Place, Proximity and Creativity

The new small house movement is interesting. It caused me to reflect on the effect of place on how we live our lives. It also made think about how I could squeeze a new life into such a small space, and if it could be done on a long term basis.

The Z-Glass House:

The effect of size specifications of your living or work space and the 'specifications' of your life can be proportional. I lived in a studio apartment for 15 years that was about the size of the Z-Glass house. It was the most productive part of my life. Everything in the living room was almost at an arm's length. When I woke up in the morning, my instruments and my music journal were beside me.

It is interesting that many of these years were in the absence of computers, which is perhaps evidence of the distracting power of electronic devices. Is the fact that something runs on AC or DC proportional to its distracting effect? If we surround ourselves with natural elements (like acoustic musical instruments made of wood) will it affect the way we create? I think the answer is drifting towards yes.

In the cozy studio apartment (in essence, my 'man cave') something was always in progress: songs, poems, art work. Waking up refreshed, I had a good 60-90 minutes of creative time. In my larger space that I moved into in 2003, I still do this, but obviously the creativity is now more computerized, and my instruments are in the living room--not bedside. The change was palpable, and I wrote only one piece of music in 2003, which may be attributable to other factors--but the new feng shui made life feel very different.

In my next story, I will try to map out how I could do my creative work in my new Z-House. How can a pianist exist without the feel of real keys?