The Creative Brain

Disclaimer: I have not researched this topic very deeply, it’s mostly the product of a conversation I had last week about the topic and me wondering about things based on my own experiences.  That having been said, it does correlate to many things I’ve read including this interesting, short article.

I don’t know about post-COVID, because seemingly some folks who previously criticized Big Pharma now think they can do no wrong, but before that, I think most people would say we gave out drugs too easily.  Opioids, SSRIs, anti-anxiety meds, ADHD meds, they’ve all become the go-to choice for doctors and people who prefer to ignore the problem rather than solve it. 

This isn’t a blog about the health care industry, but it does beg the question of whether or not people are recognizing these traits in their kids and/or patients.  Are we able to help creative kids who struggle with the more structured aspects of our “one-size-fits-all” education system by recognizing they think differently, or are we just going to chemically alter them into submission into the system?

“Not me, I have ADHD!!!”.  Okay, then I’m not talking about, stop making this about you.

Just getting that out the way before it happens thirty seconds after I post this.

“What does this have to do with music or creativity?”

Glad you asked. 

Last week, independently, I had two people ask me about songwriting and how I put ideas together.  While there’s no one way, there is one commonality: it doesn’t make sense at first glance. 

The reason it doesn’t make sense is because I believe the creative brain works differently.  I hear something, my brain will take it out of context and build a story out of it based on other things I have experienced or know, almost before I can understand it’s happening.  The original spark is like a pinball bouncing around before it lands somewhere I can recognize and put down on (virtual) paper.  There is definitely a genetic component to this, but how much of it is my interest in humanity and a wide variety of topics, I don’t know.    

I do know this, that same, frenetic brain I have that is conducive to creativity is not really conducive to anything else in life.  It makes organization, and other things, a lot harder.  But I don’t want to dope myself into submission, I’d rather deal with the struggles in my day job so that I can create.  Knowing how you operate can help you improve on your weaknesses without destroying your strengths.

Personally, I wonder if guys like me don’t have the benefit by having to do everything ourselves.  Yes, collaboration is great and I value it dearly, but if you’re just the creative person alone, allowing your mind to wander without the need for a structure, because there are engineers there capturing your work as you “flow”, do you work those cerebral muscles that allow you to go back and forth between the systems? 

I am self-trained, not untrained, so my methodology is often not rigid, but when trying to work out an idea I have a tool box to work with, whether that’s music theory, a knowledge of studio arts (compression, EQ, effects, etc.) or simply life experience if I’m writing lyrics.  It’s that knowledge that helps me separate what’s possible from what’s not possible, and how to get from the idea in my head to the sound in my speakers.  It’s not a magical, alchemic big bang, it’s your brain connecting things that you’ve already put there in one way or another, just in a different way than most people would connect them. 

Like the article linked in the disclaimer, I think what makes this a unique approach is that while everyone has all three of these capabilities, and use them, most folks use each system individually, whereas creative people can use all three at once.  It’s the ability to connect these things in real-time that separates creative people from non-creative people. 

I’m not making any judgment calls about you, your kids, or whatever.  What you decide to do is between you and your doctor.  However, in our society, how many Bob Dylans, Picassos, Salingers, etc. are we stifling because they can’t sit still or focus very well?  How many actually have a disorder and how many are creatives who are struggling to fit a system they’re not made to fit?  I don’t know.  I don’t have the answer, I just know it’s a question worth asking. 

This is a blog post, not a scientific journal or medical textbook.  I often struggle to understand how my own brain works sometimes, but recognizing how things seem to go helps me to recognize it in others, including my own kid.  This is not any kind of authoritative statement, just a conversation starter.