The Everlasting Four

UNDERSTANDING THE EVERLASTING FOUR PROFILE

IN A CREATIVE CONTEXT

The 4Es associated with our choices will demonstrate their importance in our lives and careers:

Why Do (Musical) Artists Create:                   

• the $ money & rewards
• for the fame & prestige that it generates
• as therapy & as an expression self development
• to tell others what they feel & think and believe
• to receive the approval of others & their respect
• to make me happy- I enjoy it
• to help others and inspire them
• to experience self gratification, ego and recognition
• to demonstrate the ability to start & finish a project
• to explore new ideas & to rework older forms
• some or none of the above as motivation

THE ARTIST’S PURPOSE is to:

ARTIST(MUSICIAN) +	AUDIENCE(MARKET)	= A VALUE
Entertain	consuming	form & content
Educate	considering	form & content
Enrich	cultivated	form & content
Enlighten	civilizing	form & content

To achieve maximum value the artist shapes the FORM & CONTENTS of his creations to generate:

Historically, wealthy benefactors supported the artist e.g. Mozart. Now agents fulfill this role e.g. Sun Records, Motown, BMG.  A relationship requires understanding and responsibility.

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DO YOU REMEMBER THE P8?

This is a model that allows music to be received, recognized, respected and remembered. We begin to consider the choices that are available and why we choose one artist over another?

Is it a matter of culture, education or bias that generates our acceptance and can we distinguish good music from bad regardless of the genre? Can the same artist create both good and bad music over time AND are we capable of recognizing the difference?

The chart allows us to map our choices and to evaluate the characteristics of the artist’s works in a context that includes:

Genre	sub-genre one	sub-genre two	compound genre
Artist	background	experience	development
History	time period	geography	values
Instruments	technologies	skills	value
Creation	music	lyrics	origin

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Once-we recognize this connection we will become informed citizens who can research the facts and articulate clearly WHY our lives and the lives of others are both personal and universal according to the P8 diagram.

The P8 starts with

ME > FAMILY > NEIGHBOURHOOD > TOWN >GTA > ONTARIO > CANADA > NORTH AMERICA > THE WORLD

And then back to ME.

Now we can consider the P8 diagram as a starting point to address the issues that influence our lives personally & publicly.

Creative Thinking as a Process for the Artist

I prefer to use the phrase, Creative Thinking and the Fluxist Possibilities that arise for the individual artist as an alternative process to the purely, factual outcome that Dewey’s so-called, Reflective Thinking entails. I have concluded that my P8 has to be included in my own pursuit of a reasonable outcome that has been formulated, using a Creative Thinking Process for the individual, namely their P8:

By placing these eight individual characteristics inside an equally, divided Circle, an individual’s profile becomes the foundation of a creative thinking process that is unique. Then the challenge becomes deciding whether conformity to the standards found in the scientific method (Dewey) are universally, accepted facts or just another approach to an individual’s P8 acceptance of the process.

Now consider the SEs before you begin your Creative Thinking. You need to ask yourself what you are trying to achieve and why. Is it one or more of the following: Entertaining, Educational, Enriching, Enlightening, Everlasting for you alone or when you create & communicate with others? Then the outcome becomes preparing an APFC for the Process, namely Audience/ Purpose/ Form/ Content.

Fluxible future where your opinions are shared respectfully,
Michael J. Walsh January 2023