Archive for the 'The Nature of Creativity' Category

This week I am traveling with the Get a Life Marching Band.  I’m a dancer with the band.  We are in Anaheim for gigs at NAMM and Disneyland.

NAMM

The National Association of Music Merchants is one of the largest exhibits in the world for music products.  There are vendors for anything sound and music related….guitars, keyboards, sound boards, horns….and on and on.  The larger vendors feature famous musicians to demo their products.  Thursday I saw a Guitar God wailing for a large crowd (I am but a lowly dancer and did not know his name).  Anyway–big stuff.  We joined the Ferdinand L. Petiot band for their 40th Anniversary appearance at NAMM to open the event.  The song “Thriller” had been selected for us and I choreographed a routine for our dancers.   Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, led us through the halls.  Quincy Jones! Led us in the parade through the convention halls!

Later in the day we played a stage set.  I saw Lenny ‘Fuzzy’ Rankins and his band perform as we waited.  They could not have been more cool….jazz, R&B and charismatic stage presence.  Very hip band.  Inwardly, I groaned and I thought, “We’re following them?!  We are the opposite of cool!”  I anticipated a painful hour with the audience leaving in droves.

But that didn’t happen.  As our director, Steve, told the story of the band in between classic songs like, “Louie, Louie”, “It’s Hip to be Square” and “We’re an American Band” the audience stayed and came right along with us.

We are not hip.  We are band nerds.  And what comes through when we perform is the sheer joy of the music.  The band LOVES to play and they are pretty darn good.  We dancers, twirlers and flag team love to play with them.

As we rode the bus back to our hotel Steve related a few conversations he’d had with some musicians after we finished our set.  NAMM halls are filled with world-class studio musicians  but the professional musicians said they hadn’t seen anything like Get a Life in 30 years of the convention. Steve and the rest of the group reminded these professionals of when they first began playing…school band, perhaps. He took them to another time and reminded them exuberance and fun that music can bring when it’s not a job.    “I daresay it was an emotional experience for them.”

The sincerity of Get a Life, the unabashed corniness..all this was utterly lovable.  The LA suits, rockers and professional musicians couldn’t help but crack a smile as we performed.

Here’s the lesson I relearned: Follow what you love with a passion.  Be a complete geek about it.  Be unabashed in your pursuit.  Sincerity is disarming.

My name is Maggie and I’m with the Band.

Years ago my children were discussing ‘theater nerds’ and how they found them annoying.  I said, ‘That’s weird.  When I was in high school theater, it was considered pretty cool.”  They both looked at me without saying anything, the obvious hanging in the silence.  I, too, was a theater nerd.  I was also a dance dork.  And I was in student government.  Oh yes, I was cool.

I’m a grown-up now.  A professional.  And I am still enjoying expressing my other side.  Furthermore, I think playing with crafts and joining bands are forms of play.  And, as we all know, PLAY IS CRUCIAL TO CREATIVITY.

So I share my methods of play now.

Exhibit A: Crafts

I am making jewelry (cuz I love sparkly things!) and I am lucky enough to be part of an art collective.  We are putting on our third annual Open Doors show and sale.  If you are in the Portland area come and visit.  The shopping is quite excellent.

Exhibit B: Get a Life Marching Band

My first gig with the Get a Life Marching Band was the Chinese New Year’s Parade in San Francisco last February.  Regrettably, I don’t play an instrument.  I am a dancer with the band (I come into the picture at 24 seconds, tall one in the middle of the back row).

Last Friday I marched with G.A.L  in the local Macy’s Holiday Parade.   And, yes,we used poms poms.  Super fun!

So, in this season of extremes I encourage you all to blow off a little steam and embrace your inner dork.  Really, it’s fun to play.

While preparing for a recent keynote I came across a wonderful paper about People’s Relations to Their Work. The researchers suggest that people either see their work as a Job, a Career or a Calling.

A Job is a necessary requirement–a means to an end.  A Job is a place to make money but there are no expectations of finding personal meaning or important intrinsic rewards.  I believe that my relationship with my early jobs in the food service industry would fit this category (as God is my witness I’ll never wait tables again!).

Careers include more of a personal investment and more meaningful rewards.  You earn a paycheck and you also may get more prestige or recognition as you advance in your career.  You may derive a sense of satisfaction as you attain better position in your chosen field.

A Calling is work that you are called to do, as in a vocation.  It is interwoven in your life and you gain a personal sense of meaning from the work.  Often people see their calling as socially valuable and feel as if they are making an important contribution to the world.

Now, you might think that people most often feel they are in Jobs when they are in the lower rungs of the job market.  You might expect to find that people who feel they are working in their Calling are more often found in ‘helping professions’.  And you would not be entirely correct.

The researchers suggest that the distribution is not dependent on occupation.  People in many sectors feel their work is a calling and that they are making a positive contribution.   One small study surveyed administrative assistants, some of the lowest paid, least prestigious positions in many corporations (which has always seemed bizarre to me because they are, frankly, amazing).

Surprisingly, the administrative assistants produced a broad and equal distribution of work orientations.

That’s right, approximately one-third saw their work as a Calling.

Can any job be reframed as a Calling?  I like to think so.  Remember Studs Terkel’s Working?  I’ve never forgotten the story of the waitress:

People imagine a waitress couldn’t think or have any kind of aspiration other than to serve food. When somebody says to me, “You’re great, how come you’re just a waitress?”

Just a waitress. I’d say, “Why, don’t you think you deserve to be served by me?” It’s implying that he’s not worthy, not that I’m not worthy. It makes me irate. I don’t feel lowly at all. I myself feel sure. I don’t want to change the job. I love it.

I think of my young friend, “B”, who works at a bakery making cookies.  He absolutely loves being a baker.   He knows he’s making a positive contribution to the world because his cookies ‘make people happy”.

What about you?  Are you working a Job, pursuing a Career or following a Calling?