Musical Creativity - Motivation or Talent?

  Hi Folks. My writer's bloc(g)age is over. Sorry for a delay.

During the Christmas time I read a book called 'Nurtured by Love' by Shinichi and Waltraud Suzuki. It tells about Suzuki method (of course) but also about the life of Shinichi Suzuki. The plot and order of chapters are sometimes confusing, but the ideas and quotes are interesting. Below are some selected quotes and comments:

"Talent is no accident of birth. A Newborn child adjusts to his environment in order to survive, and various abilities are acquired in the process."

"...the ear for music will develop in direct proportion to the number of times the piece is heard....as long as the music is audible the life forces of the human being will unconsciously absorb it, making it part of
the individual abilities."

Suzuki does not believe in born talents, he believes in motivation and practice. When I was discussing about the book with Matti Hannula (my singing teacher) and Mika Sihvonen (my colleague, a guitar teacher), we came to conclusion that motivation and practice are necessary, but a good ear is always needed ;-) In music you just need to have some sensitivity for voices and pitches.

“Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.”

Teachers, parents, authorities and policy makers should really understand this message of Suzuki. Being creative means being in balance. We can not become experts without joy and self-study. Music can release our fixed mindsets.

Lately, George Hagman has been writing in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, Vol 33 (1), 2005: "Musical performance involves a two-phase process. The first is the practice phase, during which the musician seeks to achieve the experience of aesthetic resonance in which self-experience and music are brought into sync through the perfection of the performance. The second phase is the public performance, during which the musician exhibits his or her ideal creation and experiences the mirroring of the audience."   

This synchronisation is challenging, but even more challenging is getting the right kind of contact to the audience. The findings of Hagman and Suzuki make me humble in the area of music :-)