andhya Anand

Creativity & Music

 

​What is creativity?

The definition of creativity is “the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work”. But that is what the dictionary says. What does creativity mean to us? Everyone has different ideas, whether they are drawing the same picture or reading the same book, the way WE interpret things is our creativity.

 

What does creativity have to do with music?

We express our thoughts in all different ways, speech, writing, drawing etc. However, we cannot do this without using creativity and thinking about things no one has before. Great composers like Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Sri Thyagaraja Swamy have used HUGE amounts of creativity to compose such great songs. They put together feelings and emotion and perfectly selected ragas, all based on their moods.

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What does our mood have to do with creativity?

Our moods affect the way we think. Whether it’s answering a question or having a conversation, your response depends on how you feel. The same thing applies to creativity. When we are sad, we will think of GREAT ideas that will have to do with sadness. This is what applied to the composers. Based on how they felt, they picked a talam and started singing. They poured their hearts out.

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How can WE express creativity in our singing?

There are so many ways to be creative in Carnatic Music. For starters, creating  manodharma and kalpana swarams. We put together a bunch of swarams and make sure they fit the rules of talam and ragam and BAM. It expresses YOU. We can also make jathis to sing in songs or to play on a percussion instrument. Creativity can be expressed in any way, as long as we follow the rules. This is CREATIVITY.