{"id":2151,"date":"2026-01-30T19:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2026-01-30T19:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:15:27","slug":"cowbells-and-the-essence-of-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151","title":{"rendered":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What makes something a powerful act of creativity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I realised that giant cowbells clanging at 5am on New Year’s Eve were not part of my dream but coming from outside my window, I was not too pleased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty men in costume marching up our street with giant cowbells hanging from thick leather straps positioned across their shoulders, intent on warding off bad spirits for the new year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Switzerland, a land of ritual, custom, history, superstition, and noise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s something magical about witnessing a tradition dating back to Celtic times that will keep happening whether or not I’m here to see it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How’s that for a powerful and ongoing act of creativity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week’s Creativity Helm newsletter<\/a> is about how the form creativity takes can surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What makes something a powerful act of creativity? When I realised that giant cowbells clanging at 5am on New Year’s Eve were not part of my dream but coming from outside my window, I was not too pleased.  Twenty men in costume marching up our street with giant cowbells hanging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-thinking","tag-cowbells"],"yoast_head":"\nCowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Creativity Helm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1748\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/424a2ab3244205c0c279aaa5b6a55843\"},\"headline\":\"Cowbells and the essence of creativity\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151\"},\"wordCount\":145,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2026\\/01\\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cowbells\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Creative thinking\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151\",\"name\":\"Cowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2026\\/01\\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2026\\/01\\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2026\\/01\\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg\",\"width\":1748,\"height\":1240},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2151#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cowbells and the essence of creativity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Creativity Helm\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Creativity Helm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2025\\/02\\/cropped-CH-Logo-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2025\\/02\\/cropped-CH-Logo-2.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":234,\"caption\":\"The Creativity Helm\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/kate-paine\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/424a2ab3244205c0c279aaa5b6a55843\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm","description":"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm","og_description":"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?","og_url":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151","og_site_name":"The Creativity Helm","article_published_time":"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1748,"height":1240,"url":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/424a2ab3244205c0c279aaa5b6a55843"},"headline":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity","datePublished":"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151"},"wordCount":145,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg","keywords":["cowbells"],"articleSection":["Creative thinking"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151","url":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151","name":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity - The Creativity Helm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-30T18:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-30T18:15:27+00:00","description":"What makes something a powerful act of creativity, and can cowbells fit the bill, too, or are they not really music?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Creativity-Blog-2.jpg","width":1748,"height":1240},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2151#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cowbells and the essence of creativity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/","name":"The Creativity Helm","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#organization","name":"The Creativity Helm","url":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-CH-Logo-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-CH-Logo-2.jpg","width":500,"height":234,"caption":"The Creativity Helm"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kate-paine\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/424a2ab3244205c0c279aaa5b6a55843","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a919068ede2eac491652a99ad9daf0333eb5b2ee99e0c555edd5759c1e1e6309?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/creativityhelm.com"],"url":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}