by : T. Fennel Crenshaw

"I believe talent is like electricity.
We don't understand electricity.
We use it."
Maya Angelou

I once asked Judy Collins [read Fennel's one on one Interview with Judy Collins] from where she thought her lyrics and inspiration - her ability to find just the right music and phrasing came from. "I don't know where my songs come from... If I knew, I'd know too much, more than we are allowed on this plane." she replied. I would have thought a woman as talented as Ms. Collins would have a different response to my question. One steeped in her varied experiences and vastly creative mind. Her reply was not one I would have imagined. But looking back now, her answer was one I myself have relied on in my own questioning of where the muses of creation come from.

Sometimes, it is asking too much; to know where inspiration comes from, and how it works. Sometimes, we must simply rely on its power to move through us, and just be.

I dreamed last night I was painting, on canvas, a broad sweeping portrait of the blue sky with rolling ocean borders, a beautiful reflection on a wonderful day spent by the beach with my Son, Wife, and her Parents. The shades of blue on my pallet were varied- sharp and crisp. My strokes were effortless and defined, yet familiar and broad at the same time. All the while I was dreaming my painting, there was an underlying melody of serene voices singing soft hushes to accompany my creation. They, too, were wrapped in swaths of blue, music in color, a rhapsody in blue. No doubt I was rendering this dreamy portrait of calming hues because I have always associated the color blue with freedom and love, passion and wonder.

Painting A Song of Your Own

"Perfect pitch" is a term we musicians use for the ability to play music as we hear it in our heads. The ability to respond with notes, in a certain key, that is true- or right on pitch. Many times, this unique ability comes with another extraordinary gift, the ability to actually see colors in the minds eye, of the notes that are being played or sung. Each note takes on the form of a color that is used by the artist to "feel" or "see" his or her way through an arrangement, or composition.

When I look at a musical arrangement on paper, I can actually see colors corresponding to the notes. The ability to transform these colors to notes depends on many factors, but the most important is "feeling." The ability to "feel" the color or note.

You can use this principle as a lyricist, to "paint" your own words and songs, if you allow yourself the creative freedom, letting go of pre-conceived notions, breaking with the normal.

Choose a favorite color, or any color for that mater, and allow yourself to become absorbed in its essence.

• What does this color mean to me?
• How does this color feel, taste, sound, and vibrate?
• What are the qualities and characteristics of this color? (Remember blue, to me, takes on the characteristics of freedom and love, not the notions of "down and out," or "love-scorned" as so often associated with having "the blues." Black can be bright and clean, if you are motivated (and in turn, can motivate others) to "feel" it.)
• Sing a note, either soft or loud, and "feel" the color that comes to mind. Let it vibrate and note where in your body the vibration occurs. Practice this everyday so you can begin to feel colors. The quality of your voice does not matter-what matters, is how you feel, and what comes from it. Zen, the ancient art of meditation uses sound, light, and color, to touch God.
• Go to art museums and view paintings. Feel the colors. Hear the colors, then write the colors in words and song.
• Witness and become a part of the colors in nature. They are the spontaneous hues for the soul's canvas.

I cannot begin to explain the magic surrounding these principles, and for that matter, the magic in life itself. I can only accept the existence of such principles, use the power, and feel their being. Our duty as artists is to share our visions of living by becoming part of the circle of creation. Indeed, our duty goes beyond trying to satisfy our hunger for answers to life's questions for us alone, but in seeking and sharing with others we begin to form the answers to life's questions for ourselves.

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