Issue No. 14: Creativity is a Process We Allow
Entering 2021, I have spent a lot of time recalibrating my creative energies and in doing so have refined certain mindsets that work positively for me. In this issue of The Theisen Journal I would like to share some interrelated musings on creativity that you may find empowering, useful, or intriguing.
“Imagination + Action = Creativity”
The first of these is a formula I find clarifying: “Imagination + Action = Creativity.” It is easy to conflate “imagination” and “creativity” when I actually regard these as different concepts. Imagination is what we dream, what we project as possible, what we have rarely perceived but wish to bring into the world. Creativity is what happens when we couple that projection with concrete action in order to bring that fantasy into reality. Hence, “creativity” - we have created something that did not previously exist.
If we focus too heavily on the “imagination” portion of this equation - which I think we composers tend to do sometimes - we end up feeling as if we have done a ton of mental labor with very little to show for it. Endless hypotheses, tinkering, staring at the wall, score study, editing and editing and editing can certainly be a part of what we do, but at a point you must put down the cookbook and actually make something in the kitchen because you and your loved ones are hungry. You can’t eat a recipe. Constantly inhabiting the “imagination” zone without actionable release is a lot like having hypothetical arguments with yourself; it feels good to enjoy that dopamine kick of self-righteousness but ultimately there’s nothing you have contributed outside the confines of your own ego.
On the other hand, too much action without imagination - which I think we performers can be guilty of - results in a lot of stuff without a real purpose. It’s practicing etudes four hours each day and still ending up with recital programs that your teacher’s teacher would have performed (and with no real fresh interpretive insight at that). It’s having mountains of counterpoint exercises in your drawer and still writing music that sounds like second-rate Hindemith.
Creativity is when speculation meets operation.
Especially when individuals or organizations have pre-paid for our creative work, we can get stuck on the “imagination” front-end of the above equation because we do not trust continuous action to carry us through to the conclusion. “What if what I create isn’t good? What if they don’t like it and after all that money spent I have disappointed them?” we ask. This delay tactic causes considerable stress. Procrastination, remember, is an anxiety response. The antidote is action structured through routine - a process.
People don’t pay you for your product, they pay you for your process. That’s tough to internalize but it is true. There is a popular internet meme/image reminding members of the general public that when an artist creates a drawing in ten minutes and the cost is, say, $100, they are not just paying for the ten minutes of physical labor but for the decades of study and application preceding the ten minutes in question. As creative workers, we would do well to remember this!
Sit around and imagine all you want, but be sure to have a regular process that puts your imagination to work through action. Similarly, have a process wherein your actions are in constant dialogue with your imagination.
Folks trust that you’re going to come up with something cool. Believing that their money is paying for your process alleviates a lot of pressure from the imagination portion of the equation because you’re no longer bashing your head against the wall imploring your subconscious to find a masterpiece idea that justifies the external payment/faith.
How many days per week are you going to sit. down. and. write? How many days per week are you going to sit. down. and. practice?
I am not going to tell you how much or how frequently you should engage with your process. That is for you and you alone to decide. I simply encourage you to have that process and that calendar.
Now, I can already hear some of you bristling at this advice, accusing me of being a work-til-ya-drop fanatic. “You don’t need to be constantly producing in order to be a creative person!” I agree. Completely!
Are you a composer even if you’re not composing? Are you a performer even if you’re not performing? Of course! But it might be tricky to convince the rest of the world that you are.
I think that creativity is not something we have to torture ourselves to experience. Quite the opposite. If we simply combine imagination with action on a regular basis, the result will be a stream of creative work. Creativity is a process we allow. We don’t have to “make things” - things will be automatically made when we allow the process of creativity to be regular, joyous, and easy.
Eliminate the notion that any one project is inherently more difficult than any other.
Approach composing an entire symphony the same way you would if someone paid you twenty bucks to write a tune in five minutes. The act of allowing the creative process to operate is identical in both cases!
One of my favorite ideas as a performer comes from my dear friend and superb saxophonist Chris Condon who once said, “this piece isn’t hard… it’s just unfamiliar.”
He understands that allowing the creative act - being a conduit for that which naturally wants to be birthed - sees all problems as equal if one has a process.