The Adventurousness Quotient

Making yourself more creative is a process that involves inspiration, passion and an openness for trying new things. My friend Hooks used to always do the 'adventurous' run. On the way back from our weekly jam sessions he would give me a lift back home and drop me and my keyboard gear off safe and sound. For no known reason and somewhat randomly each time, Hooks would go off road on this goat path of a road, just to see if he could do it. This roller coaster twisted, car width-only wide trail is a testament to his creative personality. He just went for it and was damn good at navigating the road which I couldn't even see at that time of morning. He always was adventurous to try new ways to play, pick up new musical skills, try different instruments and push the limits.

This type of adventurousness gave form to a communal creativity that pushed all of us to find our best musicality and give it freely-stirring it into the pot and removing our attachments. We learned that giving and not owning the phrases and bursts of creative energy served all of us better. It wasn't just my riff or my lead or my fill that was the star in the tune, but our musical egos receded to the point of what music is designed to be-harmony. Instead of going in and fighting to be heard above the other instruments, we played less and quieter so that the entire mix was audible and made for a good experience.

All of this would not have been possible if each of us had not been creatively adventurous and unafraid to drive that narrow twisting road in the dead of night, ready for the sudden descent that came out of nowhere. But like the road, it lead to the main street which lead to the neighborhood which led to the house, a light snack and some much needed sleep. Had we stayed on the main common road there isn't a chance we could have found the adventure we did in creating our music.