Creativity/Originality
 

Consider this quote -

“We talk glibly on the creative musician, but, however clever he may be, he cannot, magician like, produce music out of nothing; and if he were to make the attempt he would only put himself back into the position of the primitive stage. All that he can do and, as a matter of fact, does, is to make use of the material bequeathed to him by his predecessors, fashion it anew and in such a manner that he can through it, and by means of it, express himself.” – Cecil Sharp

In our creative endeavors, whether in music or otherwise, can something be created that is truly original? How important is the ground-work of our predecessors; are the histories of music, art, or literature an evolutionary chain as suggested by this quote?

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

Histories and predecessors being necessary for creativity, I'd say no. But its also pretty clear to me that 'originality' is still just a word we toss onto things that someone hasn't heard of before specifically. I mean, any single individual is a by-product of what's going on around them and their own genes, and as such anything made or created by that individual follows from that.

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

Everything is made from something that already exists. The only originality would be in the way it is used. How do you use that piece of wood, or that musical note? In my opinion it leads to what is avant-garde and what is not.

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

Every artist gets his ideas somewhere, some people are just better at masking where their influence is derived from.

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

Or some people can derive inspiration from more abstract things... like for me, I use the imagery I see in music, which is usually fractals and warm textures, and it eventually guides an idea based on that kind of construction.

I'd like to think that a lot of my ideas are "original", but I find inspiration in everything. The curvature of an apple. The rectangular face at the end of a USB stick. I just like breaking things down and taking what works from small things like that.

Not sure about the musical end of things, I suppose the original musician would have learned first to appreciate the sounds of nature and just basic patterns and rhythms.

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

Creation ex nihilo seems impossible for any contingent being or source, seeing as how according to a naturalistic worldview, all we are is a conglomeration of our genetic properties and environmental inputs. Everything that is in the self ultimately comes from the outer world in this worldview, and so there is not really any true "originality" as much as there is just incidental random input from the our surroundings or brain states that hasn't yet been revealed to anyone else.

But if you believe in a separate, transcendent entity that resides within the self, then true originality can exist in theory. Really, though, ideas, like every other contingent entity, can't arise from nowhere...they have to be caused by something in our surroundings. Innovation certainly exists, but pure originality and creativity must always be borrowed, unless you are the arbiter of everything, like a god.

Re: Creativity/Originality
 

I had this quote from Jim Jarmusch that pretty much summarizes everything :

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.”