You might recall that music is made up of sounds and silence. Silence is a very useful thing – grabbing attention of the listener, helping to focus on the upcoming phrase or giving the listener time to reflect on the phrase that has just recently past.

Unfortunately, in our daily lives we have precious little silence – we sing in the shower, turn on the television when we awake, get in the car and put on the radio, and walk around with our phone or music player firmly ensconced in our ears. One might think we are afraid of silence – we do go to great lengths to avoid it.

But silence is more important than being space in our music – it provides a consistent background against which to think. It gives your brain a chance to catch its metaphorical breath. And then, you can create. Whether you’re composing, arranging, interpreting or conjoining music in new ways, you need that space to create – you need that silence.

Of course, finding silence can be a challenge. Even if you have decided to create a quiet place in your world, the others in that world may make it difficult to get there. In addition, even if you get the world around you quiet, it may be difficult to get the world within you quiet. But you do need that quiet – in the quiet you can generate creative new things, or just be, it’s your choice.

How do you find silence in which to be creative?  Let me know – and I’ll share some of my paths with you soon.
Let the silence sometimes be your choice – and enjoy the silence.

Last week I posted about a Fortune Cookie I had gotten about being a friend to have friends.  That really spoke to me about sharing our music with everyone.

And then I got to thinking more about the fortune cookie itself – it had absolutely NOTHING to do with playing the harp.  In fact, if you read that post you might have thought that I was daft.

But the reality is, that everything has to do with playing the harp.  And playing the harp has to do with everything else in our worlds. For some of us playing the harp takes over our worlds and we reorient our days and our lives to incorporate the harp ever more into our lives.  Of course for some of us, playing the harp has changed our lives by increasing the number of knick-knacks we have to dust.  (But, lest you scoff – even that dusting means that the harp has had some impact on your life!)

As musicians and artists, we have to be open to the possibilities in everything around us.  Whether it is something you read, see on TV, a billboard, a song coming from the next car over, the color of a dress – there are inspiration launch points everywhere. 

If something points itself out to you – whatever it is, from whence it might arise – pay attention!  Figure out what’s in there for you to take away and make into something else.  This is creativity at play – let it have its head – see where it leads you.  You might be inspired to generate a new arrangement, or compose a new tune, or just let yourself stop being afraid of what you might do next!

Do you think of yourself as creative? Or do you think that’s something other people are – and you just enjoy the outputs of their creativity?

I know someone who has an amazing capacity to think up interesting meals. All my life, I have been in awe of her ability to look into the pantry and visualize a tasty, appealing and filling meal. When I look in there – crickets. Seriously!

We are all creative in some way. And the best way to tap into that creativity is to get into the habit of being creative. Are you in the habit of being creative? Do you thrive on your own creativity or do you stew on what you’re not good at?

To be more creative – to write new compositions, to develop new arrangements for tunes, to paint, to write, or to plan interesting meals, it is essential that you get into a creativity habit. Set aside time to be creative- free from distractions and surrounded by the things that help you create. Make certain to schedule this time with yourself – put it on your planner. Stick to your schedule. Make sure to “attend” the meeting you have scheduled with yourself and pursue your goals.

In a later post, we’ll talk about techniques for being productively creative and ways to channel your creativity into completing projects.