In this reading and in this module by David Byrne, legendary frontman of the genre-defying band The Talking Heads, form his book How Music Works, he uses music to address the role of context in creativity in general. He writes,
I had an extremely slow-dawning insight about creation. That insight is that context largely determines what is written, painted, sculpted, sung, or performed. That doesn’t sound like much of an insight, but it’s actually the opposite of conventional wisdom, which maintains that creation emerges out of some interior emotion, from an upwelling of passion or feeling, and that the creative urge will brook no accommodation.
This is true in any of the arts, not just music. Context is the setting, venue, environment, political climate, situation, cultural milieu, or any other kind of external situation from which a work of art comes.
Wirte a reading response, reflect on Byrne’s ideas about context. Consider questions like:
How would you describe the context in which you work, does your context effect what you make?
How do you respond to your surroundings?
What is your venue?
Since COVID-19 effects every aspect of life, how is the context of how we see and make creative work changing? How would you describe our current context? How is the idea of a venue different now?
