At first I thought I was so excited because the event fits in nicely with my recent focus on creativity. I've been playing some violin over the past few weeks, and here's my first live performance in a long time as inspiration of what the potential of my instrument (and not necessarily my fingers) is.
But there's another key component that I think is more crucial. It's the community associated with that creativity. This community can start out very small -- for now even just one person has made a difference. The performance tonight was not just me listening to music in isolation, or in an anonymous concert hall. Several of my classmates attended, and including one who's a good friend. Many of the audience members used to play an instrument, and it was great to reminisce or talk about how we have or haven't kept up with it.
On Sunday I went to my second klezmer rehearsal. I certainly haven't gotten any better, but this time was a lot less harrowing than the first session. I think the two biggest components were that a friend of mine walked in with her violin, so I got to chat and catch up with her; and another new girl set a more playful and less intense vibe for the group.
My last example is staying up far too late last night finishing my d.school project. This could have easily been a rather painful experience. I ended up having a great (ok, semi-enjoyable) time since a friend and some classmates were there to chat and throw ideas around together.
I realise that having a partner you know beforehand is not necessary for appreciating music, or creating a sketchbook, or for having fun playing the violin. I certainly could have made friends with someone at any of these events. But it has helped me so far to have an ally to start with, and it's been easier if that ally is someone who's already a friend.
Since I just thought of this tonight, I haven't researched at all on the role of allies in enjoyable or fulfilling creative processes. I'm currently reading Rachael Kessler's The Soul of Education, a powerful collection of stories about high school students and their transition to adulthood. So far she's only talked about creativity from the individual perspective, but hopefully I'll finish that chapter tomorrow. I know the d.school is big on collaboration for innovation and insight, but I haven't heard evidence (besides my own anecdotes) on whether collaboration actually makes creativy more fun. Could it be simply because you spend time and build relationships with people you enjoy, while doing a common actvity? Because someone's there to validate your creativity? Because you feel less pressure and are able to produce better work around another person? I suppose I don't really need to identify the mechanism here, but I think it's worth considering to see what pieces are crucial to retain when I'm not making really really long sketchbooks or hanging out listening to chamber music all the time.
This brings me to my next stage of my project -- community building. I think I've done a decent job of tackling the initial anxiety part. I remember hearing about Urban Tribes when I lived in DC, and I'd like to revisit that concept. Haven't quite thought about where I'll take that.
I'm also thinking about what I want my final project to look like. Any ideas?
Check-in with my weekly experiments. Morning creative ritual (mostly sketching) going fantastically. Daily walks, sadly, I haven't managed to fit in as much. I can't figure out if I just need to get up earlier or whether I should cut something else out of my morning. At least I've been biking a bit more.
Next experiment -- Add at least one item a morning to a list I will now put on my wall (throwback to college) of what is important to me in creating community. At the end of the day I'll come home and add something I did or saw that reinforced (or hurt) that aspect of community. I don't know yet whether this will be lame or awesome.
Insipiredly (?),
Emma
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