Set Severe Constraints
Olivia Rodrigo, “serena joy” release
Invigorate your creativity by adding a severe constraint.
When you have complete creative freedom, it's easy to feel frozen. When you have infinite options, you end up pursuing none.
It seems like creativity feeds on freedom, but that's not always true in practice. Often, a limitation can spur creativity. As filmmaker Orson Welles said, "The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
Years ago, a student came to me frustrated because he couldn't compose. He had all of the software. The DAW was loaded. Every effect was at his fingertips. Synths and reverbs and samples, oh my.
Yet nothing would come out.
I suggested that for one week he limit himself to a series of threes. Three sounds only. Three effects only. Three tracks only. To see what happened.
The dam broke and he started writing again. He's worked relentlessly on his craft for over a decade and has made a career as a successful video game composer.
A few weeks ago, Olivia Rodrigo released "serena joy," an outtake that didn't make it onto her recent album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. The beginning of the song is distinctive because Rodrigo sings a melody that sits on one single note for the first half of the verse. It's like a chant, a drone.
When another voice enters on top (her own voice, doubled), it creates oblique motion with the drone melody until it rises and finally releases (on "we're having a ball") into the chorus with a satisfying harmonic change. (Listen to "serena joy" here.)
The arrival at the chorus is sweetened and heightened by the contrast of the simple verse melody.
Just one note. A severe constraint.
This week, try adding a severe constraint to your creative practice and see what happens.
One note.
One chord.
Ten minutes on a timer.
One instrument that you rarely touch.
Run it like an experiment and give yourself permission to create within the constraint. You might find that your creativity suddenly doubles, or more. If you've been stuck for longer than you can remember, this exercise can make you infinity-times more creative, just like that.
Now, here's the most important rule: choose a constraint and write it down before you start. It sounds unimportant, but you must write it down. If you don't, your brain and heart will falter.
What other examples of constraint-based creativity have you come across? Leave a comment and let me know.
Links I Like
This instagram reel I posted got an outsized response. Can you guess the iconic bass lines?
Ludwig Göransson is making ancient Greek instruments cool again.
Daniel Radcliffe is a musicologist.
