Fearless Creativity! - Latest Comments

Re: The War Of The Roses, part two

tobias tinker — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 22:00:07 -0000

Yeah, I think that holds... you have to step up and do the work; shortcuts can have hidden, unanticipated, disastrous results.

Re: The War Of The Roses, part two

Nick — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 21:50:05 -0000

Try agent orange.... On the roses I mean. There must be a metaphore there, like how a sterilizing solution to the Resistance would destroy all the associated distractions on which creativity feeds... Hmmm.

Re: In Praise of Beginners (part 1)

Doug Galbraith — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:03:56 -0000

I wholeheartedly agree and couldn't have said it better myself. Beginners almost have an advantage over experienced creators. Because we (artists who've done it a while) always know where we could take something. "I could move to this chord and then that chord, etc..." We know where the safe route through lies, whether we want to follow it or not. Beginners, like you say, have everything laid out before them with no pre-set ideas of what it will be like.

Re: are you good enough?

tobias tinker — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:51:09 -0000

That's very true... on the other hand, we do have the luxury that, unless we are being recorded or filmed, our work can 'vanish' and won't necessarily be around to haunt us if we didn't have a great show... of course, this comes at a cost - those times we wish we could have preserved a given performance but didn't. I've more or less come to grips with that over the years - the best bits have a habit of not getting recorded, so you just have to enjoy them at the time, and be happy when you get a decent one on tape (speaking colloquially at this point, of course)...

Re: are you good enough?

tobias tinker — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:46:29 -0000

Thanks Jen, great to hear from you... I can get up to a fair bit of introspection while riding home! It's a nice ride, and I actually just rememberd that I have a picture I had intended to put up, taken while I was passing one of the city's more recognizable monuments... maybe I'll try to get around to that soon!

Re: are you good enough?

David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:02:56 -0000

My current "work" is something of a solitary activity - I write a newspaper column with a recurring deadline. This involves a lot of research followed by a burst of writing. What I have found though is that when I have written a good piece, I know it, and when it is mediocre, I know that too.

Writers have the luxury of quietly throwing our misfires into the round file, probably visual artists do too and no one is the wiser. Musicians and actors don't have that luxury.

Re: are you good enough?

Jenhamiltonagain — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:04:46 -0000

As always Tobias, I like the glimpse into your mind! I too spend a lot of time quanitifying and qualifying the seemingly intangible...I really like your 4 requirements and appreciate the introspection and effort it took to share this!

Re: Creative Mastery

Barry Desautels — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:53:57 -0000

Mastery, expertise, being as good as good gets, all the time, can be a huge challenge. It does apply to a wide range of human endeavours, and practicing mastery in everything we do is essential to our personal success.
It helps if we can measure our performance in simple terms, either by comparison to what is perfect, or by some technical aspect. Audience applause to a recital that went well is one way, safely landing the airplane in stormy weather is another, both very different endeavours, but equally important to the performer.
Good article. I enjoyed the read. Confidence and humility are critical ingredients.

Best Wishes,

Barry Desautels
Canada

Re: Authentic Creativity

Nick — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:03:03 -0000

my daughter made me a smoothy with blueberries, maple syrup and tomato to replenish me after a run. my initial reaction hurt her feelings badly, so I decided to drink it... hey, it wasn't that bad after all. a bit like a mixture of Bach, Bangles, and BTO. there's a lesson there I think.

Re: Authentic Creativity

tobias tinker — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:45:45 -0000

Wow, what a comment! Yeah, I fully expect and hope to get back to voracious listening at some point... in fact I'm sincerely looking forward to it! I don't think I've ever not had that inner soundtrack running pretty constantly ("I'm my own Walkman", as Bobby McFerrin put it once, though these days that should probably be "I'm my own iPod" or something). I like the idea of music triggering a 'resonance' with this inner soundtrack, that sounds about right to me...

It sounds like you have a very powerful emotional connection to music, so I'm glad to hear that you're playing again, and please do share whatever that connection might bring about!

Re: Authentic Creativity

Ernie — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:28:22 -0000

I went through the same thing you describe where I stopped actively listening to other people's music for a number of years. At first, my mind got quieter and quieter (musically speaking, for sure, but more-so overall as well) until there was no musical track running anymore at all - which might have been for the first time in my memorable life. I was also no longer playing music anymore, having focused my life on a new type of job - much better paying, I might add ;) !

