Shinichi Suzuki Teaching a Class of Students

Shinichi Suzuki with Students

“The real essence of art turned out to be not something high up and far off – it was right inside my ordinary daily self.”
–Shinichi Suzuki, violinist, author & teacher
The Musician’s Way, p. 109

I’m always surprised when I hear people attribute creativity to talent or luck when, in fact, creative energy effervesces within each of us, within our “ordinary daily selves.”

All we have to do is act.

What enables me to create, for instance, isn’t any rare allotment of talent; it’s my commitment to working coupled with a bank of creative skills that I’ve acquired – skills that anyone can acquire.

To enable people to readily learn creative skills, I’ve released a low-cost, one-of-a-kind online course that equips aspiring creators to tap their innate inventiveness, build up creative know-how, and launch a creative practice in any discipline.

10 Steps to Lifelong Creativity

Titled 10 Steps to Lifelong Creativity, the 10-lesson course is published by the popular site DailyOm.com.

[Update Aug. 31, 2020: After nine years since initial publication, my 10 Steps course is no longer available at DailyOm – subscribe to The Musician’s Way Newsletter for information about any new course provider.]

Those who enroll in the course first identify authentic yet attainable project goals that they can accomplish at home. The course then leads them through a series of progressive exercises that steadily build up their creative abilities.

As they finish the course, participants have completed a small but significant project, gained potent insights into the creative process, and built the confidence to establish a regular creative practice.

Whether you want to compose music, write poems or articles, draw or paint, choreograph dances, finish a dissertation, design clothing, or whatever, the course helps you remove obstacles and do meaningful work. To get started, you only need a rudimentary understanding of the creative field you want to explore.

Titles of the 10 Creativity Lessons

1.  Pinpointing Creative Goals
2.  Sanctifying Time and Space to Create
3.  Centering
4.  Sketching, Researching, and Incubating Ideas
5.  Practicing the Creative Process
6.  Problems, Mistakes, and Creative Thinking
7.  Uniting Ideas
8.  Positivity and Motivation
9.  Working on Your Project
10. Living a Creative Life

Creativity for Everyone

Let me emphasize that the course isn’t music-specific, nor is it necessarily aimed at performers (The Musician’s Way is tailored to performers, and this new course complements that book).

In essence, the course focuses on the universal processes via which we generate and shape ideas, dive into difficulties, and transform kernels of inspiration into finished products, regardless of whether we aspire to compose, write, design, and so forth.

I’ve also arranged for a flexible pricing structure in which readers can pay as little as $15 for all ten lessons. And it comes with a full money-back guarantee.

If you’d like to be more creative, I invite you to take a look at the course and then, whether you sign up or not, start creating!

© 2011 Gerald Klickstein