Creative Insights
Along the way, Stan Stewart has learned a few things about creativity. He shares them with you in the hope that you’ll respond with your confirmation or perhaps that your experience is completely different. Both are welcome.
This is also a place where you’ll find some articles about inspiration. After all, that’s an essential part of artistic creativity, too.
Generative AI and the Musician – #LLM #NoAI
Does generative AI have usefulness? Maybe. Generative In Tech In my technology job, LLM (Large Language Models) and generative AI are all the rage. “This will change the world forever.” Really? And will that change be for the better? Initially, I experimented with generative AI1 at that tech job and a single post on this
It’s Not Difficult To Imagine – Lyrics and Changing Times
When I first wrote “Wreck-less”, it had one meaning. Today, as you can imagine, it has another. At least for me. Imagine Change I had the idea for Wreck-less a few years prior, but the first set of lyrics I wrote in the wake of the first war by the West against Iraq. Several countries
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Is This What You Call Progress? #CreativeProcess
I’ve been working on this album for a while. Am I even making progress? Are we there yet? The Long and Winding Road Not yet. There’s still a long journey ahead. But I made significant strides over recent few days. I’m working on a new rendition of “Wreak-less”. Yes, I already have three versions of
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Photos from a Holiday week
My spouse and I were just on holiday. Here’s a bit of the beauty we enjoyed. I’ll be back to music-making tomorrow. And it looks like I will bring plenty of inspiration with me.
Escape May Be An Option – Ritual Escape
Is there no escape? We live in challenging times. Tyrants, fascists, and bullies too often have the upper hand. But … And … At the same time, there are examples of human beauty rising up. People are turning to community and art as ways of accenting the good. Sometimes, the flood of the sweetness and
Creating Through Limitations – Scales of Creation
I’m supposed to be confined to my long-term project. But here it is again: a brief interruption. Confined Since I was off the rails of my folk song album, I decided to give myself a challenge. “Hey! If you’re going to mess around, at least do it with purpose.” This time, I chose limited instruments,
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Forms: Passacaglia and Fantasia or Fugue and Fantasy
“Classical music” can be interpreted so many ways. Is it an era of composition or a musical genre? Does it pay more attention to form than to substance? I know that Classical and Baroque periods of music are European, white, and male-dominated. Because this is part of my background, I have influenced by it. I
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Clouds and More from the Finger Lakes
In a time of war, I seek peace. In a time of deadlines, I turn to beauty. Clouds My sister and I continue to share cloud photos with each other several times a week. Here are a few that I captured in the Finger Lakes region of central New York state. No matter how many
“Ritual & Mayhem” by the numbers
Numbers may mean something. Or they may be random. Let me break it down for you. Five, Six, Seven In my suite named “Ritual & Mayhem“, I created three tracks: Invocation, Mayhem, and Ritual Dance. The first of these I wrote in 5, the second in 6, and the third in 7. What I mean










