1 + 1 = ?

Take some­thing you know well and add it to some­thing else you know, and you’ve got some­thing new and orig­i­nal… at least, that’s the idea. You can use this as a quick and dirty for­mula for creativity.

You see this in cook­ing all the time. Take two ingre­di­ents and mix them together to cre­ate a new dish.

What about in music? Take opera. Take rock. Add them together you’ve got rock opera.

Another exam­ple: Star Span­gled Ban­ner + elec­tric gui­tar = Jimi Hendrix’s leg­endary Wood­stock performance.

How about: string quar­tet + punk stylings = Kro­nos Quar­tet, although you have to go back about 20 years, first.

Use this quick lit­tle for­mula to help spur your cre­ative ideas in new direc­tions. Put two instru­ments together that you don’t usu­ally find together. Find new ways to mar­ket yourself.

And add a com­ment here if you’ve got an exam­ple we should all know about!