Over the past weeks I've been doing a lot of reading and I came across a really great quote from Hugh MacLeod on creativity. In his book Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity, MacLeod has a cartoon that says "Stay ahead of culture by creating the culture."
This really stuck with me.
I do a lot of poking around the web trying to discover groups that are presenting music and art in exciting new ways. One of the most challenging things for groups starting out is figuring out how they can create a new and innovative way of saying what they want to say. It's certainly a challenging thing. There are a thousand string quartets out there all playing Beethoven and Brahms, but then you look at a group like Kronos Quartet who took a totally different path and is one of the biggest names in contemporary music.
Same goes for a group like Canadian Brass. When they started, there were little to no opportunities for a brass quintet. After 40 years of brilliant performances and forward thinking, they are probably the only truly household name in the brass world and have created a style of concert presentation that has inspired the work of countless other ensembles in and out of the brass world.
The impact that has been created by these groups is pretty astounding to think about and whether it was intentional or not, groups like these that thought outside of the box have created a culture that other groups have naturally followed. No matter how hard any groups try they will never be able to top what the pioneers of these movements have achieved. So this is where the challenge comes in.
What can you do to stand out and get noticed?
One last thing, please check out this video of Kronos Quartet members discussing this topic.
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