arrange • compose • conduct
Posts discussing creativity, both in and outside of music
What are you trying to get better at? What are the stakes you’ll have when you’re good and how can you lower those stakes now? I got good at writing by lowering the stakes. If I had sat down at my computer and said, “I’m going to write an essay […]
Don’t worry, there’ll be another one along any minute. Sometimes I write my post by typing a title, with as little conscious thought as possible. It’s just something I’ve noticed, or feel in that moment. A little pause to think. And then I start to express what I feel about […]
Creativity isn’t a skill. A skill is something that you get better at over time. In my experience, you don’t get better at creativity. You get more versed in accessing it, you get better at recognizing better creative impulses, but you don’t get better at being creative. That’s because creativity […]
The golden rule of improv applies well beyond comedy. The most famous dictum of improv comedy is “Yes, and.” When someone adds something to the scene, you must accept it and work with it as you continue. Only through that open collaboration can you create something all the improvisers share […]
I think there can be a fear that if you go too long without exercising a craft, it disappears. It helps to recognize that that’s not true. I haven’t written any new music recently. While I think of writing music as the core of my professional work, there are seasons […]
You have to turn off the infinite tap. Media is effectively infinite now. The media (film, tv, music, podcasts, books & articles, social, etc.) that is inside your niche is vast enough that you need never stop consuming it. But. If you don’t turn it off, you can’t make your […]
We think of creativity as something rare. It isn’t. Creativity is the default setting for every five-year-old. Just listen to them tell a joke. Five-year-olds learn the form of a joke and then immediately get creative in variations – some funny, some not. They are not self-critical as they play […]
Do you balance looking backward and looking around with looking forward? “Just keep moving onAnything you doLet it come from youThen it will be newGive us more to see” from “Move On” in Sunday In The Park With George (music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) “When I say ‘what’s next?’ […]
Often in creative work, the only bad choice is not to make a choice. When you’re making something creative, you are presented with opportunity after opportunity to make a choice. Should I voice a chord like this, or like that? Will I make the rhythm of this line A, B, […]
Starting a small project is relatively straightforward. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do?” Then start to do it. Starting a big project is different, because a big project almost always includes something you’ve never done before. Before starting a big project ask yourself, “What do I need to […]