Let your mind wander!I have just watched a fascinating documentary about 'The Creative Brain: How Insight Works', which provided some fantastic information about how creativity works, and how, most importantly that when the mind wanders it is at it's most creative. The programme looks issues around that ' moment when a light goes on in your head. In a sudden flash of inspiration, a new idea is born', something I am sure we can all relate to. I found it particularly interesting that the mind seemed to be at it's most creative when the person was not just doing nothing at all, but mindless (no pun intended) tasks (e.g. arrange bricks into the same colour), this would explain why perhaps we have our best ideas in the shower or out for a walk.I really recommend it, if you can access it.PeaceNeil
Creative setbacks, criticism and dealing with unhelpful remarks
One of the hardest things to deal with when you offer your creative work, soul, being, performance up for judgement is dealing with the criticism that comes with it, and more and more nasty and hateful comments which also seem more prevalent these days. Today, more and more of us are putting our work online, getting our art out there, and the internet is the most amazing empowering tool to allow a new generation of creatives an outlet for their passions, their soul, their art.There has never been a better time to be a creative, to grab the power back when it comes to your creations and find your creative path. Having said that, there is a downside, a downside that isn't just limited to comments on the internet, but also something that professional creatives have to deal with, usually on a daily basis, and that is negative criticisms which are outright bashing of your work. Usually in the form of unhelpful and nasty comments, and personal attacks on something that we no doubt hold very dear. It is really hard (and extremely unhelpful!) to be told that your work is 'crap', 'rubbish' or 's**t', or to be told that you have no idea how to do your job.So how do we deal with this? What can we learn from these negative experiences? On the whole, and particularly when it comes to the internet, it is easy to be a critic and it is easy to have an opinion, and with access to the billions of people on this planet these opinions will vary considerably. Are you trying to please 6 billion people? Or just those who really appreciate what you do? In life there are always 50 + shades of grey in an opinion or view and it is important to remember that. Are you satisfied with the piece of work? That should always be the first opinion to listen to, if the answer is NO then fix it, change it, adjust it until you are happy and satisfied. Of course, sometimes we are never fully satisfied and this is our creative cross to bare. But, we should always be learning from the work we create and trying to find new and better way to improve on what we are doing, or looking at past work to see how we would like to do things differently.Back to the internet, it is easy to sit behind a keyboard anonymously and type hurtful and unhelpful comments, knowing full well that they are 'anonymous' and probably wouldn't actually say such things if we met them personally. But when the cristism is face to face from someone we know, that is when it is harder, and I try to take the following approach. Taking an NLP strategy, ask yourself the following questions
- What's in it for them?
- What is their motivation?
- What are they aiming to achieve?
- How is their life right now - happy or unhappy?
- What are they getting from this?
- What do they want from me right now?
- Is anything in their comment justified?
Listen to the way the comment is pharsed, is it helpful?We all need constructive criticism to improve, all of us. Listen to the tone....is the comment simply...you're rubbish? If so, ignore it.Is it along the lines of 'oh my god, how can you do that...don't you know what you are doing?'...If so, ignore it.Sometimes just ask the simple question, the person who is providing you a nasty remark, unhelpful critsism etc, who are they and what have they done? Sometimes, it is easy to be an armchair critic, perhaps resting on laurels from yesteryear, it is always easy to find fault in anything if you set your mind to it. If you respect the person and their work, then it is easier to take criticism, in fact some of us would give anything for our peers to view our work, but hopefully they would give us something more useful then....you are rubbish!If there is one lesson to be learnt, I would say it is just do i, create your 'art' give it to the world. If you are happy with it, then that is enough! Create art, as Seth Godin would say, make it yours, believe in it, believe in yourself, strive to improve everyday, be your toughest criticPeaceNeil
If you only watch one video on being a creative or freelancer
I stumbled across this speech/lecture this morning, found through one of my very useful Google Alerts (I wholeheartedly suggest setting up Google Alerts if you are a creative/freelance as they can be a fantastic source of current information on your topics of interest and seeing what your competition is up to too!). The talk was entitled 'Secret freelancer knowledge' by the author Neil Gaiman, and he discusses his life as a 'creative' and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that we all seem to fall into as creatives or freelancers. There are some really important messages in this video and a do feel that if you do one thing this year to focus your mind on your creative endeavours, then it should be to watch this short film. There are so many strong messages contained within that video, and it has been a large wake up call for me (another one!).EnjoyPeaceNeil
