A Barrage of music

Our local school district offers free string lessons to any student who wants them starting in 4th grade. I love this idea as I have always felt that knowledge of music and music theory is helpful in all forms of learning and can help in critical and creative thinking. While I didn't force my daughter to take the lessons, I was pleased when she decided to start see how she liked it. She decided to play the viola.

The viola is a beautiful sounding instrument and I'm glad my daughter is learning it. I only have one complaint. The instrument is played on the C Clef, which is that no man's land between the better know Treble and Bass clefs (the ones you see on piano music). I grew up playing the guitar and singing in the church choir. Because of that, I can site read both clefs. My daughter can read the treble clef a little from her short-lived piano lessons phase, but not much of the bass clef. Perhaps she will learn the other scales in choir.

In any case, my daughter's orchestra teacher suggested that any interested students attend a concert of the string group Barrage last night. The group features 6 extremely talented violinists, a really good backing band of guitar, drums and electric bass. They play a combination classical, bluegrass, folk, swing and rock, but all with a rock and roll attitude. The music was awesome. The choreography great. It was a very enjoyable show and I recommend seeking them out if they are in your area.

I bring them up here because Barrage took what is consider a rather staid instrument and made it seem hip and cool. My daughter was really entertained by music that isn't played on Radio Disney. Why? Because the group presented an old idea in a shiny new package.

This is a great idea when you are looking for creative solutions. There is nothing new under the sun, but you can take something old and tarnished and present it in a different light. Remember you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just put some new hubcaps on.

Getting this started

So my friend Artie Isaac said that I should start a blog talking about my views on creativity. I have been making games and books for kids for more than a decade. You can see some of my work at the Brighter Minds Media website. Having created or co-created more than 30 kids books and 50 kids software titles, I guess I'm as qualified as anyone to speak on the subject, but honestly, I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Whenever I meet someone who asked what I do, the question eventually comes up. How do you get your ideas. And like most writers and other creative types that I have studied, I have to answer, "I really don't know." But that answer isn't entirely true. It's my opinion that when creative people are asked that, the I don't know answer comes back either out of humility or not wanting to try and explain the process. The creative people that I have dealt with all have a tendency to think differently than other people. You can tell almost immediately upon meeting them. All of them have what I term Creative Crutches. Little tricks, ideas and processes that help get the ideas flowing. Hence the name of the blog. What I hope to accomplish with this blog is to get draw on my experience as well as other as I delve into the creative process. I'm doing this mostly to enlighten me. If I can help someone else along the way, that's even better. Welcome aboard. Let's see where this takes us.