'I and I': collaboration and the double act of musical creation

Abstract

Collaboration is essential to musical creation. This is true, paradoxically, even of acts of solo creation. This is so because creation of all kinds is propelled by the phenomenon of doubling. Creation is not singular, but rather binary. It is a function of twinning, pairing, and mirroring. This is evident in creative personalities. The composer, orchestrator and producer—each one is an 'I', an ego. While Romantic theories equated creation with the work of the ego alone (i.e. the effect of lonely genius), in truth creation is an effect of genius in tandem. The interaction of 'I' and 'I' adds a soulful dimension to the work of the ego. It guards against the egomania and ego anxiety that obstructs creative work. The strange looping that occurs between two egos is a precondition of effective creativity. Sometimes that strange looping occurs within a single self. The music of Bob Dylan is a case in point. Sometimes it is duos that create together. Twentieth-century music is inconceivable without the partnerships of Jagger and Richards, Plant and Page, Stravinsky and Balanchine, Cage and Cunningham, Warwick and David, Sinatra and Riddle, Reed and Cale, and Davis and Evans. There are innumerable kinds of collaborations. Some occur between composers. Others involve musicians, bands, producers, arrangers, and managers. Some are flesh and blood; some are imaginary. However they take place, collaborations play a crucial, if combustible, role in acts of musical creation.