Creativity is a something that we often think we have to learn.
But in truth, it is something we know and must remember.
We are born creative. Asking questions, making art without a care about the outcome. We danced because it felt good, and we painted to see what the colours did, and we didn’t mind when we added colours until our canvass turned brown. The process was fun, and we learned along the way.
But then there comes a time when we start getting graded on our work. We get told to colour in the lines, and we get told that the only art worth seeing is the art that is beautiful. And there are a few people that decide what art fits the criteria of beauty and what art does not.
But just like the beauty standards of how people look change with culture, beauty standards with art change culturally as well. Just look at different styles of singing. What is celebrated in one style is condemned in another.
If you took country singing techniques to the opera house, or vise versa, you might be met with some booing or a whole new sub-genre of music. Who knows!
Creativity and innovation happen when we take risks within the genre and push the boundaries of that style.
Tritones are an interval that are used a lot in jazz music. The church actually used to call them the devil's interval. And yes, They do sound a little funky. But they play a huge role in an entire genre, so if jazz creators followed the rules laid out by the church, we wouldn’t have jazz. And jazz has influenced so many other genres.
Creativity pours out of us as we follow our interests, stay curious, make mistakes and mix and match the ideas that come into our field. When we look at things from different angles and recognize patterns. The art we make shares our observations and our subconscious. It doesn’t have to be beautiful.
As the famous saying by Henry van dyke goes, “If only the most beautiful birds in the jungle sang, it would be very quiet".
So sing your song my loves!
Wuzzô
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