I recently read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. This was a great book with lots of applications to my life both as a teacher and as a musician. A model for transforming ideas into creativity is presented at one point in the book which I have thought about the great deal. I'd like to share that model and some of my thoughts about how it applies to my life as a teacher, conductor, and as a performing musician. I feel like this model points to the way many of my ideas have become something more. Of course, I didn't know this model until recently. But, when I think about the process I go through, this certainly clarifies the important steps.
From the book, page 94:
"Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn says that ideas can be acted upon in fourways. First, you must generate the idea, usually from memory or experience or activity. Then you have to retain it—that is, hold it steady in your mind and keep it from disappearing. Then you have to inspect it—study it and make inferences about it. Finally, you have to be able to transform it—alter it in some way to suit your higher purposes."
"Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn says that ideas can be acted upon in fourways. First, you must generate the idea, usually from memory or experience or activity. Then you have to retain it—that is, hold it steady in your mind and keep it from disappearing. Then you have to inspect it—study it and make inferences about it. Finally, you have to be able to transform it—alter it in some way to suit your higher purposes."
Let's take a look at each of these four important steps: Idea, Retention, Inspection, and Transformation. Then, I will try to give some examples of their application in my creative process and in the specific areas of creativity in my professional life: music-making, pedagogy, and the rehearsal process. Perhaps you will find some similarities in yours.
IDEAS
I feel like we all have ideas. Some of them are good. Some of them are great. And some are better left undeveloped. The real trick is to retain them and ultimately transformed in into real creativity. This takes a great deal of mental effort and as well as physical effort. But, I believe that we all have good ideas. String Pedagogue Jacqueline Dillon once told me that we all have ideas others are interested in. The important next step is willingness to share them. She suggested writing them down. I took her words to heart and began a pattern of writing. (This blog is an extension of that advice.) You have great ideas. We all simply must commit to developing and sharing them. The first step is to believe in the idea and the next is to retain it.
Examples:
I can't tell you how many times I have had a good idea while driving or engaged in some other activity and never came back to it. How many great ideas in history have been left on the chopping block as a result of simply not following through. I strongly believe in writing things down. My e-mail inbox is littered with one-line notes to myself. These include lists, ideas, and recommendations from others. I have also become a fan of the voice notes apps for smartphone. It is so easy to leave myself a voice note and come back to the idea later.
I have shared this before, but it is worth mentioning again. The publication Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works, from the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC explains a great model for getting goals and ideas to completion:
We all have good ideas. But, we must follow though and retain the idea.
Examples:
INSPECTION
This is another tricky aspect of the process. We must always inspect our ideas and determine if they are valid and worth developing. This is where the research comes in. Is the idea really unique to you? Is it a version of someone else's idea? What do others have to say about the topic? I once saw an interesting model of leadership that I have adapted to this topic.
TRANSFORMATION
Once we have retained the idea and inspected it, we can then transform it into something concrete. This is where our imagination meets our content knowledge, goals, background, and intuition. We are compelled to take the fully inspected idea and let it become all that it can be. This requires thought and some dedicated quiet time. I often find my quite and transformation time in the car with the radio off. Interestingly, I also find it in the early morning with a cup of coffee in the quiet and relative calm of the coming day. In the end, however, this is where the idea develops into something I can ultimately use.
Examples:
Even this blog post went through this very process. I read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. I made a note of the Kosslyn quote on page 94 right when I first read it. In my case, I made the note in my blog app and figured I would come back to it later. In fact, I made that note almost 1 year ago. But, in that year, the idea didn't go away. It was written down for me to stumble upon later. And, that certainly happened. Next, I inspected it. I ran across the quote in my notes a couple of weeks ago and began to ponder the idea. I made a few notes, put it away, and came back to it several times. I decided it was worth pursuing as a result of some of the teaching I have done this summer and began the task of transformation. As I began to transform the idea, I decided to work with my three primary creative areas: pedagogy, conducting and rehearsals, and music-making. These made sense to me and gave me a frame from which to build this post. And, here we are. My original idea for a blog entry has turned into creativity by using this very model. By the way, I would classify this as an "Ordinary" idea. It is (hopefully) simply an effective way to relate a traditional story. The framework of this idea is not my own. It is Kosslyn's. I simply tell the story in my own words to my own audience from my perspective.
I am wondering if this resonates with any of you? Have you ever with taking an idea from the earliest stages to completion? Perhaps some of these thoughts will help you with the process. I welcome your reaction and thoughts.
Peace.
Scott
By the way, I do recommend The Creative Habit. I picked up a great deal from the book. I mostly found it to be affirming of the way I have approached creativity for many years. In the end, it provides a sequential system with great nomenclature and certainly a harmonic underpinning. (For those of you that know my work, you will recognize this. If not, check out this post.
IDEAS
I feel like we all have ideas. Some of them are good. Some of them are great. And some are better left undeveloped. The real trick is to retain them and ultimately transformed in into real creativity. This takes a great deal of mental effort and as well as physical effort. But, I believe that we all have good ideas. String Pedagogue Jacqueline Dillon once told me that we all have ideas others are interested in. The important next step is willingness to share them. She suggested writing them down. I took her words to heart and began a pattern of writing. (This blog is an extension of that advice.) You have great ideas. We all simply must commit to developing and sharing them. The first step is to believe in the idea and the next is to retain it.
