Does art help us to appreciate our differences? A big part of this year has been taken up with people being driven apart by politics, violence and differences of opinion on many things. When Quincy Jones was 20 years old in 1953, he was part of a big band tour of Europe. The band members […]
When are we most creative? Do we get most creative when we have to fight for survival or when we have the luxury of enough peace and tranquillity to get away from everyday distractions and worries? I’ve just had two reminders of where these two things can co-exist. The first is from Cairns https://readingisart.substack.com/ my […]
Is creativity an act of survival or is survival an act of creativity? I’m reading “12 Notes: On Life and Creativity” by Quincy Jones and one of the things he says is, “ … being creative isn’t simply a matter of what type of brushstroke you use or what key changes you write. I believe […]
Mad Blood Stirring Image: Romeo and Juliet Postcard — “For now these hot days is the mad blood stirring” https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/tillywigginsBookClub I just read a review of the film Sing Sing which shows prisoners performing Shakespeare within the maximum-security penitentiary. It’s a story about the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, which brings dance, theatre, music […]
Arguably, creating music is one of the earliest forms of creativity. Image: Album cover of Charlie Watts Quintet — A Tribute to Charlie Parker The oldest discovered musical instruments in the world (flutes made of bones and mammoth ivory) are over 40,000 years old but instruments and song are probably far, far older. In his […]