"The artist goees through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art." --Picasso

All artists go through periods of what we have been calling famine, a time when nothing new is coming out. The creative Muse is silent. They are commonly referred to as a plateau.

A plateau is, geologically, an elevated flat plain. You scale a rock face, vertically, and arrive at a plateau. They can be large, they can be small. The geology, the "lay of the land", dictates the size, shape and height above the previous level surface.

How does this apply as a metaphor in creative terms, and more particularly in musical terms?

To extend the geological analogy: we start at sea level when we begin our creative journey, learning about what creativity is, how we can use it. We are discovering our creative potential. As we delve deeper into our creativity, we are learning, gathering new information, new knowledge, new abilities, as we go. And, like eating a full seven course meal, eventually we get "full".

Anyone who has studied for finals in school can relate to what this "full" means. We just can't absorb, take in, or otherwise embrace one more bit of information. We are exhausted from the intake of all this stimulus. After the climb from the lower places, we are exhausted for the effort involved and need to rest and assess our progress.

So you've been learning to play music, learning to use the new information. And at some point you come to this place, this point that no matter how hard you try to learn something new, it isn't sinking in, it isn't working. What is happening is that you have taken in your "limit", hit the wall - whatever you want to call it. The bottom line is, you're "full". Now what?

Just as after a nice meal, you are full, now comes the time to digest the food. That means you have to stop eating, stop taking in more food. The same applies in music education. You can only take in so much information before you start losing it, getting overwhelmed and then frustrated that you just can't seem to retain anything, that the new stuff just isn't making sense. So the inclination, because of the frustration, is to walk away.

The problem with walking away is that oftentimes we don't come back.

I have to tell you that walking away is not always a bad thing. Just as you go sit on the couch after a big meal, and just vegetate for a while, sometimes taking a break from learning, practicing and playing is a good thing. Let it go for a day or two, even a week if needed. But you have to come back.

The plateau is a time in which we retrace our steps - it is a necessary process. Why? Well, you've spent all this time learning to play something, to learn a technique or a song. These have all been learning experiences. And part of the learning experience is review. If you have a music teacher, what is one of the primary things they have you do when you come back for a new lesson? Review.

Plateaus are not evil things, there to torment and torture you. They are a time in which you can take advantage of the "rest" from learning and now reflect upon what you have just brought into your life. The knowledge you have gained has to be reviewed so it can be understood. It has to be integrated into your daily routine and into the music you play, the music you write (and for artists, the techniques they've learned have to be brought into their painting/drawing/etching/sculpting and other disciplines as a new tool in the box).

The plateau is a time you spend perfecting the new information, integrating the new information and making it a vital part of your arsenal, your "bag of tricks, licks and riffs" to draw from when playing, composing, jamming or just practicing.

Look, if you expect to make progress in anything, before you can learn something new, you have to be sure you understand what you've been doing. In mathematics, if you only understand the basics, adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying, you can't jump into geometry without first moving into algebra. And forget about physics. So it is in music theory, that dreaded discipline that many players think is unnecessary... that is, until they find themselves stuck. Then they encounter someone who knows theory and understands the stuff they want to learn. Suddenly, theory doesn't seem so bad.

And anyone who bad mouths learning theory, sadly, is ignorant of the benefits the learning of music theory, that this knowledge actually open doors to greater creative freedom - it does not stifle creative freedom, as many claim. It is they who do not know, who dismiss the knowledge those who do know possess as irrelevant, who suffer. I know because I've been there.

The plateau is an opportunity, not a dimension of Hell through which you must pass. We all experience plateaus. The difference between us is how we approach dealing with them. If they're a torment, you will suffer and probably not learn much during this time because you see it as something to endure. You need to change your attitude to one of seeing the plateau as a time of opportunity.

Of what value is learning if we never actually apply the new information, the now acquired knowledge? If you paid good money for lessons, should you not now take advantage of these periods of "flat progress", to reflect, review, embrace, assimilate and perfect this new ability?

