Re-imagining creativity in lock-down

(c) 2020 Tony Gillam

Today marks the culmination of Creativity and Wellbeing Week and, by coincidence, also of Mental Health Awareness Week. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of the events planned had to be, in the words of the organisers, 're-imagined', which is to say either cancelled or, where possible, converted into virtual online happenings.

I had planned to run a couple of improvisational Music for Wellbeing Workshops in collaboration with mental health charity MIND but, unfortunately, these had to be cancelled as, obviously, such social gatherings are prohibited at the moment. Similarly, last month I was supposed to be giving a talk at the Literary Conference in Hastings. The topic was to be Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Books of Malcolm Saville. (Malcolm Saville - for those who don't know - was a children's author whose books I enjoyed very much when I was young and I've been a member of the Malcolm Saville Society since 1999.) So I'd been looking forward to meeting with fellow members and speaking at the Society's Literary Conference but this too was cancelled.   

Re-imagining a talk is fairly simple - it can easily be converted into an article. And so I've been working on an article - or it may even end up as a couple of linked articles - for a forthcoming issue of the Malcolm Saville Society's magazine. But re-imagining an improvisational music workshop under lock-down conditions is not so easy...

Fortunately, an opportunity arose in the form of an invitation from a dulcimer-playing friend of mine, Steve O'Ryan. I met Steve last October at a gathering of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club (of which we're both members.) As spring arrived, Steve hit upon the wonderful idea of creating a blog and a linked Facebook group which would feature a new song for every day of the month of May, a kind of virtual musical calendar. As Steve explains, "CMLE Play (Songs for May) is releasing a different May song every day during May 2020. Trad. songs, new songs, instrumentals - mainly played and sung by keen amateur musicians." (In case you're wondering, the name CMLE Play, by the way, is a pun on Pink Floyd's song 'See Emily Play'.)

I was delighted that Steve asked me to contribute a track to this project and, not having any  traditional May songs in my repertoire, I hastily recorded a semi-improvised, one-take instrumental on the dulcimer and called my new composition 'May Be, May Be Not'. I seem to have got away with this, as the track was the featured tune on 5 May on Steve's blog and Facebook group. So I'd managed, despite the lock-down, to improvise some music and to turn this solo performance into a group experience, by sharing it on Facebook and Soundcloud.

(c) 2020 Tony Gillam

All of which goes to illustrate a few important points about creativity and how it can promote wellbeing:

1.  Connection

Connecting is one of the New Economics Foundation's recommended five actions to promote day-to-day wellbeing (Aked et al., 2008). Connecting with others is very conducive to wellbeing so, notwithstanding Groucho Marx's famous quip, it helps to belong to a few groups, clubs or societies (this could be something like a Facebook group, or even something less obvious like a literary society or a dulcimer club!) Belonging to a larger organisation also promotes a sense of meaning - one of Seligman's five elements of wellbeing - since, as Seligman argued, meaning is derived from belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self (Seligman, 2011).  

           

           

2. Flexibility

Along with risk-taking and humour, I have suggested that flexibility is one of the characteristics of a creative practitioner (Gillam, 2018). Flexibility involves a willingness to try new approaches - so a planned talk can become an article and a planned group improvisation can become a solo improvisation, shared with a wider group through social media.

3.  Collaboration

Even if writing articles and composing music in lock-down might seem the most solitary of activities, in fact collaboration with others is still central to these creative enterprises. I would not have been prompted to write my article if the conference organiser (David Shields) had not originally invited me to give my talk. If David had not subsequently - and quite rightly - decided to cancel the event, the talk might still have existed but the article might not. So any resulting articles on this subject are really a collaboration between David, me and the magazine editor. Similarly, if Steve had not invited me to contribute a piece of music to his May songs project, I might not have got round to improvising/composing/recording and sharing 'May Be, May Be Not', or of hearing the wonderful contributions of my fellow musicians. The resulting feedback - and friendly banter - I've had with my musical friends has made me laugh a lot and has felt a bit like a surrogate night out at the pub with old friends.

These kinds of connections and collaborations are invaluable as we all try to remain creative in difficult times.

References

Aked, J., Marks, N., Cordon, C. & Thompson, S. (2008). Five ways to wellbeing: The evidence. London: New Economics Foundation.

Gillam, T. (2018) Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2011). Flourish: A new understanding of happiness and well-being – and how to achieve them. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.