Still, Judith Anne.  How to become a great creative genius. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2007. 144p.  (The phoenix rising series).  Available in both paperback and hardback.

Surely we all know Judith Still from her illustrated talks all over the country, as the daughter of William Grant Still and his wife, Verna Arvey, but also as the owner of William Grant Still Music (P.O. Box 3044, Flagstaff AZ 86003-3044), the publishing firm and jobber responsible for publishing the music of her father, as well as recordings, and videotapes.  Less known is that she was an honor graduate student at the University of Southern California who subsequently was engaged as a teacher of English.  She was married to the late Larry Headlee, who distinguished himself as a marine geologist and chemist, and writer of scientific treatises.

As a prolific author, Judith Still has now issued this very handsomely produced volume.  The eight-chapter volume begins with a manifesto, “Forget what you learned in school.”  It becomes immediately obvious that what had been initially envisioned as a probe into the nature of her father’s genius quickly had to expand to investigate the nature of learning, the failure of an educational system that aims for conformity rather than creativity, that does not encourage the liberation of investigation.  On the way, she explores the subject as it applies to musical composition, but also to literature, graphic arts, politics, science, and in the end, the role of a non-parochial “invisible reality.”  The bibliography and index exemplifies this broad approach, in a true liberal-arts spirit.

Dominique-René de Lerma
Lawrence University