Then, after a few years, emotional tides of inner music spontaneously came welling up on a regular basis. It wasn't long before this inner life soundtrack became a nonstop thing - not consciously directed by me, but rather sweeping me up and carrying me on waves of musical joy. I would have to say it is very emotionally driven music, and maybe comes closest for me, to the type of authenticity you're talking about, since it's a direct expression of what my current emotions are.

Less than a year ago, I was listening to a song in a movie soundtrack and it hit me like the proverbial ton o' bricks - the emotion just sweeping right through me in powerful waves. Here's the thing: My focus had changed over the years. I wasn't so caught up in the instrumental sounds and play style, although they can never be completely separated from the song itself, but felt something more like an emotional resonance within myself and my own inner music. After the song was over, this resonance flowered into my own personal expression of that emotional wave. I went off on my own and wallowed in my own inner version of this musical feeling until I had a full fledged song roaring in my brain. I was almost breathless with it. And in love. ;)

I now listen again to music voraciously, but in a way I never had before. And each new song is a trigger of resonance to my own inner music. Of course, I don't listen to anything - I look for music that strikes that resonance, and it's rarely ever on the radio. I DO have a playlist of 1200 songs now on my phone that give me endless emotional sharing.

Where I now find the authenticity is in that it's not the details of the music I am listening to (sound and play style) that inspire my own music, but the pure emotion that triggers my own wellspring of creativity.

I find your music very inspiring, even though my version of the same feelings would be quite different. Thank you for sharing your work. :)

Oh yeah, after years of being away from physically playing music, I have finally returned, bought a new guitar, and am setting up my studio again. In a few months, I should have something to share myself. :)

Cheers!

Re: Enduring Creativity: what marathons have taught me about creative energy

Nick — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:22:03 -0000

Interesting comparisons.
I relate more to marathoners, but I am glad you clarified the point
about effort. In a way, both efforts are
equal (sprinter and marathoner) in that the elite have pushed to the limit of
what is humanly possible. That takes
100% commitment (focused commitment, unlike the “scattered commitment” of the
rest of us). So if we actually could
measure on a scale of achievement or wonder, both are equal. It also requires a focus during the race –
for the elite, it means running absolutely error free. A stumble in a marathon can screw up a race
just as badly as in a sprint. So looked
at that way, the marathoner puts in 2 hours of peak effort as opposed to 10
seconds by the sprinter. Not a useful
comparison.

But this is sort of where
the creativity analogy breaks down. Your
point is that creativity is something that takes effort and training. It does. But in the arts, you generally don’t do
practice runs without creating something along the way. You don’t put on a show and tell the audience
“this is just training for my real show at the stadium next week, nothing new will be created here”. Sure you practice technique, but when you
create, every show (or picture, or poem or composition) is a product. The runner (or athlete) has a much clearer
delineation between performance and practice.

Still, if a metaphor for the cerebral is needed, I can’t
think of anything better than the physical, and sprinting vs. marathoning
provides the contrast to make us think about how we think.

Re: The War of the Roses

Nick — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:20:06 -0000

Nice post, and something I can relate to. I love hard work – at least I love the
feeling of accomplishment and exhaustion, and I also like what it does to my
imagination. These days I am more likely to find this from
running, but I also get dirty in the garden, and I renovate bathrooms etc.. I
can’t really distinguish whether one makes me more creative than the
other. What I can say, is that the
creativity it inspires in me is far less likely than yours to bear fruition. I think about science projects that turn out
to be irrational; politics that I have no hope of promoting; books I will never
write. No worries though, the thinking doesn’t
cost anything, and it is good practice. But
I have to agree, the mind is a fertile place while doing something physical. Sometimes it grows destructive thoughts –
like obsessing about injustice or revenge.
But I find it is relatively easy while running or working to turn around
destructive thoughts, and the positive constructive ones usually win. This is very different to what happens to my
mind at night occasionally when I can’t sleep – for me, that is a time of
destructive imagination. Physical
exertion is a time for wild, energetic and optimistic imagination. And that’s a good thing.

Re: Keep it secret! Keep it safe!

tobias tinker — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:57:38 -0000

Agreed on pretty much all counts. I heard once that Prince never listens to anyone's music but his own, because he doesn't want to be influenced. Not sure if that's true. I don't listen to a whole lot of anything anymore, my own work included, but I've listened to a whole heck of a lot in my time and it's all in there, swirling around in the stew.

I don't tend to share my work until it's relatively done, because I like to work in a pretty immersive way, but I also think that we tend as artists to overestimate people's interest in the finished product and underestimate their interest in the process, so I'm kind of experimenting with opening up the process a bit more just to see how that goes. It feels natural at this point, anyway.

