The Braheny's Spark the L*A*M*P of Creativity
by Jimi Yamagishi, SongNet

John Braheny, author of "The Craft and Business of Songwriting" and JoAnn Braheny, motivational speaker and creative consultant, teamed up for a rare joint seminar @ the Music Connection on Tuesday, 3/9 to explain "Goosing Your Muse". Since my muse might be offended if I goosed her, I was intrigued by all these two legends of the creative world had to say. Starting off with an explanation of different type of people, Auditory, Visual and Kinetic, and introvert/extrovert, they discussed how each type of person is actually a blend of all factors, and how "thinking outside the box" can change your perspective.

They showed how often creative types sit in comfort zones and may need a collaborator of a different personality type to break thru creative blocks and keep moving forward. Right brain/left brain theory was mentioned, including a few exercises such as forcing yourself to write with your opposite hand, or even have a schizophrenic time writing from your left hand to your right hand.

Everyone in the room got to see firsthand how the brain connects by drawing clockwise circles with your foot and then trying to draw counterclockwise circles with your hand at the same time (Try it!) Next were practical applications for songwriters. We had to come up with 15 song titles in a minute.then cross 'em all out! The resulting filtering process came about when you realized some were harder to cross out than others. That's the good stuff. Then a brief time was given to describe something in the room, free association. This exercise revealed much about the kind of person you are and how you arrive at things through your thought process, as JoAnn evaluated a few of these on the spot. Fun and informative, it was obvious most attendees went home and wrote something right away, as once again. L*A*M*P and the Brahenys provided the spark to light that midnight oil!