I once heard an established music producer say something along these lines – “We are created beings, therefore it naturally follows that we ourselves are creators; creativity is something that is inherent in every one of us. Where we get hung up is to what degree of influence our creativity possesses. Some people are only equipped to write songs for their kids or their local church group, while others are equipped to write songs that give voice to an entire generation. But just because one circle of influence is much smaller than the other, it doesn’t mean the artistic value is any less, it’s just on a different scale.”
That really stuck with me.
I used to think some people should just simply not write and sing and play at all because it was so bad. But what always amazed me, was when I was at the back of some coffee house on open mic might, dry heaving at someone’s ghastly performance, there were always people who seemed to genuinely enjoy it. Now, I could have attempted to ruin their enjoyment by tossing a very wet blanket on their simplistic and uncultured tastes, explaining the reasons it was all so unlistenable, but besides not wanting to ruin someone’s party, I knew it would be futile because they would just probably say, “I don’t know dude, I just like it.”
No matter what I thought about it, they were still getting something from it, even if it technically was ‘bad’.
Of course there are lawyers or accountants who will swear they don’t have a creative bone in their bodies. And they may not when I comes to playing an instrument or writing a short story, but I guarantee when they are in the ‘zone’ with their line of work there are creative elements involved.
But they are not who I am talking about. I am talking about the person who sings or plays guitar or writes songs but fears their music in not as good as the ‘pros’ so why bother?
They should ‘bother’ because if they have that desire to create, and that desire comes from an honest place, there will be something of value in what is produced. It may not be on a rock star scale, it may not change the world or sell millions, but it will have something that matters. Something that resonates.
We are not all rock stars, but we are all creative. We were made that way.