Connecting Creativity to Craft

I am convinced that learning the "nuts and bolts" of playing an instrument is the path to creativity. It is the "freedom through structure" approach: most of the time we are stuck musically, it is not because we don't have ideas, it is because our approach to the instrument cuts us off from being able to express creativity most directly.

For example, I have been experimenting recently with a mental approach to playing that I think of as "inside-out." This comes from Don Greene's book "Audition Success," but I think of it in the same way as on practices "metta" meditation. The next thing I am about to say might sound unrelated to music education, but this works well for me: the path to feeling love is giving love. This is the "inside-out" feeling, while playing, I think of emanating of good vibes, relaxed vibes.

To explain this, think about the opposite approach, that tends to happen when we get nervous. The "outside-in" approach, where we feel ourselves physically bracing, trying to control the sound, trying to prevent anything wrong from happening...this is a protective approach, and a natural reaction to fear. So, I try to notice any tendency to cut myself off from the world around and take that as I sign that I am switching over to "outside-in," and I say to myself, "No! You can choose the outward-flowing feeling instead."

And, a book arrived in the mail today: "Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs," a dense volume about tubist Arnold Jacobs's approach to teaching. I say dense, because each page is packed with pages that makes me stop and think, and makes me consider my teaching approach to the usual challenges of wind-playing. OK, he was a tubist, an instrument with maximum volume and minimal resistance, so there may some translation necessary to get to good clarinet playing.

Over and over, Jacobs connects creativity to craft by suggesting visualization of ideal music and sound, and just letting the body respond naturally to that mental image. He eloquently explains the limits of overanalysis and the paralysis that comes with it. I used the word "dense" earlier, but Jacobs always seemed to quickly help students realize how to make it simpler, how to find a path that didn't involve overtrying.