Creativity

[liszt-essence]

When I play the piano

For me..the most important thing, something I discovered only recently, is creativity.

To tap that inner fountain of creativity.

If, I can let go of my mental control, sub-concious actions follow.. which stir my fingers without concentrating conciously to the right keys.

Also, when improvising and playing with guitar players and drummers for instance I notice this is very much an essential thing in order to keep up with the others and not loose your self in mental scheme's and thoughts. Ofcourse this goes for the other improvising musicians as well.

I think there should be more creative pianists. To all the finger-acrobats out there: Don't get stuck in that phase, but remember to move on. Finger-acrobacy is no goal, technical ability is no goal, just a tool.

I notice that when I play creatively, improvise.. my technique is ten times better than when playing a rehearsed song from sheet music or something that did not come purely from within my self.

When playing creatively, my fingers move as if they are stirred there naturally. And most of all..

It's just so much fun to be able to play whatever pops up in your head.  In the beginning it's hard, but then, when you get your hearing attuned to the keyboard and your hearing to the "inner music of the creative fountain" so to say.. it gets really excited.

You ask where the great composers got it from.. There it is. Tap it and enjoy!

[kghayesh]

You are right. Creativity opens ways for us which we didn't imagine we can play at this level or do such things. But, unfortunately creativity is not that easy to come "or tap" as you said. To achieve creativity, you must be so proficient in playing the instrument that your subconscious part is already taking over when you are playing the piano.  In order to be a possible candidate for achieving creativity, i reckon one must play and practice to a level in which it is no more something that takes efforts to work in, it should be something done effortless which is done by nature.

Also, creativity won't come by itself just when you sit and practice/play. It is a mental and subconscious state of mind, not something that is done by switching the "Creativity button" on !! I am rarely creative when I am performing to audience, that's because tension and stress make my body and mind concentrate in other things rather than playing.

I totally agree with you that creativity makes so much difference in everything. Any more opinons here??

[ted]

Of course ! What else is there ? Creativity is the natural function of the human brain, in art, science or anything. You don't seriously suppose I would bother playing the piano if I didn't improvise 95% of the time do you ? Playing somebody else's dream day in and day out is just a living musical death as far as I'm concerned, and I'd rather sit in the sun or do some gardening.

[liszt-essence]

Ted, you ask what else there is.

Unfortunatly I think there is a lot of tradition and narrow mindedness in the musical world that keeps many musicians closed in a tight spot at this moment.
There are too many that pursuit the caressing of their ego and don't go any further in their superficial musical attitude then the striving for carreer and acknowledgment.

What I believe is that the creativity in many of us is lost. It hasn't been stimulated enough, it has really been forgotten by the most of us. Too much television, too much entertainment. Too much passive enjoyment.  Creativity in general is not used enough.

Kghayesh. I do not agree with you entirely.

Creativity, does come by it self when you just play. However, you must be in the right mental state, that much is true. You must, force yourself, to "shut up for a minute" and "listen" to what it is, that you truely want to say.

Then it is silent, for a while. It can be 10 seconds, it can even be 2 minutes. It can be pretty scary to just wait in the dark. But then it comes. It can be as simple as two notes. You play them. You wait.. an answer comes. You play it.

Then you come at a crucial point. Am I going to give it shape? Or am I going to say entirely free and intuitive.

If you're going to give it a shape, then you are no longer free in your improvisation. You must repeart the form and give structure to it.

Another decision point: Rhytm.. or no rhytm..

So the basic question, the first question is... Form.. Or complete freedom.

I would explore both. Form has the advantage that it can become a great improvisation session and compostion in the end. Form in my opinion is always a great option.

However, the most deepgoing, the most dark and mysterious (for me, because that is where I tend to go) is the complete freedom path.

It can be: a C.. a minute of silence and then something completely different with no relevance to the C and a minute of silence.

Form is: a C.. a minute of silence.. and then something completly different...... and then again, (for example) an E with 40 seconds of silence + something completly different..

