In his book ‘Creativity’ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about the complexity of pinning down any characteristics of a creative personality.
He lists ten factors and for number three he says:
“A third paradoxical trait refers to the related combination of playfulness and discipline”
We need look no further than the Get Back documentary of the Beatles to see this phenomenon in action.
The Beatles slip into funny accents at a moment’s notice.
They compose a song making fun out of the press articles written about them.
John has been tasked with introducing the rolling stones at a concert and he proceeds to say his line in as many different ways as possible. He then takes an imaginative turn and starts to introduce bands that don’t exist with names he’s made up.
And now your host for this evening the bony rolls / the bottles / George and the deaf aids.
Paul decides to climb the scaffolding in the make shift Twickenham studio just for the hell of it.
John stares intensely at the camera and pretends to be super serious in his speech for the amusement of all around him.
John and Paul do a take of a song trying to sing through clenched teeth.
Yet, when it comes down to it. When they need to do a proper take, they fall in line straight away.
It’s like they flick a switch.
Play time is over, let’s get to work.
They stay in studio for long periods of time. They do an enormous amount of takes to get it right, they come in over the weekend to better the songs, they all listen to their recordings together to see if there is anything they can improve on.
Yes there’s a hairy moment where George leaves the band but after that, everyday they assign as a working day they’re all in and ready to work.
Thomas Duggan 