Examples:
- Pedagogy: "I should create a system for teaching upper positions."
- Music Making: "I am going to write a song for looped guitar and electric violin."
- Rehearsal Process: "I feel like this passage should be slower than the previous section to create anticipation."
I can't tell you how many times I have had a good idea while driving or engaged in some other activity and never came back to it. How many great ideas in history have been left on the chopping block as a result of simply not following through. I strongly believe in writing things down. My e-mail inbox is littered with one-line notes to myself. These include lists, ideas, and recommendations from others. I have also become a fan of the voice notes apps for smartphone. It is so easy to leave myself a voice note and come back to the idea later.
I have shared this before, but it is worth mentioning again. The publication Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works, from the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC explains a great model for getting goals and ideas to completion:
- Setting Goal - 6-8% likelihood of completion (have the idea)
- Setting a Goal (idea) and Writing It Down - 25-30% likelihood of completion.
- Setting a Goal (idea), Writing It Down, and Verbally Sharing It with Others - 55-60% likelihood of completion.
- Setting a Goal, Writing It Down, Verbally Sharing It with Others, and an ask a friend to hold you accountable - 85+% likelihood of completion.
We all have good ideas. But, we must follow though and retain the idea.
Examples:
- Pedagogy: Start a lesson plan with a piece of paper and leave it front and center on your desk
- Music Making: Tell a friend about your idea for a song and ask them if they will listen when it is finished.
- Rehearsal Process: Mark the section in your score to come back to later
INSPECTION
This is another tricky aspect of the process. We must always inspect our ideas and determine if they are valid and worth developing. This is where the research comes in. Is the idea really unique to you? Is it a version of someone else's idea? What do others have to say about the topic? I once saw an interesting model of leadership that I have adapted to this topic.
- Ordinary ideas relate a traditional story as effectively as possible. This is probably ~50% of ideas. This could be a nice pop with traditional chord changes or a rock solid lesson plan for a class. Traditional stuff presented effectively.
- Innovative ideas bring a fresh twist to a story that has been latent in the population. (~10%of ideas) This could be a new and unique musical composition using a traditional orchestral instrumentation or a new and unique approach to teaching as playing technique such as the Bornoff Cyclic Method.
- Visionary ideas create a new story (~2% of ideas) This might be the invention of the synthesizer or Schoenberg's rules of Serialism.
In the end, we must inspect our ideas and determine if they are worth pursuing.
Examples:
Examples:
- Pedagogy: Learn all you can about the various systems and pedagogy for teaching upper positions. Ask questions. Is my idea valid? Is it efficient? Is it sequential? Am I providing context?
- Music Making: Learn the chord structure songs that are similar that the one you want to write. Listen to favorite artists and analyze their work. Do you have the appropriate gear and experience?
- Rehearsal Process: Listen to multiple recordings of the work. Can you justify the tempo change? Does your vision work from a historical perspective?
Once we have retained the idea and inspected it, we can then transform it into something concrete. This is where our imagination meets our content knowledge, goals, background, and intuition. We are compelled to take the fully inspected idea and let it become all that it can be. This requires thought and some dedicated quiet time. I often find my quite and transformation time in the car with the radio off. Interestingly, I also find it in the early morning with a cup of coffee in the quiet and relative calm of the coming day. In the end, however, this is where the idea develops into something I can ultimately use.
Examples:
- Pedagogy: Create your system and try it with students. Is ti effective? Make some changes or additions and try again. This is a never-ending process.
- Music Making: Go to work. Create a melody. Put some chord changes together. Do you have a bass line or riff? Do you still like it? Try again.
- Rehearsal Process: Give the idea a try and see how it lands for your players. Does it create the desired effect? Try is a little more or less subtle. Is this better. Again, this process is ongoing. but, the idea has survived and has begun to take life!
Even this blog post went through this very process. I read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. I made a note of the Kosslyn quote on page 94 right when I first read it. In my case, I made the note in my blog app and figured I would come back to it later. In fact, I made that note almost 1 year ago. But, in that year, the idea didn't go away. It was written down for me to stumble upon later. And, that certainly happened. Next, I inspected it. I ran across the quote in my notes a couple of weeks ago and began to ponder the idea. I made a few notes, put it away, and came back to it several times. I decided it was worth pursuing as a result of some of the teaching I have done this summer and began the task of transformation. As I began to transform the idea, I decided to work with my three primary creative areas: pedagogy, conducting and rehearsals, and music-making. These made sense to me and gave me a frame from which to build this post. And, here we are. My original idea for a blog entry has turned into creativity by using this very model. By the way, I would classify this as an "Ordinary" idea. It is (hopefully) simply an effective way to relate a traditional story. The framework of this idea is not my own. It is Kosslyn's. I simply tell the story in my own words to my own audience from my perspective.
I am wondering if this resonates with any of you? Have you ever with taking an idea from the earliest stages to completion? Perhaps some of these thoughts will help you with the process. I welcome your reaction and thoughts.
Peace.
Scott
By the way, I do recommend The Creative Habit. I picked up a great deal from the book. I mostly found it to be affirming of the way I have approached creativity for many years. In the end, it provides a sequential system with great nomenclature and certainly a harmonic underpinning. (For those of you that know my work, you will recognize this. If not, check out this post.
