The Difference Between Imagination and Creativity

What to do when the quality of your songwriting ideas takes a hit.

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We have a tendency to use the terms “being imaginative” and “being creative” as synonyms, but they aren’t. It’s quite possible to be imaginative without being creative. Linda Naiman, founder of the website Creativity at Work, put it best when she said, “Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality… If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.”

Both imagination and creativity play an important role in songwriting. Imagination is your ability to conjure up musical ideas — those snippets of melody, chords, lyrics — that can serve as important parts of new songs. Creative ability is your capacity for assembling those bits into good songs.

When you find it difficult or impossible to write, we call it writer’s block. Songwriter’s block is usually a problem with the first part: the imagination. You don’t usually lose the ability to know how music is assembled. It’s just that the quality of your ideas is diminished.

Of course, that can happen on a daily basis, and we don’t call it writer’s block. It’s normal to write for a while, and then hit roadblock: the imagination gives up. But when we find that, day after day, we  can’t develop anything that sounds like a good melody, lyric or other musical idea, we label it writer’s block, and wait for the problem to solve itself.

You can waste a lot of time waiting, because research shows that the best cure for songwriter’s block is to dive in and write. In fact, you can kick-start your imagination by forcing yourself to write. It may feel frustrating, but it is far better than sitting around waiting for the feeling to hit.

If you’re going through a nasty bout of songwriter’s block, here are some ideas to try to get you back to doing that thing you love to do:

1. Divide songwriting up into small tasks or “games”. Try some simple lyric-rhyming games (write a random word, and quickly write down any word that rhymes with it: “love-above”), or create a 1- or 2-bar melody above a simple chord progression. In other words, don’t feel you must write a complete song every time you sit down.
2. Involve yourself in non-musical activities. It’s very helpful to spend time being creative in some other way than music composition. It helps take the pressure off producing music while still allowing you to be creative. Some ideas: art lessons, dance class, drama clubs, etc.
3. Schedule your songwriting. Don’t allow songwriting to be something you do only when you have time. Get serious about it: schedule it into your day. The discipline that comes from that kind of organization will help keep songwriter’s block at bay.
4. Offer songwriting lessons. Sometimes, the best way to come to grips with a topic is to teach it. That’s because teaching requires you to really examine a topic, and help students solve the very problems you’re struggling with. The benefit of teaching is that you are more likely to remember something you’re teaching than something you’re trying to learn.
5. Read songwriting manuals. Reading a songwriting manual, even if it’s describing something you already know, has a way of inspiring you. There’s nothing that compares to reading about something you love doing. And if you’re stuck in a rut, a songwriting manual can help solve your problems if the root of the block is some technical issue.

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

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