Creative Exercises

[AROIOS]

Tusker's question on "Prog" reminded me of what's at the core of progressive art forms: creativity and originality.
 

Brian Eno invented the "Oblique Strategies" to facilitate his creative process. What are some of your favorite exercises to break out of artistic cliche/ruts?

[David Emm]

I butt-dial my TV remote and if I don't find something worthwhile by the 4th squat, I turn it off and crank up Logic for a work session. Its a real palate cleanser, especially with the suits trying to strangle the writer's guild to death. Game shows and reality shows are mostly like a beer stein full of Nyquil.

[timwat]

Some non-musical things that help me:

 

• Soak into great literature and poetry. I'm currently returning to Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund, and am a fan of the poetry of Dana Gioia; his Interrogations at Noon collection is recommended.
• Listen to long form. Whether it's Rach 3, Koln Concert, Brandenburg, The First Circle, or even perhaps Phaedra, it is helpful for me to deliberately commit to focusing on longer-than-4-minutes.
• Go for a solitary walk, without earbuds. Breathe. Enjoy nature. Think. 
• Deliberately be grateful.

 

Musical things that help me:

 

• Create a programmed rhythm very quickly, somewhat at random. Even if it's ugly. Use that to improvise for at least <insert a fixed amount of time>
• Commit to improvising over a two chord jam for <insert a fixed amount of time>. Then transpose that jam <insert some non-intuitive interval>. Lather, rinse, repeat.
• Learn a new song off YouTube, by ear. Flush the melody, transpose the chords <insert some non-intuitive interval>, write my own melody.
• Try to come up with something fresh with Stella.

[JamPro]

One thing I do is what I call "the one-note solo": set up a LH progression (I-vi-ii-V-I f'instance) and play that while soloing with the RH, BUT only using a single note to play that solo.

 

This forces me to think about and focus on the rhythmic aspect of my "solo".  I am freed from the need to play a melody line or worry about fingering.  And while I may think of a melody line with many different notes in my head, I am only playing on a single note.

 

The benefit is practicing making my solo lines have a beginning and an end, and practicing how playing not-notes or empty air effects my solo creation.

 

Try it, and remember to have fun.

 

 

[Docbop]

As I learned from late great Jazz guitarist Joe Dorio using restrictions if the key to practicing being creative.   Joe Diorio was also a painter and he said using restriction is what many of the great artist did when in slumps.   Also some of the great composers used restriction in teaching composition and orchestration.    One of my favorite improv teachers had us use physical restrictions on the instrument and strict rules for use of scales and later arp's over changes to build fingerboard knowledge.   Like the great artists when you can only use two colors your have to build your technique to express yourself.  

 

Restrictions can be use to teach all sorts of things. 

[Al Quinn]

Yeah, practicing with constraints is an effective, efficient, and rewarding way to practice. Interestingly, as the targeted vocabulary / skills are eventually added to our subconscious reservoir of music this material can then be used while targeting new vocabulary / skills. For example, targeting a specific comping rhythm with the LH while letting the RH improvise freely without any conscious thought. Doing this not only helps to master the LH comping rhythm but it also gives the RH an opportunity to play in the flow state (i.e., with no thought). And as if that’s not enough good stuff, it also nurtures hand independence.

[AROIOS]

8 hours ago, timwat said:

Musical things that help me

...

• Try to come up with something fresh with Stella.

Thanks for the great tips. I don't drink, so my first instinct was to look up this "Stella" app you mentioned.

[16251]

Peace.

3 hours ago, Dave Ferris said:

Just don't get Stella and In Your Own Sweet Way mixed up like I did one time.

 

Melody starts on the b5 and goes down a half step.

 

[Tusker]

23 hours ago, AROIOS said:

What are some of your favorite exercises to break out of artistic cliche/ruts?

 

I swing between the pragmatic and the personal. Any creative idea I may have is measured against an audience and their receptivity to it right?  It must be fresh but understandable to the aesthetic right? So you study the art. Then you destroy it a bit. Pragmatic.

 

But there is also the personal isn't there? Eight billion people are painted thinly across the surface of this planet in different communities. They and their ancestors have yearnings they have put into color and sound when words failed. I may not have walked in their shoes, but perhaps I could feel a human connection. What could those yearnings sound like through me?

[David Emm]

I have found that using just Logic and leaving my other electronic entities off for a full day allows all sorts of things to come to the surface. I can get an elusive beat nailed down, build another 12% of a work in progress or improve the sounds in the Favorites section of a synth. I can also veer over suddenly and start yet another wild-haired, meandering project I'll only complete in 2050, assuming that I haven't assumed room temperature by then. You know how that goes.

 

Excellence requires a certain amount of time and peace. Whatever provides that should stay high on your To-Do List. As the original Oblique Strategies set advises, "Go outside. Shut the door."
 
https://obliquestrategies.ca/