Hello, and welcome to my new blog. An idea for some time, a plan for some more time, and now (even more time later), a reality. As a first offering for this blog, I felt that I should really make sure I had a yardstick to measure subsequent blogs by, and set a standard that I will endeavour to maintain. I can’t imagine that I’ll be maintaining regular blogs of this length, although I will certainly ensure that I keep a measure of quality for the content which is of a consistent high standard, and of interest.
Aside from website development (including this blog, and other ideas related to my work) I’ve been working on my own creative projects a lot recently. I’ve been doing a lot of practice, developing sounds, musical ideas, and building provisional structures for my music. At certain points, I have been consciously aware of my participation in the following five part creative process. I use this model a lot when I’m teaching composition because it offers a good framework for students to discuss their work (very helpful when it comes to assessing it). It occurred to me that the models for creative processes are not always as well known as they probably should be, so I’m sharing this here for anyone who may not have seen this before. The following is based on models which already exist and can be found in numerous places, but this is my own interpretation of the model (interpretation in itself being probably the most important part of understanding it before this can have any practical use). Musical examples have been given throughout, but this process can be considered for any creative process, musical or non-musical. Because evolution can be considered as a process of simplification, this model is presented in a very simple form here, although I’ve come to believe that most other models (which serve to represent the same process but are much more complicated) sometimes complicate this process much more than necessary, and are frequently full of extraneous tangents which often compromise the model’s clarity and purpose. The actual practical purpose of this model is to assist in the guidance of the decision making process which all creative work is ultimately dependant on.
The most important thing to be aware of when looking at this model is that it’s strictly non-linear. Where the five parts are presented here in what appears to be a linear format, it is important to be aware that four component parts within this model can appear in any position, and should be considered both on their own merits, and relative to the other parts of the model. The only part of this model which cannot appear in any position is “Finish/ End”:
Start/ Begin/ Idea
Experiment
Refine
Assess and Evaluate
Finish/ End
The “Start” of a creative process (in practice) can be anywhere. Usually it’s a simple idea but it can also be considered as one of two other parts of the model, “Experiment”, or “Assess and Evaluate”. “Start” (or potential start point 1) is usually an idea which will be explored and developed as you move through the process. This could be a simple chord movement, melodic motif, or a phrase based on the idiomatic nature or engineering of the instrument you are working with. It could also be an idea in your mind, liberated from restriction which may be placed on it by technical considerations. Starting by experimenting (potential start point 2) with sounds, scales, keys, chords, or even non-musical ideas is a very common start point for me. I “play with” simple ideas a lot as a point of departure for developing my music. “Assessment and Evaluation” (potential start point 3) can be considered a starting point because this could be a formal interpretation of “inspiration”. If a piece of music has inspired you to go and create something of your own, then what has happened here is usually a sub-conscious “assessment and evaluation” of what it is that has inspired you, and that has supplied you with a starting point (usually experienced as a “reaction” to something):
Start/ Begin/ Idea (Potential Start point 1)
Experiment (Potential Start point 2)
Refine
Assess and Evaluate (Potential Start point 3)
Finish/ End
“Experiment” is an interesting part of the model because of its inherent versatility, and the multiple options and directions that it provides. Before experimenting, it is sometimes worth establishing “experimental purpose”. This is so that your creative work can be developed within a framework which provides some clear direction for your work. “To see what happens next” is fine, so long as you have the resolve to “assess and evaluate” what happens next and take responsibility for making a decision as to where the results of your experimentation is taken after that. There is a loop that it’s possible to become trapped in that is worth avoiding here. This is “experiment – assess – experiment – assess etc”, and usually the result of indecisiveness (the single biggest cause of the death of many creative processes which fail to reach a satisfactory “Finish/ End”). Another “experimental purpose” could be to “refine” your ideas (experimental point 3). Similar to the way in which the start point can be considered to be experimentation in its own right (or experimental point 2 as the start), “Experimentation” needs a basis before it can start. You will need something to experiment with. This could be a chord, a scale, a sound (or noise), none of which would actually qualify as an “idea” because these things are just pure “raw material” for music. Once the results of experimentation begin to take your work out of the “noise” bracket and into “music”, then a new musical idea can be identified, establishing a new “start” point (experimental point 2 in this instance being the result of “assessment and evaluation”):
Start/ Begin/ Idea (Experimental point 2)
Experiment (Experimental point 1)
Refine (Experimental point 3)
Assess and Evaluate
Finish/ End
To “Refine” your idea is a decision that is taken as a result of “assessment and evaluation”. Where “refinement” in itself isn’t actually necessary, and this model can work well without it, it is included here because I consider “Refinement” to be important within the creative process because it serves to establish a measure of “quality control” over your work. Refinement can sometimes be a matter of using tried and tested methods to develop and improve your idea such as developing melodic phrasing, or using tried and tested recording methods, instrumentation, or production techniques. “Refine” can also include elements of “experimentation” before your developed idea requires further “assessment and evaluation”:
Start/ Begin/ Idea
Experiment (Refinement point 2)
Refine (Refinement point 1)
Assess and Evaluate
Finish/ End
“Assessment and Evaluation” is the most important part of the model, and should follow every other part of the process after “Start”. The conclusions of “assessment and evaluation” serve to direct your work to any of the other parts. These decisions actually generate a unique creative pathway in the process. Regarding the start: It can actually be the start in itself (by assessing and evaluating an idea or “inspiration”), or direct the process back to the start if you need to start again ( by exploring a new idea, or through experimentation). Regarding “Experimentation”, “Refinement”, and the “Finish/ End”, these are the other parts of the model which the conclusions of “assessment and evaluation” can direct your work to. Where one may start, experiment, and refine in perpetuity, “assessment and evaluation” is the only part of the model which can serve to establish (by directing the process to) the “Finish/ End”:
Start/ Begin/ Idea (Potential conclusion 1)
Experiment (Potential conclusion 2)
Refine (Potential conclusion 3)
Assess and Evaluate (where does my music need to go?)
Finish/ End (Potential conclusion 4)
The “Finish/ End” is simply the end of the process, established through “Assessment and Evaluation”:
Start/ Begin/ Idea
Experiment
Refine
Assess and Evaluate
Finish/ End
Nik Harrison
