When Limits Spark Creativity

Thanks Arky - great video!

There was a thread years ago where I said that lack of technique can stimulate innovation and was howled down, as people pointed out that more technique opens up more possibilities.

Thing is, those possibilities tend to be similar to each other - logical, linear progress and you expect a lot of people to come upon similar solutions when trying to expand the vocabulary - the next levels of speed, complexity and coordination. Essential, valid and logical - but it's only one way to do things, something not everyone appreciates.

Artists operating within a more limited technical framework also innovate, and in more unusual ways, eg. Billie Holliday, Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Ringo, Meg, Moonie, Roger Waters who compensated for limited chops with more emphasis on expression or focusing on a particular stylistic approach.

Then there are musicians who have overcome disability to find new ways of playing:

Hearing impaired - Ludwig van, Evelyn Glennie
Hands - Django, Rick Allen, Tony Iommi
Blindness - Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Jose Feliciano, Blind Lemon Jefferson
Mental illness - Mingus, Bud Powell, Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Ian Curtis, Sinead O'Connor, Ray Davies, Kurt Cobain,

Our limitations, if not too severe, define our individuality. If we were all perfect humans we'd tend to be much the same as we each optimised those aspects that most people agree are positive. It's the limitations and flaws that make you "you".

"Embrace the shake" is a great idea. A few years here there was a chat about plastic brushes. I said I did not like the sharp "tak" sound and someone (forgot his name) replied "Embrace the tak". It works.

In a way it's just positive thinking that focuses more on what we can do, rather than what we can't, do within whatever limitations we have.
 
I spent years not realising I had a limitation (a specific learning difficulty). When I found out I had it, I was much more able to embrace it and move on.

I'm not creative genius but whilst it's always worth improving your personal limitations, sometimes taking the 'easy' way (or hard way, if you're not used to limitations) out from your limitations can be very rewarding.
 
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I seem to do ok working with my limitations. Actually, how you describe limitations makes a big difference. For example, is it a "challenge" or an "excuse", is it "outside of your comfort zone", or are you just "crap at it". Internalising how you describe your challenges has a profound affect on how you approach them. You'd be surprised how such a small thing matters.

Me, I put 1 finger up at limitations I can do nothing about, but quantify limitations that are self imposed.
 
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