To me this is a very complex question. First of all we have what I call the "naturals". These are people like Sarah Chan, John Galway, Rafael Mendez, Andre Previn, etc. who can just make music from their natural abilities. Then we have a great group of pro/experienced musicans who have acquired their abilities via a desire and love of music but with a lot of hard work and dedication together with some natural talent as well. Then there's a wide range from very good amateurs to beginners.

All of these have one thing in common--The desire to make music. So, if you want to make music, draw a picture, make a sculpture or whatever, does that mean you are creative? I would say yes and no. I've made a lot of different things from wood including carving. Even though I followed plans or ideas from others, I changed things a lot sometimes. However, I have done very few designs of my own. I used to be an amateur artists and I did do some original paintings and drawings. Those came about because I had a drive to do them or as my art teacher said, "Draw something that excites you." This "drive" carries over to music and includes composing, arranging, improvising, and even ad libbing. Playing by ear includes both pitch and memory---and for me a lot of experience. I'll never be able to hear something and then say, "Oh that's in Eb minor or D#." To me that is natural ability or talent as opposed to creativity. I'm finally just now starting to learn chords on the piano. I don't even know how far I'll get especially with chord progression (maybe a lack of talent here?).

The last thing to mention is emotion. The very talented can add a lot of feeling to a piece from classical to country to jazz. In some cases that's from talent and/or both talent and emotion. In some cases it may be all emotion because music can really move us sometimes. I've even heard of musicians who were so moved by the music and were sobbing so much that they couldn't even play.

To me, the main thing is the "drive/desire" to make music. Talent has a broad range and so does "creativity". FWIW

Last edited by Shastastan; 08/11/09 11:33 AM.
Cornet Curmudgeon