In his new book, "Imagine: How Creativity Works," Jonah Lehrer explores the artistic genius of renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. "But Ma wasn't always such an expressive performer. In fact, his pursuit of musical emotion began only after a memorable failure. 'I was nineteen and I had worked by butt off,' Ma told The New Yorker in 1989. 'I knew the music inside and out. while sitting there at the concert, playing all the notes correctly, I started to wonder 'Why am I here? What's at stake? Nothing. Not only is the audience bored but I myself am bored.' Perfection is not very communicative.' For Ma, the tedium of the flawless performance taught him that there is often a tradeoff between perfection and expression. 'If you are only worried about not making a mistake, then you will communicate nothing,' he says. 'You will have missed the point of making music, which is to make people feel something.'"
Lehrer goes on to write that "there is something scary about letting ourselves go. It means that we will screw up, that we will relinquish the possibility of perfection. It means that we will say things we didn't mean to say and express feelings that we can't explain. It means that we will be onstage and not have complete control, that we won't know what we're going to play until we begin, until the bow is drawn across the strings. While this spontaneous method might be frightening, it's also an extremely valuable source of creativity."
Reading Lehrer's words and his description of Yo-Yo Ma's process reminds me of Brene Brown's work with vulnerability. So many of us work hard to keep the walls up around us, to protect us from judgment and shame. Yet when we find the courage to show ourselves and release some control, we are often rewarded with increased connection and expanded creativity.
Lehrer goes on to write that "there is something scary about letting ourselves go. It means that we will screw up, that we will relinquish the possibility of perfection. It means that we will say things we didn't mean to say and express feelings that we can't explain. It means that we will be onstage and not have complete control, that we won't know what we're going to play until we begin, until the bow is drawn across the strings. While this spontaneous method might be frightening, it's also an extremely valuable source of creativity."
Reading Lehrer's words and his description of Yo-Yo Ma's process reminds me of Brene Brown's work with vulnerability. So many of us work hard to keep the walls up around us, to protect us from judgment and shame. Yet when we find the courage to show ourselves and release some control, we are often rewarded with increased connection and expanded creativity.
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