The sadness of the 'office' factory
This is something I have been going on about for a very long time, something I find very sad and also something which I have experienced on a number of occasions in my life and something which motivates me to not let it happen again. Unfortunately, it is happening for me a bit at the moment, but I hope not for too long. I have written about it before in a couple of occasions, here and here. It looks like it is going to be an amazing SXSW this year and hopefully I'll be able to make it one day!Viva la revolution..PeaceNeil
Creative Motivation
It is hard to believe that I only stopped my Piece a day/Daily Creation challenge less than a month and a half ago. I was producing a piece of music everyday for over a year, and now since I have stopped I haven't produced a single tune!! It is pretty scandalous really, all the usual excuses start creeping back in....too busy, too tired, too whatever! It is pretty terrible really, it is no excuse! For me it shows what a valuable exercise piece a day was, forcing myself to do something everyday. It draws parallels with exercise I guess and all those other things it is easy to put off rather than do....guitar practice, language learning etc....such as shame that 'work' work sucks everything out of us to the point where doing creative activities or activities beneficial to our health, wellbeing, further development takes a momentous struggle or crazy daily challenge to do?I just stumbled across a couple of pieces I quite like from that period....Enjoy!andPeaceNeil
Logic X, Aperture 4 and Apple - what's going on
I have posted a couple of articles wondering about what is going on at Apple in regards to the horrendously long time it has taken for an update to Logic 9. I am also quite a heavy Aperture user, and have been generally happy with version 3, although I don't like the fact it has one massive file to store all your photos, and it does crash a fair amount. But as such I haven't been too concerned about it, but what is interesting is that there also hasn't been a new version for a number of years. Now, I have been considering an upgrade to my operating system as I am still on Snow Leopard, and some apps need Mountain Lion. I am glad I didn't because you only have to spend a minute or two on the Aperture page in the app store to see how terrible it is with ML, it is pretty shocking, it would seem when you do a bit more digging that Apple are loosing lots of customers to Adobe (and Lightroom or Premiere!) or in the DAW world I am guessing the usual contenders.Do they care? I doubt it, why would they, they are richer than most countries. They sell music, phones and tablets. They don't even seem to sell computers any more (real computers that is, like the Mac Pro)Interesting times....PeaceNeil
Memorising, Memory Techniques and learning
How to memorise material is something that I am constantly being asked about by my students, and generally I find the most effective technique which works for them is either, Mind mapping as developed by Tony Buzan, or visualisation using drawings or your own personal stories and symbols. But, ultimately it is the proces of learning which is most important, and by that I mean actually really understanding what is happening, rather than the act of being able to recite something at will, without actually understanding the process. Now, this is all fine and good, and it certainly helps me to understand and remember information.....but there is one area where I tend to struggle is with songs. I can play a song a hundred time, and then a couple of months later, totally forget how to play it and I am really not sure why.Then I stumbled across this piece online and I think it makes some really important points and I am looking forward to trying some of them out. It starts by suggesting that if you first learn a piece then memorise it, you are basically doing the same work twice! Of course, when approaching a new piece for the first time, you have to use your ear/sight read the notes, fingerings, articulations, phrasing and dynamics etc, and once you have done this, then you site down go over it time after time to 'memorise' it. Now, I have no problem with the first bit and memorising it for the short term, but how to you do this for the long term? This could be the solution....
Conscious Practice...Always tell yourself what you are doing when you practice eg
- learning a new fingering? Then, say the finger out loud to yourself.
- recognize a cadence? Then, tell yourself the cadence.
- play a sequence? Then, identify the sequence and how the melody is used.
The reason why it takes many a long time to learn music is because they just play through it! They don't actively tell themselves what is going on. If you just play through it over and over again, you are not practicing. You are not reminding yourself about what is going on. You have to be active! Your mind must be involved. Count out loud, sing the musical lines, work small sections, tell yourself the harmonic progressions... even something as simple as reminding yourself about how the theme repeats will help you memorise and understand the piece. When you are playing a crescendo, tell yourself! This way you associate the dynamic with the musical line and the fingering.Set a goal to memorise something every day!Muscle memory is only good to train the fingers where to go but you cannot rely on that when you are stage! By reminding yourself what you do, telling yourself, verbalizing what you practice will improve your time at the your instrument. The verbalisation reinforces what you are doing physically by activating your brain.
I hope this helps!!PeaceNeil