A multi-part discussion into creativity for musical development and composition. Looking at creativity through source, application, development obtainment and self assessment.
Through this exploration of creativity I will discuss how to use, develop, and most importantly, initiate creativity within a performance and compositional context.
Most musicians wish to understand the foundations of creative freedom and how to apply it. The origin of creativity is quite elusive. It’s not something that you can call upon when the mood takes you. The idea that creativity is something that you are born with or that only “creative people” can be creative is a fallacy. Almost everyone is creative on a daily basis. It’s just not realized or regarded as so. The vast majority of people don’t work in stereotypically creative jobs; however, to some degree creativity is required almost everywhere.
As a kid, when playing with your favorite toys, you would endlessly create different worlds, performance contexts, characters and dialogue without thinking about it. It would just happen. Not because you thought, “right, today I’m going to try and be creative – I need to create a game or a story”. You’d just do it. It happened because you were initially mentally relaxed. You can’t have fun without being relaxed. And you can’t play if you don’t find what you are doing as enjoyable or fun. Therefore, within that ‘play’ would come creativity. Being relaxed sets the mental foundations to start playing; the playing then develops into something more interesting as you begin to create, which in turn allows new ideas to flow and triggers a larger amount of creative suggestions. This “flow” is something I will discuss in depth later on throughout this series.
There is usually the presumption that people within the arts have a higher creative output than those that aren’t and that it comes more natural to us. But quantifying creativity is quite difficult. It’s hard to measure. It’s especially hard to measure how useful your creativity is. It is also very important to understand the difference between creating something out of its purest form and using creativity in order to be productive. Pure creativity arrives in a different way to the type of creativity that is required to be productive; the lines between creativity and productivity can often be blurred. Pure creativity is something that you have very little control over. It’s random, uncontrollable and indefinite. The creativity required to develop upon a preexisting idea is closer to “creativity through experience and influence”. Producing and advancing an initial creation still requires a highly creative element even though this process might be mainly thought of as productivity instead. However, the two go hand in hand. Productivity needs to be applied in order to make the creativity worth while.
Don’t Force It
When regarding composition, a creative idea arrives when it arrives. It can’t be forced. You can’t think, “Right, today I’m going to be creative.” Pure creation and originality within an idea happens seemingly at random. It can’t be controlled. You can however, help to mentally “set the scene” to aid the flow of original, organic ideas. The fundamental starting point to creativity is relaxation. You need to be relaxed and, very importantly, to be free from distraction. Any distraction will completely shatter the flow of ideas and you’ll have to start laying out your mental framework from scratch.
Once I am in this mental setting I let my thoughts wander around the idea of a broad musical subject, such as a style, instrument or musician. That usually starts to trigger memories related to the initial subject. These can then lead to a purely new idea being created. This takes time. It’s not instant.
For me I’ve found that the largest amount of organic, usable ideas arrive when I am tired. I need to be mentally relaxed and in this sort of hinterland between wakefulness and sleep where gradually ideas start to form. Therefore, I usually work best at night. I then find that having the motivation to be productive once the creative process begins to happen takes care of itself, even though it’s the end of the day and I’m tired. The compromise is that it’s harder to maintain concentration because of the tiredness. Corrections can be made first thing the next morning while the ideas are still fresh.
Once you are in that frame of mind to work, regardless of the time of day, capitalize on it. Because there will be times when you will also have to get comfortable with having to be creative and productive when you are in the completely opposing mindset.
Being creative is a part of life. It is a human characteristic more useful than we acknowledge. By even just scratching the surface into understanding its processes, it will unlock and offer richer ideas, more interesting pathways, and allow new musical as well as personal self awareness.
About PIVODIO™ Coach Glenn Charles
Glenn is a UK based musician/drummer and composer working in the world of jazz, west end and contemporary studio settings. Glenn was awarded a scholarship to study jazz performance at the Elder Conservatorium, Adelaide, Australia. Since completing his degree and returning to the UK he has continued study under the mentorship of Peter Erskine, setting up foundations as a freelance drummer, composer, and educator.
Glenn has toured, performed, and recorded with West End Musicals such as Bat out of Hell UK 2021/22 (dep) and Jersey Boys (dep). And artists and musicians such as; Andee-Louise Hypolite, Bogdan Kominowski, Beatrix Lovejoy Chappe, Michael Reed, Mike Dixon, John Aue, Julian Ferraretto, Luke Stevenson, IPlayBass, and many more.
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