From an idea to a completed music piece.

By Giuseppe Bellantone

The Creative Spirit

When we create a work of art, there is an underlying process that we follow that takes us from an idea to a design and finally to a finished product.

The same is true in music, and when we become aware and tap into this process we enable ourselves to create music that is more reflective of our true artistic abilities.

What is the Creative Spirit?It is a series of steps in a chain that allows us to

create, think, reflect, and improve any piece of music.

It is meant to be flexible, fluid and most importantly cyclical, meaning that it is ok to go back and try something again, or that steps can be followed in a different order depending on the challenge.

A method of asking the right kinds of questions at each step of the process so we can better critically analyze our work and find deeper meaning in our learning.

The 8 Steps

The 8 StepsStep 1: Challenging and Responding

Being given a task to complete or Being inspired to create music

Questions to Ask:What musical challenge are you trying to solve?

Where have you NOT looked for ideas?

The 8 StepsStep 2: Imagining and Generating

Brainstorming ideas about what you want to create

Sketching out possible solutions of what you want to create

Questions to Ask:What if…?Can you get any other musical ideas from

other sources?

The 8 StepsStep 3: Planning and Focusing

Creating a plan by choosing ideas from your initial ideas or sketches

Choosing a focus, managing your time, and gathering appropriate resources

Questions to Ask:Will a mind map or brainstorming help

organize my ideas?Have you discussed you idea with

someone else?Is there some musical research needed?

The 8 StepsStep 4: Exploring and Experimenting

Explore different techniques and elements to see what you can create

Make artistic choices using the resources at hand

Questions to Ask:How can you manipulate the elements of

music?Have you tried other approaches or

alternative techniques?

The 8 StepsStep 5: Producing Preliminary Work

Produce a “rough copy” of your work that can be incomplete

At this stage, share your work with others and seek out and consider the opinions and responses of others

Questions to Ask:What else needs to be done?Have you shared your work with

somebody else?

The 8 StepsStep 6: Revising and Refining

Make changes, adjustments, rewrite parts, based on your own feelings about your work and the feedback you received in Step 5.

Questions to Ask:Have I incorporated others’ suggestions?How has your work changed or evolved

from the original design?

The 8 StepsStep 7: Presenting and Performing

Perform your complete work in its entire form

Ensure that you are prepared to do so by practicing for your performance

Questions to Ask:How can you effectively present this

music?Does you work require a particular title,

audience, or environment to be heard?

The 8 StepsStep 8: Reflecting and Evaluating

Reflect on how successful you thought the whole process was, focusing on what went well and what could be improved

Use these ideas to form the basis of starting your next assignment.

Questions to Ask:What were the strongest parts of your work

and what could be improved?Are you happy with your artistic choices?

What would you do differently?

The 8 Steps – Important notesWhen following this process always remember…

Feedback from others and personal reflection are key to success at each step of the process

The process is a continuous cycle, however at any time you can go back to a previous step in order to improve your overall goal or jump ahead to a step but then go back over the steps you skipped later, just be sure you continue the cycle

Sometimes the creative process is more about asking the right questions than it is about finding the right answer