All ideas are good!

At Liina Turtonen's Kuohu Workshop in August we talked about creativity and the acceptance of our mediocrity and unfiltered ideas. We dug into our insecurities and found the same themes repeating. We begin our lives playing. We don't question our creativity. But as we grow older we start hiding it bit by bit. We start making choices that are "right" or "good". We seek approval for our art from our parents, colleagues, teachers, equipment manufacturers, society, "gatekeepers"... you name it! Breaking away from all this is hard work. There's no wrong or right in art. We need to accept that we're incomplete and go back to the beginning - start to play again. To prove her point Turtonen composed and produced a song with Ableton Live in ten minutes. Accepting ideas as they came out.

Turtonen's thoughts about respect were especially memorable: "Respect your creativity. Who are you to say that your own art is good or bad? You may feel like it now, but in a few years you might have a completely different opinion even yourself." So let all ideas flow without judging them! Based on Turtonen's favorite theory, Sylvia Duckworth's Modes of Thinking, she proposes that ideas should be allowed to flow freely and be examined and organized later in another time.

The workshop turned into a conversational session where thoughts were shared in a peer-to-peer manner. It was a great pleasure to hear one of the participants say that they felt comfortable and safe at the event. That's our goal every time and it's always a great pleasure to hear that we've succeeded – thanks to our wonderful attendees, of course!

After the workshop we raised our glasses to celebrate the release of Liina Turtonen's book Creative Confidence and Music Production: Overcome Your Insecurities as we moved on to a book release party! A playlist made by the author herself was playing in the background while cheerful and intriguing discussions continued on as we got to know each other and create new connections with those who came to celebrate. Thank you to all the guests, the evening was absolutely wonderful!

There have now been two Kuohu Workshops at the studio; about gig sales and creativity. The upcoming Kuohu Workshops for the rest of this year have already been planned and we are excited to let you know that the next Kuohu Workshop will be with internationally successfull artist Maija Kauhanen! We will look into the growth of an independent solo artist. From small venues to international recognition and touring. Going deep into the concrete steps for you to take to get to the next level. So mark your calendar on Monday, September 29th and sing up now!

Photos: Caroline Stenbäck