Today is National Creativity Day! A few months ago I received my alumni magazine, Edge, from my alma mater, The University of the Arts. It has been twenty-five years since I earned my master’s degree at this fine institution of higher learning. The two years I spent there rank amongst the happiest in my life as a music student, and I am forever grateful to my teachers and mentors who shaped my scholarship and musicianship. As I was perusing Edge, I discovered that UARTS is offering a brand new PhD program in Creativity. Reading about this new program immediately triggered the following reaction in my gut: “What on earth will graduating students do with that?” I suppose I have worked too long for a school that was forced to consider student outcomes and gainful employment to even fathom how these PhD candidates could find jobs that would allow them to recoup all of the resources they invest in this program. According to the UARTS website, “Creativity lies at the heart of innovation in all fields, and all transformative work depends upon intuition and non-linear thought.” I wholeheartedly agree with these statements and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that creativity has always enriched my life.

I believe that creativity is a natural part of who we are as humans. I have been a huge fan of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s books for decades and have listened to his PBS lectures. According to his teachings, “Our thoughts create our realities,” so each thought is part of the creative process, or “our inner world creates our outer world.” As long as we think, we create the tapestries of our lives. As an Academic, I seem to thrive in Higher Education. As a student I loved being in graduate school. Although my primary focus was always excelling on the flute and absorbing myself in a performance atmosphere, I also thoroughly enjoyed the hours I spent in the music library researching my projects and master’s thesis. Those experiences prepared me for my professorship and researching and organizing my classroom lectures in Music Appreciation and Music Theory I & II. I have to be creative in order to engage students of various majors with little or no music background. Much of the information in my book, Mirror of the Soul: A Flutist’s Reflections is a natural extension of my lectures at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, so my book practically wrote itself.

Where does creativity come from, and is it possible for the creative channels to become blocked? For me, my creativity comes from God, and it flows naturally when I am centered, happy, joyful, loving and grateful. In the words of Wayne Dyer, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience,” so, for me, creating is much easier when we are operating at a higher thought vibration. We have to allow ourselves to be enveloped by the Divine. I seem to get there by listening to or playing music. My best channels are not open 24/7, and it is possible to become blocked. Years ago, I read Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, and she recommended writing “morning pages” as soon as you awake in the morning, even if you feel blocked. The process of showing up for the activity every day helps to dissolve the blocks. She also recommended taking long, outdoor walks. I have found that walking clears my head, relaxes me and provides welcome distractions in the form of trees, flowers, birds singing or beautiful architecture. Inspiration flows when my focus shifts, and I am not trying too hard.

Because I am a highly competitive musician, I have suffered from burnout a few times in my career. Recovering from burnout does not entail abandoning creativity but merely finding a new outlet to express oneself. As a child, I loved to draw and sew. I made many Christmas presents with my mom’s sewing machine. As an adult, I explored painting on canvas. I have the heart of a child, so I painted Disney and Warner Brothers characters as well as Snoopy and the other Peanuts characters. I lightly sketched them on canvas and then applied acrylic paints to create my “masterpiece.” My dad hung one of my creations in his executive office, and I remember carefully packing it away as I helped him clean his office when he retired. I have not had the proper time to devote to painting in a few years, but I find that virtually anything unrelated to music can inspire me to create outstanding music performances or lectures – superhero movies, miniature golf or chip & putt, video games, a visit to Dave & Buster’s with my husband, trips to Rutgers football games with my husband & brother-in-law or quality time spent with my baby nephew. All of these experiences shift my perspective and allow me to tap into the part of myself that receives the Divine light. One spark of light leads to another and to another.

My three-month-old nephew was baptized Memorial Day weekend. Since I was chosen as his Godmother, I gained a Godson, and I am beyond thrilled. When AJ was born, it was love at first sight for me. Being in his presence is like being in the presence of an angel. I wish we could bottle his purity of heart and innocence. If eyes are the windows to the soul, his soul is one of the most beautiful I have ever encountered. His eyes communicate a wellspring of emotions, and he has a smile that melts my heart. He has a short attention span, but when he is focused, he is completely present in the moment. In the short amount of time I spent with him this weekend, I learned that presence in the moment is of the ultimate importance. It is all we have. He is not focused on a future that does not yet exist or a past trauma, he enjoys the moment completely, whether he is drinking his formula, listening to me sing him a song, playing with his toys, taking a bath, dancing a polka with his grandma or sleeping on his mommy’s lap. The new life he has brought into our family is a miracle.

My parents both actively participated in AJ’s Christening. My dad was the Catholic deacon who baptized him. My dad has a knack for preaching to a congregation and does so naturally from the heart and without any notes. He is a gentle giant in the Scranton Diocese. He has a creative mind, which is inspired by the Divine. He always encouraged me to prepare my lectures so thoroughly that I did not need to read from the textbook or from cue cards. Every time I see him preach, I try to honor his example in the classroom. My mom has been taking care of the bambino fulltime ever since my sister went back to work, and it has allowed her time to bond with her first grandchild. In her “free” time, she managed to bake several different kinds of cookies and chocolate lollipops. Her confectionary creativity is therapeutic to her on many levels, and we are the beneficiaries of her culinary skills in the form of five catering trays of cookies and several pounds of candy! She has passed on her recipes to me, and I have observed the creative ways she presents her confections artistically. Neither one of my parents has a degree in art but rather create instinctively.

I saw a Facebook post today that had several photos of JS Bach arranged in a square, and the caption read, “Think outside the Bachs.” This tickled my funny bone on several levels. Firstly, I love puns, especially when they satirize classical music! Secondly, this was a reminder to me that music is a huge part of my identity but is not the be all and end all of who I am. I enjoy many different things, and these things enrich my personal and professional lives. I even manage to incorporate my love of Bugs Bunny and Star Wars into my lectures. I never dreamed there were so many parallels between Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the Star Wars saga. This lecture material appears in the second part of my book – proof that one creative endeavor leads to another. On this National Creativity Day, I hope you can think outside of the box and find your Edge! Create happily and create often!!!