As a fat kid at heart, I love finding justification for my laziness. This morning, while reading the news paper, I found out about Jonah Lehrer. Jonah is a writer about neuroscience and his new book is called Imagine: How Creativity Works. You should really check out his past works and appearances with various media outlets.
In our quest for perfect craft many classically trained musicians forget about the creative part of what we do. By this I mean, our practice is deliberate and highly repetitive. This is great for isolation of craft, but stifling for our creativity. Think about all the ways we need to be creative.
Musically, we have to be creative to capivate our audience or intrigue our colleagues.
Physically, we have to be creative to overcome the difficulties of our instrument.
Entrepreneurially, we have to be creative in marketing ourselves.
Educationally, we have to be creative in how we teach ourselves and our students.
Communally, we have to be creative to inspire those around us.
Creativity is essential to being an artist or really a well rounded individual. Jonah advocates allowing your mind to wander in order for individuals to salve problems. His interviews include anecdotes of world renowned thinkers who do there best when relaxing. He also includes some crazy statics about problem solving. Check out his latest interview on the Colbert Report. And also his interview about daydreaming.
A great summer activity: Be Creative.
Current listening: Of Monsters and Men Little Talks. Relevant lyric, "We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love."
