THE PRINCIPLE
Music stimulates your creativity
Music may or may not have ‘charms that soothe the savage breast’, but it does seem to have the power to stimulate the sluggish brain.
Research has shown that Baroque music synchronises brain waves at about 60 cycles per second, and this relaxed alpha state is the frequency associated with creativity. Try Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ or Pachelbel’s ‘Canon in D’ or Bach’s ‘Air in D’.
It’s worth doing your own research by listening to different kinds of music to discover the effects it has on you when you’re in different moods.
If stress gets in the way of your creativity, you may benefit by using easy-listening music or Gregorian chant. For this purpose, I’m partial to the music of J. J. Cale.
If your energy is low, turning up the speakers and listening to rock music may get your brain cells sparking. Try some classics from Creedence Clearwater Revival.
To get into a problem-solving frame of mind, choose upbeat music. A University of Toronto study revealed that volunteers were better able to solve challenging word puzzles after thinking positive thoughts and listening to upbeat music. It’s another excuse to listen to that Mamma Mia! soundtrack.
You may even want to create a soundtrack for each of your different creative activities. Russian novelist Boris Akunin told the Wall Street Journal that before he begins writing, he plays five or ten minutes of music to get into the right mood. For a tragic mood he favours Mahler, for a tender mood he goes for early Beatles.
There’s another way you can add music to your creativity toolbox: wait until you are in a creative mood naturally, then put on a song or album you don’t normally play but that supports the mood. Do this on two or three separate occasions, each time using the same music.
Thereafter, when you don’t feel creative but would like to, put on that music and it will create the mood by association.
Website bonus
At www.CreativityNowOnline.com, click on the ‘Creativity Now!’ button. Bonus 1 is a guided visualisation with music to energise your creative thinking.