Just for a moment act as though all the creative works you’ve ever done are gone and untraceable.  They cease to be.  There is no memory of your body of work except for what you own; friends, family, colleagues, students, peers – all have no recollection of your work or your reputation.  There is no longer a creative history to foster your pride.

Assuming your passion is not make-believe and your ability to produce remains, now what?  Your beautifully clever, well crafted, richly toned works are disposable.  a.k.a – You’re free.

It’s important that we know our best work is yet to be produced.  Our best is what is in us now, not what we – or others – admire about the past.  The current creative paradox or those conflicts that remain unresolved are in front of us and are what needs examining.

Maria Schneider has a story to illustrate this point.

Maria Scheider Biography (via Wikipedia)

Schneider was born in Windom, Minnesota. She moved to New York City in 1985 after attending college at the University of Minnesota, the University of Miami and the Eastman School of Music. She studied under Bob Brookmeyer and Gil Evans, working on various projects with Evans, including the film The Color of Money and Absolute Beginners. Her works share many characteristics with other jazz composers influenced by Gil Evans, including Lou Marini, and Grammy Award winning composer Bob Belden.

Schneider formed The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra in 1993, appearing weekly at Visiones in Greenwich Village for five years. Her orchestra performed at many jazz festivals and toured Europe.

Schneider was one of the first artists to use ArtistShare to produce an album. Her 2004 album, Concert in the Garden, became the first Grammy Award-winning recording sold exclusively via the Internet. It was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, which also named Schneider Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year and named her group Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year.

Schneider’s ensemble is now titled “The Maria Schneider Orchestra”. Their new album, Sky Blue, was released in July 2007, also via ArtistShare. Schneider’s composition “Cerulean Skies,” from Sky Blue, won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition in 2008. Schneider is an avid birdwatcher and enlisted band members to contribute bird calls on “Cerulean Skies.”

“Music is the space between the notes” – Claude Debussy

I thought of this quote before discovering someone much more intelligent said it first.  I was at a show listening to bluegrass virtuosos play so fast that it was hard to discern a space between notes.  It made me realize that there was only one interpretation possible.  There were no spaces for me to think or feel anything but the energy of their content.

Allow me to share a favorite quote came from my recent interview with guitar great Will McFarlane:  “It took me 10 years to learn how to play something vaguely interesting and the next 15 learning what to leave out.” Notes give direction but it’s the spaces that allow you to project feeling into a composition.  Odds-on, this is where “less is more” originated.

Spaces give us time to anticipate, but what are those expectations exactly?  Perhaps answers to equations, our soul’s rhythm, or a simple desire to return home, but to be sure, the more we experience, the more we tend to anticipate outcome.  In turn, this leaves room for surprise; the unanticipated conclusion.  Spaces between notes are like the unresolved questions; we search for direction and probe for answers.

Then again, unlike performing arts and film, the studio arts and photography have no external timeline.  The spaces are created by holding back information – we consume the first ten years discovering how, and the next 15 learning what to obscure.

A color photograph taken at eye level and displayed actual size with infinite detail and accuracy for the scene may inspire through technical proficiency, but there is little room for interpretation.  “This is a near exact replica of the scene, isn’t it lifelike?”  A photograph summed up in this way risks being quickly dismissed.

It takes courage to allow others to interpret your work but that is where emotions reside; in the spaces between the notes.  Make a statement then allow space for interpretation; too many answers create myopic works.  Passion is heightened when we find obscured spaces or silence allowing us time to emote; The notes manipulate and the spaces allow feelings.

We can all agree that there is one thing that classical music is not, and that’s myopic.  In this 20 minute TED video Boston Symphony Conductor, Benjamin Zander, teaches us why we love Classical Music.            - Bruce DeBoer

“Everybody loves classical music they just don’t know about it yet.” – Benjamin Zander

via the TED website

Since 1979, Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. He is known around the world as both a guest conductor and a speaker on leadership — and he’s been known to do both in a single performance. He uses music to help people open their minds and create joyful harmonies that bring out the best in themselves and their colleagues.
His provocative ideas about leadership are rooted in a partnership with Rosamund Stone Zander, with whom he co-wrote The Art of Possibility.
Full Biography

Creativity isn’t just about being unique.  Different for the sake of different can be shallow and self indulgent.  Expectations are powerful; they are strong audience connectors.  Just like a sales person who asks for “yes” repeatedly before making the sale, or when Bugs Bunny bamboozles Elmer Fudd by finding the rhythm of call and response followed by a last moment swap, expectations can lead a viewer down a path you want them to go.

In this video Bobby McFarren plays with the audience and reveals how expectations can be surprising.  Expectations open an audience to your message through the comfort of familiarity.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.