December (Delia): The Secrets Behind Creativity

Many people categorise themselves as a “creative” or “uncreative” person - as if it is something they are born into and stuck with. I recently met a classical musician who had led a major orchestra in the UK for most of her career who even described herself to me over a glass of wine as “completely uncreative”. I would argue that all musicians have the ability and opportunity to be creative, regardless of their genre or training.

Creativity is not a “Talent”

In the 1960s NASA commissioned psychologist George Land to devise a test for creativity, because they wanted to hone their hiring process to find more innovative engineers. They ran Land’s experiment on both their own workforce, and with young people. The results were surprising:

• Creativity is unrelated to IQ 

• 90% of 1600 children were labelled as “creative geniuses”

• By age 30, only 2% of adults retained their “creative genius” status

Creativity is clearly a part of who we are from the very beginning, so where does it go? 

Children are happy to play, and devise a multitude of answers to a single question; the psychologists labelled this as “divergent thinking”. Children don’t mind starting again or not achieving a specific, predetermined outcome. They are non-judgemental and often confident. Traditional schooling doesn’t always teach divergent thinking, but rather prizes judgement and evaluation - so called “convergent thinking”. 

In his book The Music Lesson, electric bass player Victor Wooten has a brilliant quote that has always stuck with me: “A child playing an air guitar never makes a mistake”. 

Creativity is a Way of Thinking

Monty Python's John Cleese gave a legendary lecture called “Creativity in Management” that transformed my own approach to the rehearsal and practice room.

He describes creativity as a “particular mood or way of operating - a childlike ability to play for its own sake..for enjoyment”. 

Closed mode

• Lots to be done and we have to get on with it if we're going to get through it all!

• Active (probably slightly anxious) mode (can be exciting and pleasurable)

• Impatient, if only with ourselves

• Not much humor

• Very purposeful

• Stressed and even a bit manic, but not creative

My training in classical music was often filled with exams, competitions, auditions, deadlines and huge quantities of notes which often led to a self-imposed stress and time scarcity. I can definitely relate to the closed mode John describes! 

The Open Mode

• Relaxed

• Expansive

• Less purposeful …more contemplative, more inclined to humor (which always accompanies a wider perspective) and, consequently, more playful

• Curiosity for its own sake can operate because we're not under pressure to get a specific thing done quickly.

• We can play, and that is what allows our natural creativity to surface

How do you Begin Your Music Making?

After watching this lecture, I radically changed the way I warm up, and I even begin every lesson like this as a jam with the student. Instead of scales on autopilot (I must confess), I now try and “play” first to find a curious mindset. I start with one note and simply see where it takes me. Sometimes it goes to Balkan grooves, or a hymn, or a one-note jam - it does not matter and I don’t record it. It is just for that moment.

Curiosity about sound production is only going to make those scales better anyway and probably make me engage with them for longer, so this never feels like a waste of time. I do this on every instrument before I play - from the egg shaker to the 5-octave marimba - no matter how technical or time-pressed the practice session is.

I then use this technique in the dressing room on a practice pad - or even some chairs - before every single concert. It means I walk on stage “in love” with the music and always have creative energy on stage. The Open Mode has been a game changer!

How to Get into a Creative Mindset

In workshops I always use the “yes..and!” game and it changes the room instantly..and it makes everyone laugh. The premise is simple - you have to answer “YES” to every suggestion and then “AND” to build on it:

Speaker 1: I want to invent a cushion that changes colour depending on who sits on it..

Speaker 2: YES AND…when that person sits on the cushion, as well as changing colour it changes into their preferred seat of choice, whether that is a hammock or a bean bag..

Speaker 3: YES AND..it also supplies them with their desired beverage - so a hammock might give you a tropical fruit smoothie and a bean bag might give you a pumpkin spice latte..

Speaker 4: YES AND..

The point being that if Speaker 2 had said “No, I don’t think that will work, that is a crummy idea” after hearing idea 1, then idea 4 would never have been born. And idea 4 might be much better than idea 1.

This is a great mentality to bring to the rehearsal room - let people try things out rather than deciding they won’t work before you have even heard them..it might surprise you or lead to the elusive “good” idea you didn't know existed yet. 

And so..

I hope that these thoughts prove useful to you and that you feel emboldened that you already have everything you would ever need to be creative, no matter whether you are at the start or the end of your music-making. 

Delia x