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Awaken Your Muse
by Barbara Geehan, River Gazette Editor
Every day, teachers grapple with the effort of helping students stretch their minds. So when we went in search of the magic keys to becoming more creative, we went right to the source, the Montgomery Hall Fine Arts building. The professors there would certainly know how to unlock the muse within us: how often have they faced a classroom of students with their fingers poised over a blank sheet of paper or hovering over the strings of a violin, or a screenplay?
We first came across Michael Ellis-Tolaydo, professor of theater, film and media studies, and renowned actor in Washington. Wiry hair askew and wearing a rumpled shirt, he was in deep discussion with a teary student, both bent over in their chairs in the hall in front of his office, discussing the future of her senior project. He holds all his appointments out the in the hall, he says, because his office, a former coatroom, is too messy.
After picking our actor's brain for the answers, we found Jeff Coleman, English professor and published poet extraordinaire. Coleman says his office is messy, but really only a few books were out of place. His hair is neatly groomed, and his shirt freshly ironed.
How do you, we asked them, help make us more creative?
The reason for the above descriptive detail is that - to our amazement - both men, so different in some ways, came up with the very same answers to our burning question. They even used the same adjectives.
Yes, to start with it helps to have some innate talent, whether you are writing, acting, dancing, or composing, they say. "Some people," says Coleman, "find it easier to pick up the forms of poetry." "You cannot teach talent," says Ellis-Tolaydo, "but you can develop it."
And from there, as their arms swept back and forth and their sentences tumbled about, as we continued to ply them with worried queries and tackled our search from every angle, it became clear: This is not a simple topic. Creativity comes from hard work, effort and the D word, discipline.
"Being creative is an odd thing," says Ellis-Tolaydo. "I doubt Steve Jobs or Bill Gates goes around thinking 'How can I be creative?' They try to solve problems. An artist doesn't go around saying 'I want to be creative.' They look at the world and try to articulate it.'
"First, define the goal. Then, how can we achieve our goal. I want to make a film about what? People? Fine. What kind of people and where can I find them? Keep asking questions and build a structure."
Goals! Structure! This doesn't sound like anything our muse wants to hear. Who knew the creative process could be so uncreative?
It gets more complicated.
"You have to have experience and talent, but you must couple that with effort," says Coleman. "Write on a regular basis. You must be willing to take criticism and be willing to revise, revise, revise.
"Some are ready to take the leap, but they have to be willing to be open and willing to expand their poetic horizons. For example, they must share in the classroom. Sharing, critiquing is part of the classroom process.
"Finally, they must be willing to allow new and different ways of thinking and writing."
He also suggests a budding poet or writer stay on top of current and past publications in their field. "Don't just write, but read," he says. "What distinguishes this poet from another, how does their work fit into the poetic process?"
To help his students stretch, Coleman gives out an exercise early in the semester of Advanced Poetry: Flip through a book of poetry, he tells them, and find one that you admire. What line stands out and why? Then, use that line as the first or last line of a poem you write. The creative process, Coleman adds, can be mysterious. "But in its more elementary form, it is basically the process of the attempt to be creative. There is a process. We need to incorporate the five senses, along with our regrets, our fears, and thoughts."
Ellis-Tolaydo agrees. "I help them break it down so they can read, see, hear it. Once you can define it, then you look at ways to achieve it." He too uses exercises. "There are tons of games, theatrical and otherwise, that all have to do with getting folks to bond with each other, then relax, and feel safe in a group. This leads to bonding and then, hopefully to less fear about taking risks." Such exercises, he says, are used at theater camps, summer camps, even Outward Bound.
In literature, he says, the characters are figures, not real people. On stage, the goal is to create a believable human being; they are real people. "Playwrights create the skeleton, actors fill it out."
So, in summary: each art form has its rules. Learn the rules, practice the discipline every chance you get. Then, get to work knowing that those rules can be broken. "Be brave and follow your impulses and when that makes you uncomfortable, press on," says Ellis-Tolaydo. "You have to be willing to explore ways that make you uncomfortable." Echoes Coleman: "I try to encourage students to get away from their normal tendencies, their comfortable way of writing. That way served them well for some time, it is now time to stretch. Be compelled to explore new territory.
"You don't always have to write about St. Mary's River, or use the metaphor of the rose."
And finally, the teachers can describe the rules, they can encourage the practice and even demand the effort. But at some point, students must take the process and make it their own. "Students don't all learn in the same way," explains Ellis-Tolaydo.
At some point, the gathering of data ends, the studying ends. You have analyzed what you are trying to do, now just worry about how you will do it. "Students don't let me down," says Ellis-Tolaydo. "The only ones they can let down are themselves."
