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Wired AUGUST 14, 2012 - by Tom Cheshire
HOW TO BE AS CREATIVE AS BRIAN ENO
According to Brian Eno: His Music And The Vertical Color Of Sound by Eric Tamm, "craft is what enables you to be successful when you're not inspired."
Be ready - Not being in the mood is no excuse. "There's no point in saying, 'I don't have an idea, so I'll just smoke drugs,'" Eno says. "You must stay alert for the idea."
Record everything - Tamm says Eno keeps a voice recorder on him, recording any stray ideas he has. The more useful step is then to analyse these thoughts later.
Don't plan - Start from scratch and go from there. Eno enters the studio with no plans, only instruments and musicians, and "just dabbles until something happens."
Limits - If the free-form approach doesn't work, go the other route: impose rules. For example, Eno will say to himself: "this piece is going to be 3'19" long."
Flash Cards - During the '70s, Eno came up with his Oblique Strategies cards. These prompts are designed to break entrenched patterns of thinking.
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