I agree it's probably not a good thing to share something with a view to getting feedback unless you're pretty solid with your voice and approach and ideas about what you're working on. I also agree that saying nothing is original is absurd, but I do think we carry around a whole heap of influence all the time and it's probably healthier to accept that and come to terms with it and with our debt to it, than to deny it and hoard our ideas as if they're some sort of golden egg that we made from whole cloth. I think trying to craft an authentic and original voice from our unique set of influences is where it's at and I think it's easier if we view that process as clearly as possible. Nothing is *absolutely* original...

Re: Keep it secret! Keep it safe!

Stacey — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:55:58 -0000

I can't share when I'm creating for one simple reason: I need to be able to hear myself think.

Just today I heard musician Zach Condon say he has to hide himself away when he's writing because the city where he lives is too stimulating.

For me, it's not an issue of confidence, it's an issue of focus. I can't work with the noise and energy of the world buzzing in my head.

Having an idea pulled out from under you when it's in progress can be disheartening. You might have to rethink or rework after investing a great deal of time, energy, and money. That can be tough to deal with.

I completely agree with you about ideas versus execution. There's been a great deal of talk recently about how nothing is "original" which I think is ridiculous. Ideas aren't new, but the interpretation we bring to those ideas, the media we use to execute them, as well as our own ways of using our media, makes all the difference in the world.

Re: Portable Creativity

KT — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:13:55 -0000

I suffer from something like this mindset when it comes to playing my instruments...and I don't even know what particular conditions I'm waiting for anymore! Hopefully we can do some playing together in the next couple of weeks and I can break out of it a bit :)

Re: Games People Play – creativity and competition

tobias tinker — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:30:58 -0000

Hey Stephen, thanks for dropping by, never too late - hopefully this stuff is not past its sell-by date yet.

I think competitiveness can be poisonous or it can be tremendously fruitful, depending on how you look at it and on your creative personality... for some it will erode self-confidence and lead to endless second-guessing and self-doubt, for others it will fuel the fires. I think part of the key to all this stuff is to learn about your own process and patterns and try to do more of what works and less of what doesn't...

Re: Games People Play – creativity and competition

tobias tinker — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:27:16 -0000

True, but I don't think it's a matter of mutual exclusivity, more like two windows onto the same space - the view is a bit different depending on how you frame the question. I think there are lots of ways to look at something as complex as the creative mindset, process, whatever you want to call it. At least I hope there are, because otherwise I'll run out of things to say here! (I hope I haven't already done so...)

Re: Games People Play – creativity and competition

Stephen — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 02:32:28 -0000

Very interesting post Tobias (even if I am coming to it very late in the game, so to speak!).

While I'm mostly not very competitive in most of the sports I involve myself in, I do believe that creative exploits are inherently competitive.

For example, I am often motivated to write by certain writers that I admire. This motivation is partly a type of competitiveness to try to help me emulate that person I admire and come closer to achieving their level of skill at the craft. Like you say, without a spot of competitiveness, we'd always just be standing still - and that's not something that leads to creativity.

Re: Games People Play – creativity and competition

Tinker David — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:18:34 -0000

Hmmm
There's a bit of conflict with the "Tale of Two Mindsets" approach.

Re: Thoughts on Abundance and Manifestation…

tobias tinker — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:45:48 -0000

I'm trying to think of something clever to say in response to this lovely and wise comment, but I think really all I have to say is that it really is a lovely, wise comment. Thanks for finding me and dropping by!...

Re: Thoughts on Abundance and Manifestation…

Karly Pitman — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:57:13 -0000

I loved Mark's book and take as well. It greatly resonated with me, as well. In my own experience, when I try and control life and demand what I want, it makes my life tight, small and filled with anxiety. Trusting means opening....to everything, as we each have 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, as the Taoists say. It's not mine to own but to steward - both the joy and the sorrow. Warmly, Karly Pitman

Re: Creativity and Collaboration

Cheapairjordan — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:23:45 -0000

hey！I think it is a good jourany!

Re: Born Every Minute – Creativity at the Circus

Cheapairjordan — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:19:31 -0000

oh!very good!

Re: Born Every Minute – Creativity at the Circus

tobias tinker — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 06:24:11 -0000

... then you might just be interested in what I've got cooking on the back burner here. Although at this rate it'll take a while - playing a 4-hour show every night does take a sizable bite out of my time and energy... thanks as always for dropping by!