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The link is to a YouTube video of John Cleese's 1991 lecture on creativity. The whole lecture is 36 minutes long, but another 13 minute video excerpts the part where he lays out the 5 important factors of creativity. I think most of us know these things on some level, but he pulls them out of the murkiness of ambiguity and lays them out factually, with a bit of humor worked in here and there.

Everyone knows that you need a space to work, and you need to set aside time, have confidence, and not take yourself too seriously. But what kind of a space? What's the space really for, and what makes it work for you or work against you? And time: how much? How do you USE it? Why not spend a lot of time, 16 hours or 36 hours, until you get that idea you're looking for? Cleese argues for about an hour and a half. And what if you get a great idea in the first minute? What is TIME really for?

In fact, Time appears TWICE in his list. But it means something different each time. And confidence; it's great to know you're good, but how do you use confidence to get better? And when does confidence cause you to shortchange your abilities?

Cleese proposes all these ideas, answers all those questions, and more. The more you think you know about using your time effectively, the more likely you'll benefit from Cleese's talk, because chances are these ideas haven't gelled in you the way they did in Cleese, and I think if there is one thing we can agree on, Cleese is one of the world's best at what he does. You have to consider the possibility that he knows WHY he is good. After this video, I think you'll agree that he does.

John Cleese on Creativity, YouTube

Shooshie

Great stuff. Thanks. It reminds me of how lucky we are as music "careerists" to spend so much of our time being "playful" and why it's so important to have the dedication to ones work to have that time available for our creative efforts. I think he's spot on. I disagreed at first until I realized I do exactly what he was describing. He also explained "procrastination" in a very different light. If I have a score due Dec 31 and it's commissioned July 1, I'll wait at least a few weeks if not a few months before starting to actually start writing notes on paper (I still sketch at the piano and actually score stuff by hand quite often). I always thought I was simply procrastinating and since it always seemed to result in a better score I kept doing it. Now I realize I was simply waiting until I had to start so I could play with more possibilities and not just take the most obvious path.

Thanks Shoosh. I'll carry that lecture with me for a very long time (assuming I have a very long time to carry things around -LOL).

Ps - full lecture here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ

Must watch the whole thing now.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:(assuming I have a very long time to carry things around -LOL).

You'd BETTER stay around for a LONG time. Don't you dare leave me here carrying your load, too!

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Ps - full lecture here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ

Must watch the whole thing now.

Now you've done it. Now you've given them the secret to suppressing creativity in other people around you. How will we deal with the rise of creative output that's not one of ours? With the secret out, there'll be no containing it all! How will we stay on top if the whole steaming pile turns out more creativity than there is between us? Ach! We'll rue this day heretofore!



ßhoosh

That was great, thanks for posting! We do pretty well at at those I'm happy to say.

Great! Thanks for the post Shoosh. Very timely, as I'm focused on composing these days.