That is the great difference. You are free to choose whatever form it is that you like. As long as it is a form.  As long as you or/and the listener can say "ah, I understand, I recognize"

Completely free intuitive improvisation is seldomly heard live on stage. In most cases, there is always a very remote distinct form present.

Those forms can be very strange or vague. A simple rule for example is:

"for every black key I play, I must play the lowest note on the piano"

A weird rule, but it is a form. You make your own rules, and your own forms.

.. it's just a matter of taste.



Completly free intuitive improvisation is something we all are genuine masters in.

But most of the time, it will sound like ***.

My intension is to explore this so deeply, untill I find a purpose, or an exit, or a bit of light in this chaos, this dark deep mysterious nearly endless combination of possibilities. 

Good luck on your's..

And keep on sharing YOUR thoughts on this subject

[kghayesh]

I dunno but I see you taking it more into improvisation and those skills. I didn't mean improvisation when I made my post, I meant about regular practicing and performance when you just practice your pieces. Creativity makes you be so involved in what you are playing that you get the most of yourself and play it the best way you can ever (musicality and technique as well).

But of course, speaking about improvisation i have to agree with you that creativity comes by itself when you just play !!

[rc]

I dunno but I see you taking it more into improvisation and those skills. I didn't mean improvisation when I made my post, I meant about regular practicing and performance when you just practice your pieces. Creativity makes you be so involved in what you are playing that you get the most of yourself and play it the best way you can ever (musicality and technique as well).

But of course, speaking about improvisation i have to agree with you that creativity comes by itself when you just play !!

When I get this for a composition, I feel like I'm improvising.  To use Liszt-essence's perspective, it's like extremely formal improv, the form is decided to the note and even details like dynamics and articulation...  But even within that kind of restriction, there's room for creativity.

Sometimes when practicing a piece I like to wreck the sanctity of the score and just noodle around a bit with a theme or two.  It reminds me that these notes were once ethereal to the composer, the score begins to feel more like a product of humanity...  Besides being fun, this somehow helps me achieve more freedom.  It awakens the creativity.

I don't think entire freedom is very desirable, if even possible.  Perhaps a baby gleefully banging his tiny fists in the keys.  The mind likes patterns and coherence as much as it enjoys surprise.  Too much in one direction is boredom, too much in the other is irritation.  I believe form, as it's evolved, is a natural development from the opposing drives of familiarity and unfamiliarity.  I find a lot of my improvisations will take form without my conscious decision.  It could be that listening to so much classical music it's become natural for my subconscious to think like that...  No matter.

I would agree with Liszt-essence's point about passive enjoyment - it dulls the creative imagination.  I like to use an electronics analogy of input and output.  The mind can only do so much, and the more attention given to input (TV, recorded music, books... whatever) the less can we have an output.  Creative output needs a blank pallette.  For us that means silence.  I for one have a helluva time trying to imagine music when there's something playing in the airwaves.  But try going a while without any input - the mind will create to fill the pallette.

Turn off all noisemakers for a while, close your eyes and immerse yourself  in a feeling then imagine a violin playing that feeling.  Or visualize something and play what that feels like, like a snowy tree while walking home as a kid.  I ought to do more exercises like this...

[liszt-essence]

kghayesh

That is indeed a great idea, I didn't quite follow you but now I do. I can imagine it can be a great help to get to feel a piece. I will start to experiment with that when I can.

I believe creativity is a path, once embarked on, one can never leave. It is endless and brings so much fun to life.

It reminds me that life itself, is a creative proces. With rules, and forms and that one must seek freedom within those forms.

Music offers even more in this perspective: the total freedom path, the baby banging analogy.
To go beyond all borders and boundaries. Perhaps the place where structure it self is born.

I must say, I'm happy that I embarked and I wish to develop myself so much more creatively. It's a rather exciting journey to undertake as it takes one so close to itself and yet gives one so much to choose from.