“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” –Erich Fromm, psychologist and author Is there a state of mind more adverse to creativity than rigid certainty? I doubt it. To create, we have to generate ideas that take us beyond the familiar confines of...
“At each concert, music is created anew, according to a performer’s imagination.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 112 Whenever we perform, we aim for that “in-the-moment” feeling. We strive to immerse ourselves and our listeners in the emotion of the music. Yet although...
“I get an audience involved because I’m involved myself. If the song is a lament at the loss of love, I get an ache in my gut. . . . I cry out the loneliness.” –Frank Sinatra The Musician’s Way, p. 188 Some concerts provoke such deep feelings that audiences...
“Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” –Arthur Koestler, author (Drinkers of Infinity, p. 235) The tricky passage that finally rings true, the ‘aha’ moment, the transcendent...
“The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” –Carl Jung, psychologist Psychological Types, p. 123 Can deliberate practice be both productive and playful? That is, can we zero in on specific tasks in practice, work intensely, and feel exuberant at...