· By Andre Woolery
Ludwig van Beethoven, Your Body as Creative Partner
Beethoven's Walking Compositions
Ludwig van Beethoven kept a strict daily routine that fueled some of the most enduring music ever written. He rose at dawn and spent his mornings composing at his desk, often working straight through until two or three in the afternoon.
After his midday meal, Beethoven walked. Long, vigorous walks through the forested valleys and countryside around Vienna, often lasting much of the afternoon. He kept a pencil and a few sheets of music paper in his pocket so he could capture musical ideas the moment they arrived. He walked in every weather. One contemporary recalled seeing him circle a Vienna park for hours in a downpour, humming and composing in his head, completely absorbed in the music forming inside him.
The walks were not breaks from work. They were the work, in a different mode. Beethoven understood that physical movement opened a different kind of thinking, freeing his mind to discover what sitting at the desk alone could not. Two centuries later, Stanford researchers Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz confirmed in a 2014 study what Beethoven had practiced: walking produces more novel ideas than sitting, both during the walk and for a stretch of time afterward.
His productivity climbed in the warmer months, when his walks could be longest. The morning at the desk gave his ideas structure. The afternoon on his feet gave them room to grow.
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To explore the full framework behind this story, pull card #60 in the Creative Mastermind Deck
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