Quality vs Quantity in the Creative Process
Quality vs Quantity in the Creative Process
In a now well-known story, a pottery teacher split his class into 2 groups. He told one group that their grade would be determined by the quality of their work no matter how many pieces they created. The second group would be measured not on the quality of their work, but on the amount. The more pieces, the higher the grade.
At the close of the semester the results were clear. The group that had made the most pieces also had made the highest quality work. Ironically, those pupils who were directly centered on quality were less able to produce quality. How come?
What is the relationship between quantity and quality? Often, the more you produce, the more mastery you will have. Creative control comes in numerous levels. How you produce important determinations along with the ability to be decisive. How your mind understands the creative process as well as a type of visceral understanding that grows over time and experience. How free you are to make errors while maximizing the sense of the correct direction to take.
Learning allows you to go from one level of understanding and competency to a higher level. Usually there are mistakes to make. Usually the more demanding the learning, the more errors.
Quantity does not invariably lead to quality. If there isn't a learning dimension, nothing will change, and quality might even decay. But the most intuitive pattern when producing anything is a progression of domination through a progression of learning. How does learning take place?
We begin, as always, with structural tension, a broad vision of an end result and a clear view of the current reality in relationship to that result. This is of the essence, because without structural tension you would be limited to a series of unscripted improvisations.
Quantity without structural tension does not lead to comprehensive learning. Without an end in mind you are left with a strictly statistical approach: produce a lot of things, trust that several of them work out. When that is the case, each creative event is random. Each event is an individual sequence that does not associate with forthcoming creative events. This is like a non-relational database in which the information is isolated and does not link with other seconds of information. Therefore, there is no traction leading to momentum, no feel of growth, no foundation upon which to progress. No organizing principle that enables learning to lead to mastery.
One thing that the pottery students had was enough of a vision of each piece so that they could establish structural tension. They had their target. The current reality was under their fingers and in their consciousness. This was true for both the quality AND quantity group. So we can conclude that structural tension is simply a requirement. Without it, it would be hard to throw a pot. But if the vision were to produce the highest quality imaginable, the ultimate result would miss the mark. High degrees of quality come from adequate experience over time.
When I was a high school kid, I studied with the Boston Symphony clarinetist Felix Viscuglia at the New England Conservatory of Music. I would take Phil a coffee (he insisted on everyone calling him Phil) to every weekly lesson, not unlike the proverbial apple to the teacher. He always spoke to me as if I were a co-worker rather than a student, which was kind of nice for me. He would say of the college students who studied with him, "How can they expect to play like me? I've been playing over 25 years." I would nod as if I knew what he was talking about. But I only realized what he implied after I had been playing for over 25 years.
There is a long-term perspective of the creative process, which includes experience over expanded points of time and learning. And there is the short-term view, which tries to rely on inspiration, impetus, and improvisation. And while there is a place for short-term dynamic moments, you can't shape and sustain real mastery from that alone.
So, produce a lot of creations. Make sure you have structural tension as the fabric. Don't get preoccupied about how good any creation is, but do make a point of learning from each installment of the creative procedure. Mastery will come over time, and you will discover your ability to create what you want increases dramatically.
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