Hmmm.... which tests in particular? the things i've read re-inforce the fact that ones mind has certain preferred methods of thought based on genetics and environment and nurture and alot of evidence re-inforces the idea that analysis and creativity may be mutually exclusive to a task.
Also playing music is associated more with the bits of the brain controlling emotion not creativity funnily enough. Writing music is more of a creative process....

OK that was a good answer. I just realised that some tests actually test right / left brain dominance which is much more in line with my view since you can score high on either or both hemispheres. I'm sorry I can't recall where I took the test that claimed them mutually exclusive. It was about a year ago.

ConradP wrote: Hi Guys

Many articles on the net seem to say that the creative and analytical faculties of the brain are pretty mutually exclusive. I was just thinking that this is pretty much contradicted by most of the guitarists we admire since they are creative and very technical at the same time.

Hi Conrad. You won't remember me I'm sure, but I saw you play at Andy McGibbon's acoustic forum a couple of weeks ago, and had a brief chat with you about how the Scots cherish their traditional music far more than the English. I enjoyed your set. Well done and thanks.

I think "technical" and "analytical" are not the same thing. A lot of great artists, in all artforms, have had high technical skills, even if they have moved outside or extended the boundaries of their art or were not constrained by formal technique. Think Picasso. Think van Gogh. Think Charlie Parker. Even think Louis Armstrong.

Creativity harnesses technique.

As I see it, to be analytical you wouldn't even have to be able to exercise those techniques in a concrete way. You could appraise and analyse orchestral performances without actually being able to play to that level.

ConradP wrote: OK that was a good answer. I just realised that some tests actually test right / left brain dominance which is much more in line with my view since you can score high on either or both hemispheres. I'm sorry I can't recall where I took the test that claimed them mutually exclusive. It was about a year ago.

You may be interested in the book "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel Levitin. Levitin is a former producer and session player, and now a psychiatrist and professor at .... errrmmmm can't remember the name of the University, and it's not important for our purposes here.

Very, very briefly this book looks at how your brain responds when you listen to or play music. And very, very briefly either listening or playing music requires left and right brain activity, and concentration on music (wether you are listening or playing) requires processing by and co-ordination between more parts of your brain than just about anything else.

Bob Dubery wrote:

ConradP wrote: OK that was a good answer. I just realised that some tests actually test right / left brain dominance which is much more in line with my view since you can score high on either or both hemispheres. I'm sorry I can't recall where I took the test that claimed them mutually exclusive. It was about a year ago.

You may be interested in the book "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel Levitin. Levitin is a former producer and session player, and now a psychiatrist and professor at .... errrmmmm can't remember the name of the University, and it's not important for our purposes here.

Very, very briefly this book looks at how your brain responds when you listen to or play music. And very, very briefly either listening or playing music requires left and right brain activity, and concentration on music (wether you are listening or playing) requires processing by and co-ordination between more parts of your brain than just about anything else.

Cool. That is interesting. I'll check that out. Thanks.

Here is a cool quote I found..
"Many of the most serious pianists have turned toward more analytic playing, with a renewed focus on the architecture and ideas of music" Annalyn Swan.

I am very much a layman and base my opinions on BBC documentaries and the odd scientific and medical journal article that I come accross but what I have gathered (WIKI) The left brain right brain theory was a fad of the 70's & 80's, based largely on discoveries made in neurology that certain functions such as reading, pattern recognition, counting and so forth caused a measurable flurry of micro-electro activity to occur at different surface areas of the brain. I think it was a giant leap of fiction that led scientific journalism to partition the brain into two halves, one half for creative thinking and the other for analytic thinking. The same leap of fiction would leave 75% of your brain unmapped and functionless.

Current research shows that there is and intense amount of interaction between the previously functionally nominated areas of the brain which means that the area that is being used for say drawing a doodle is talking to the area that counts the number of fingers on the hands that remembers the smell of your first box of crayons that reminds you to measure how much time till you can pack up and go home etc and the good news is that it's is now believed tht the whole brain is put to use every day.

There is a very interesting web site I go to when I’m bored at work (besides GFSA)
If you don’t know it already go have a look at www.howstuffworks.com