Composing a Symphony

I, myself, have never been a musical person. Music class was the one thing I dreaded going to in school and I always found myself escaping through my thoughts and not always being mentally there. However, within the reading Composing a Symphony by Tchaikovsky, I can take the things he’s saying and understand from my experiences.

 Tchaikovsky starts off by saying that sometimes inspiration just comes to him and the “germ” (idea) “must come at a favorable moment”.  I remember watching my (at the time) favorite show Glee. At the end the creator came on and had an interview answering questions about the show and how he thought of the idea. I specifically recall him saying that it was a great idea but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much of a success if it didn’t come out at the right time. This is what Tchaikovsky is saying, when his inspiration hits, it has the ability to grow and become a musical masterpiece if it comes at the right time. I agree with this. I believe that some things happen for a reason. If you get an inspiring idea and you don’t have the time or attention to nurture it so that it can become all that it should, then the inspiration is worthless. You need to be able to act upon an idea in order to make it into something you could have never imagined.

Tchaikovsky then states that once inspiration strikes, he “forgets everything and behaves like a mad man” then goes on to explain how he rushes against time and even the smallest noise or reminder can jolt him back into reality and ruin his creative flow. A radio station did an interview with Lady GaGa once, an international pop singer if you have never heard of her, and they asked her how she came up with her songs. She then went on to tell the station that she carried a notepad and a pen with her everywhere that she went. Why did she do this? She believed inspiration could strike at any moment and, like Tchaikovsky, she didn’t want to let her whereabouts or activities when was doing while her inspiration struck keep her from writing down her thoughts and in the end not be able to produce something because she forgot about what had sparked her ideas. If you think about it, what both Lady GaGa and Tchaikovsky are saying makes sense. Have you ever had an amazing idea but never wrote it down and decided to act on it later? It’s happened to me numerous times and when it comes to later I can’t remember what It was I was so inspired by. Reality and time can slow a person down so it is essential to act on an impulse and carry through with it even if it means racing against time and distractions.

Lastly, Tchaikovsky touches base on the fact that inspiration does not always come when wanted or needed. It takes time and effort. I agree with this. I believe, after the numerous articles I’ve read on creativity, that inspiration doesn’t just hit. It’s like going about your normal life waiting to win the lottery even though you didn’t buy any tickets. In a metaphorical sense, you have to buy the tickets. With creativity you have to work for inspiration. You have to lay down the building blocks and get your mind going in order to get a bigger more holistic picture. Pablo Picasso did numerous sketches before the masterpiece of Guernica came out and became famous. It is possible to work without inspiration but if you want to create something new and moving, you must first get your mind to work to get your creativity started. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPbjSnZnWP0

 The link above shows what happens with creativity and time. Although it shows that the more time is given the more we give thee chance for playfulness to come out I believe there is a link between this and the reading. It shows that if limited in time, you can only do a small about of work. This is like what Tchaikovsky was saying in the fact that he has to race against time. Second, i think that this shows that once these children were given something to work with and given more time they were able to come up with more creative ideas, add colors and involve different aspects besides just the drawing of the clock. This is like the making of music in a way that at first he had to come up with his own ideas without inspiration. Then once it hit it all came to him and he was able to go on and make something out of it, like when the children made clocks into flowers and penguins. It becomes something after you take time and nurture an idea and then allow creativity to hit.