Watch TV for an hour and take note of the commercials. If you do, I'm betting there's one word you'll see and hear more than almost any other: New! No matter whether it's cell phones or computers or cheap fast-food "Mexican" cuisine, it seems the way to grab someone's attention is to make it New!
It's not just our advertisements. When I'm out at the grocery or the electronics store or almost anywhere, I find myself drawn toward anything I haven't seen before, toward something new and shiny and unlike anything else in my personal experience.
In my creating, I strive for novelty, as well. There's no greater feeling than composing a piece of music that never existed before, capturing a tune that no one else on the face of the Earth has ever heard before. Even hearing a piece of someone else's music I haven't heard gives me the same sort of rush, as does seeing a new painting or reading a new book with an unexpected, novel premise.
Why is novelty such a wonderful thing?
Novelty expands our horizons -- When we encounter something new, we're stretching and growing where we are and what we know. Eating the latest greatest "Mexican" fast food item expands our taste palette and what we think of as "Mexican" food. Hearing a new piece of music expands the mental repertoire of pieces we know, and expands the sounds and techniques we know are possible.
Human beings like to expand and grow -- why else did we ever leave our tribal homes in the Middle East and set out for places beyond: Africa, Europe, Asia, and later the Americas? Why do we buy bigger and bigger houses, bigger and bigger televisions? It's our nature, and novelty lets us do this on a mental and deeply-personal level.
Novelty expands our understanding -- Not only do we enhance our knowledge when we encounter new things, we enhance our understanding. This is the reason the best teachers will teach the same material two or three different ways: the content is the same, but the novelty of a new approach to learning it can make us understand it on a different, deeper, and more intuitive level than we might have with just one approach.
Most art -- be it painting, music, writing, or dance -- seeks to expand our understanding of the human condition. The novelty displayed in the most popular works of art is helping us to connect to that understanding on a more fundamental level than the art that is saying the same thing in the same way it's already been said.
Novelty challenges us -- How often does a new technology, a new piece of artwork, a new "taco" come out, and our first gut reaction is to reject it outright? Novelty can be a frightening thing because it forces us to confront our preconceived notions, and challenges us to consider that they may not be right, may not be complete, may not be enough. When something new comes our way, we instinctively label it as either "friend" or "foe," and with many new things -- especially art -- that distinction can sometimes be hard to come by. This challenging of our notions may not change the way we think, but it does challenge us to articulate why we feel what we feel, why we believe what we believe, and therefore makes us stronger for the effort.
As you go about your life this week, just take note of all the novelty that surrounds you. See how it effects you, what it does to your thoughts and feelings and opinions. If you can, try to incorporate some of those emotions into your own creative life, and see how far novelty can take you.
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