Jim Well: The Yin and Yang of Creative Process

Chances are, when you think about creative process, you home in on the word creative. But are creativity and creative process one and the same? Perhaps, by thinking carefully about this question, you’ll better equip yourself to diagnose and remedy the coughs and sputters of your own creative engine. Let’s find out. As a commercially-oriented composer for media, I’d think of my creative process as the path I follow to transform my musical raw materials (inspiration, musical vocabulary, talent, experience, libraries, tools, and so on) into a ready-to-integrate, customized musical product (cue, score, song) meeting certain specifications (emotion, mood, style, timing) that center around my client’s desire to communicate a compelling message or story to…