I teach guitar, bass and drums. The instrument is less important than the information I am dispensing to my students. I am a musician first, a guitar player, bass player or drummer second. The instrument is just the means to express the music, melodically or rhythmically. But the one thing I encounter with every single student - no exceptions - is that they all hit the wall. At some point in the lessons, we are going to stop moving forward and now go back over the previous few weeks or months of material and ensure they not only understand what they have been exposed to, but that they also find ways to begin using this knowledge, this information. Otherwise, it's been a huge waste of time.

My job as a teacher is to mitigate the plateau - particularly for young students, people new to the instrument (not just young in age). I want them to avoid the frustrations early in their learning experience. So I have to guide them through the difficulty of learning some of the fundamental things that cannot be avoided or worked around. This takes time and sometimes takes multiple lessons just to learn one core technique or ability, such as Barre chords. You guitar players will know exactly what I'm talking about. Barre chords are tough for a new player.

So, as they learn, I am also teaching them that sometimes you cannot move forward until you understand how to do something, like Barre chords. I am preparing them for the times they will experience trouble not just learning, but retaining information, teaching them how to approach these struggles with a positive and progressive attitude. They will know these times come, just as in life, in learning to play music. If they are patient and persevere, they will get through it and reach the next rock face ready and able to begin the next "new information" learning cycle, climbing to the next plateau, where they will then rest and begin to assimilate and integrate the new information.

For more experienced students, my job is to help them understand the plateau, that it is a time for really digging into the knowledge they already have (the lesson plans I have given them if not memorized yet). We go back over things and check their progress, helping them understand that they have to "touch" this stuff all the time as a matter of course in their daily practice and playing routine.

For players who are not benefitting from teachers, but are just learning on their own, and if you are among them, here is where you need to pay attention.

You cannot behave like a shark in your progress.

For those of you who do not know, a shark cannot stop moving or they will die. For their whole life, they are constantly swimming, constantly moving water through their gills, constantly progressing through the water. In their biology, they somehow know that if they stop for more than a brief moment, they will suffocate and eventually die.

For the musician who thinks they have to keep bringing new information into their life, their behaviour is very much the same as the shark. But we are not sharks and our makeup does not point to a kind of death if we stop the flow of new information into our lives. Of what value is learning something new if you haven't fully embraced the stuff you just learned yesterday, last week, a month ago? Can you even remember the new "I can't live without this" lick/trick/technique you learned six months ago? I'm not talking about a simple thing; I'm talking about a more complex concept you looked at that you thought you needed. Why did you think it was important? If it was so important, why can't you play it now, six months later?

You see the point?

The plateau is an important tool in our learning cycle. Without them, we would know very little, have learned few "life lessons", and would have to relearn far more lessons again and again before they finally stuck with us. Why torment yourself with having to go over something time and again when spending time in the beginning, and when a plateau event occurs, would provide the opportunity to not just learn the new material, but assimilate it into your playing repertoire, your bag of tricks, your canon of creativity and expressive abilities?

If you are currently in a period where you are not learning, but seem to be going in circles, understand what your mind, your heart, and your information is trying to tell you. It is saying, "You need to slow down and review all this stuff, to make sure you get it. Please? You won't regret it."

If you are in a period of climbing to the next "peak" (actually another plateau), remember to bring along all the stuff you've learned so far. And when you reach that next plateau, take a moment to rest from the climb. Then pull out all that new stuff and begin to look it over, really examine it, and then begin to go over it again and again until it is as familiar as the ABCs.

When the new stuff you've learned begins to pop out in the normal course of your playing, this is the best indicator that you've learned your lessons. It really should be reasonably effortless, and something you are not afraid to bring into the mix. Once this stuff becomes second nature, just part of who and what you are as a musician/artist, that's when you know for sure it will never be forgot, always brought to bear and integrated as part of the greater whole in your expression as an artist. It wil be visible to everyone because you know how to use it, when to use it, and why you use it because you understand just what it is and why it does the stuff it does.

And that's when the real creativity can come out to play!