What Will You Create Today?

What Will You Create Today?
People ask me, “What kind of music do you make, Billy?” I tell them, “I let the listener decide how to categorize it – I call it Billy music.” It has been a challenge throughout my career because there is no such section in the music store. Sometimes what we create doesn’t fit into the boxes that most people expect. The way I work with music is to play real music for real people in real situations. I share my music as honestly as I can. I love to walk on stage with what is essentially a blank canvas, and make something meaningful and magical happen. I never follow a script because as much as we try to script our day it never goes exactly how we might plan. The best plan is to be fully in the moment with the people and what’s happening around you.
Creation is the process of pulling an idea, an image, a melody, from the abstract world and making it real in the concrete world. Classes in art, dance, drama, creative writing and music expose children to this process every day. Students who gain confidence that they can be successful at this process are not afraid of the blank canvas. Knowing you can make something a reality in this world, that you can pull from the abstract a new creation to be shared with others, is a powerful thing. This confidence-to-create is a key to our future individually and as a planet.
What Will You Create Today?
Aren’t words like freedom, equality, and justice sourced from the world of the abstract? These are essentially abstract concepts. Where do we learn to be confident in our ability to pull these ideas from the abstract and into reality? I suggest that nurturing our confidence-to-create as children through art, music, dance, creative writing and drama has an impact on our global quality of life that goes beyond what any of  us can imagine.
So, it doesn’t matter if what you create is easy to categorize. It doesn’t matter if there’s a section at the store for what you create. I grew up without any Apple stores. Now, look where we have come and how dependent we are on the creative thinking of others. I want us to celebrate the confidence-to-create that everyone can develop and use to reshape our world. Not sure where to start? How about guitar lessons?