Creativity Part II

Tonight was like a continuation of last night’s discussion of creativity.  This one focused exclusively on music, and on jazz in particular.

“Are You Blue?” was billed as interactive compositions for piano solo by Jerzy Sapieyevski, a professor at AU.  He happens also to be a close friend of my piano teacher.

I was sitting among many of his students in the next to the last row of the Katzen Arts Center.  They all seemed to adore him, not so common among today’s students.  The fact that they would come to his concert on a Friday night says a lot.

As I was flipping through the program, this chart on the creative process jumped out at me.



Jerzy gave us a lot of very different examples of jazz, including variations on Beethoven and a piece dedicated to the people of a small town in his native Poland which was totally eradicated by the Soviets during WWII.

The second half of the concert was actually a panel discussion, including two of his colleagues from the Music Department at AU.  They talked about the origins of jazz, its universality, how it contrasts to classical music, why it is mostly written in the minor keys, and how it is so connected to various emotions.  

It was a fascinating evening that left me in awe of someone who can play jazz.  Even more in awe of someone who can play standing up at a piano!