An iota of Creativity

The less you need, the more you have

Minimalism. You don’t need to fill books to tell a story. You don’t need to compose symphonies to be musical. You don’t need to be wordy to make a point.

All you need is creativity. Sometimes you can say it plain and simple. Or you can invite the audience to read between the lines. The choice is yours. Your restraint guides the audience into enlightenment.

This is not to say that beauty cannot be found in length. Intricate patterns and complex structures can create a lasting impact. When the guiding force is creative expression bathed in your insight, short and long are both equal. There is both depth and breadth in both. The depth shines in both.

My point is that choosing breadth over depth does not equate to be being creative. Why do we value the truly masterful musicians? What is mastery? It is insight into a domain. Insight that comes when the search is for depth.

Creativity is conscious and subconscious, all at the same time. Trying out new possibilities but never learning from them does not allow us to deepen our understanding. We lack insight and we either turn into imitators or randomisers. We either copy or try random combinations without intent. Experiments are good, but why conduct them if the results are ignored? Why be an echo? Why be white noise?

Like the often quoted monkey at the typewriter that turns out a shakespearean work, given infinite time, how much of the other meaningless scribbles do you want to put in to be creative, or like the monkey — a copycat?

When we are experimental and we learn from what we try, we develop the words to express what nobody else can say. We can communicate about something nobody else can know fully well — our experience of living.

When we understand entities and their connections all around us in their purest form, we can let the world know what we now know.

When we understand cause-and-effect in a micron of our lives, we can share what we have discovered.

When we realise that sometimes it is better to repeat than spell out, we can explain things more clearly. When we understand that there are times when it is better to circumscribe than drive home a point, we allow the listener to see the truth for what it is. Sometimes the circle is needed to help you see its centre better.

Maybe we should trim ourselves with Occam’s razor from time to time. Too many may become too much.

Less can mean simple or convoluted.

Maybe the artist has made it difficult to follow so that the listener can try to have the same experience of exploration and meditative effort that the artist underwent to achieve the insight hidden in her music.

Maybe the artist made it easy to grasp because she found a way to describe something not so accessible otherwise.

One method involves a journey down a spiral. The other is like a drizzle on a hot, summer day.

Sometimes, the best comes from combining both.

Think of the honeycomb. A simple, geometrical shape turns into an unbelievably complex network of food storage. You can marvel at the complexity or simplicity depending on how closely you choose to observe it.

Like the marvellous honeycomb, many great works of art have layers to them. You can observe it from any distance and there will be something new you will find.

Try reading haiku.
Experience the insight in
Seventeen small sounds.

Also, give a listen to the minimalist music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass. My favourites are Different Trains (Steve Reich) and Metamorphosis One (Philip Glass).

There aren’t too many words in this article, but if I’ve made my point in theory, then I’ve made it in practice as well.

A few grains of truth cut with creativity can feed you for a long, long time.

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Around Sound turns my personal experiences with music, both as a musician and as a listener, into stories.

Improve your sense of rhythm (How I improved my sense of rhythm: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) as you read about my journey through the world of rhythm. How’s that for combining a lesson and a story into one? :D

Get a better grasp on notes with my 3-part How I learned to speak with notes series: Melody, Harmony and Connection

You might even find these interesting:
How I use music to remember phone numbers, A Recipe for Music and The Voice of a Story

You can have a look at all my articles here: Anirudh Venkatesh