laura's way* 

  That's all you got? Don't make me go all GG Allin on ya!

Quote from: Laura Squirrel on April 21, 2014, 07:46:15 PM
That's all you got? Don't make me go all GG Allin on ya!

And nod off/pass out on my friend's front porch?

Please don't go on stage wearing only a dog collar and cowboy boots with a mic up your bum!  Quite unladylike behavior...

Quote from: Jill F on April 21, 2014, 07:51:34 PM
And nod off/pass out on my friend's front porch?

Please don't go on stage wearing only a dog collar and cowboy boots with a mic up your bum!  Quite unladylike behavior...

LMAO!! I couldn't do that no matter what my gender is.

Why am I suddenly thinking of The Blues Brothers playing at that Rodeo Bar?

I have been in a couple bands. Singer mostly, but I can credibly play guitar, uke and bass... especially when I am just filling rhythm for a better player. Also a novice luthier.

My instruments of choice lately are hand made, jug band things. I love rocking the jug, the jewes harp, the washboard, the washtub-gutbucket bass, the kazoo, the didley bow and playing the blues on my cigar box guitar. I dunno why, I just got hooked on that old, pre-amplification, pre-rock and roll, early blues sound. Having a set of jug band instruments is like having an Xbox and Rock Band, only it is the real thing. It is fun for people of any skill level. We can jam for hours, and annoy the neighbors at the same time!

My passion though, is acting. Writing comes second.

Never noticed a drop in creativity. I sure write a lot more now.

Singing is weird, as my range does not match my gender... but it can be a blast going on stage on karaoke night and rocking some Tom Waits while wearing a wig and a sundress.

I have been in a couple bands. Singer mostly, but I can credibly play guitar, uke and bass... especially when I am just filling rhythm for a better player. Also a novice luthier.

My instruments of choice lately are hand made, jug band things. I love rocking the jug, the jewes harp, the washboard, the washtub-gutbucket bass, the kazoo, the didley bow and playing the blues on my cigar box guitar. I dunno why, I just got hooked on that old, pre-amplification, pre-rock and roll, early blues sound. Having a set of jug band instruments is like having an Xbox and Rock Band, only it is the real thing. It is fun for people of any skill level. We can jam for hours, and annoy the neighbors at the same time!

OMG, yet another luthier here!!!???  I mean, nobody does that.  This is getting weird.

Like I said, I am a novice, but I LOVE it. If only the buy in for a proper wood shop were not so expensive... I would spend the rest of my days making instruments. I still hope to get there some day. It fulfills my every creative need.