Posts tagged as:

creativity

Arts Education and Civilization: This Isn’t Child’s Play

September 17, 2010

“Some people mistake the arts as only a vehicle for expression. That’s a very limited view. Art is a vehicle for exploration, learning, and trying things out. If people are serious about reducing violence and educating youth to become productive citizens and more satisfied in their own lives, supporting and expanding art is a major [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Socratic Questioning for Bringing Creativity to the Classroom or Business

June 5, 2010

I thought I might throw out a quick sample Socratic approach to effectively “bringing creativity to the classroom.” The answers to these questions are for you and your colleagues (and me!) to toss around. This can easily be redirected to “bringing creativity to the team” (or business/company). A line of Socratic questioning is usually a [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Jazz and Fundamentals, Part 3: Improvisation

May 15, 2010

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail. —Charlie Parker It’s often suggested that, with the evolution of technology and accessibility of information, we don’t really need to memorize fundamentals anymore. Why not outsource them? [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Fundamentals and Jazz, Part 2: Connection

May 12, 2010

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity. —Charles Mingus I love that: “Making the simple complicated is commonplace.” This gets me every time I read it because it’s so easy to think of jazz as really really complicated versions of simple songs. Isn’t that so? One might think [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Fundamentals and Jazz, Part 1: Discipline

May 11, 2010

I’m into scales right now. —John Coltrane Fundamentals are the launching pad for expertise. Every field has them: they’re pieces of knowledge and practicable skills without which one cannot excel in a particular discipline. They’re conjugated verbs, times tables, and heavy machinery operating procedures. Most of us groan when think about teaching them or learning [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Creativity: What Is It, Anyway?

May 7, 2010

People talk about creativity in all sorts of contexts—it’s used in reference to everything from ”scrap booking” to advertising, sculpture to physics, writing to teaching. We know the value of creativity. We know its fruit when we see it. But we’re so loose with our application of the word that sometimes I wonder if we [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

On Creatively Thriving

February 23, 2009

There’s something specific to the culture of what I’ll call the Creative Achievement set, something particular that elevates our collective experience and our collective output. While each of us is in process and at varying levels of performance at any given time, we tend to recognize each other in character or type almost immediately. We’re [...]

To Read The Full Article, Click Here

Next Entries →