Category: Creativity

What about music?

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After finishing writing yesterday, it occurred to me that I left out an important form of creative expression, music. I render my sincere apologies to any musicians. I no longer practice this art, though in the past I sang and played harmonica, guitar, and organ. Occasionally, I consider renewing my acquaintance with all of those. Impatience with practice is probably why I abstain.

As a musician, much that applies to other creative types may be carried over into your discipline. Performers must develop a daily practice to become an expert in the use of their talent. Training can be difficult and painstaking, but the results can take you everywhere. Learning to read sheet music is sometimes akin to learning another language. To write music, there must be an intimate knowledge of every nuance one wants to transmit.

Music is still relevant in my creative life because I often listen while working. I like ambient, atmospheric electronic, and classical best. I find lyrics disrupt my concentration as I am primarily a creature of words.

If you are a listener, like me, it may be advantageous to experiment to discover what most appeals to you. If you have streaming capabilities, both Amazon Music and Google Play Music offer a wide variety commercial free. There is also a program called Focus@Will which has music of various upbeat tempos to help facilitate concentration.

You may find music channels on television that are included in your service. I recommend whatever you listen to, be commercial free because those breaks are designed to disrupt attention and encourage product purchase.

Rarely is silence my preferred choice. Music seems to help the mind transition smoothly thought to thought, idea to idea. That is the goal when working creatively, to bring a masterpiece, or piece, to life.

I hope you found something you could integrate into your life here. I appreciate your visit. The top button on the right allows you to follow Haphazard Creative. Please leave a comment should you like and come back soon. Take care.

© JoAnn Joyce Anita Jordan

Did you create, today?

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Something often overlooked by creatives, including myself, is that the more we exercise our creative impulse, the easier it becomes to continue. 

If we are writers, we need to get some words in written form every day. Thinking about it is not enough, we need to work. It does not have to be 5,000 words, try 100. When doing it, we are allowed to write the most awful stuff ever. No one else has to see it. It is just letting the writer within know work must be done consistently. If it is done for some time, the writing improves, the length increases and projects can be completed. Almost all successful writers spend time writing daily. We can start with a minimum that suits us and add minutes until we find our upper limit.

If we are photographers, we should get our cameras in action each day. We do not have to travel to scenic spots. Take pictures of the kids, pets, yard, objects around the home, selfies, whatever catches the fancy. As I wrote in another post, we should evaluate what we see and work it to the most advantageous position we can. As with the writing, all the photos we take are not for public consumption, some are learning experiments. Editing is something we should also practice often. All editing programs require skill and familiarity to become adept. We cannot expect to be experts without trial and error.

If we are artists, at least doodling is required daily. We learn composition, shading, positioning, vanishing points, more stable lines, better collage, how to use found items to create effects, mixed media, modeling clay, sculpture, and we could fill the day with different art forms, but all require an investment of time for us to make a significant improvement. This does not have to be shown to a living soul. It is our own practice to make us what we want to be. If we do it a while doing art will become easier, and our skill will become legendary.

Even if we create something monstrously wrong, if we do the work improvement will occur eventually. It is hoped that this encourages and inspires you to make creativity part of every day.

Thank you for visiting Haphazard Creative and come back soon. There is a follow button, please use it. Comments are always welcome. Take care.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan