Composing and Improvising

Abstract

Creativity is often associated with great composers or performers of the past who have been ascribed some kind of "creative mystique." In order to attain better explanatory power, the psychological perspective usually begins by defining musical creativity not by divine inspiration but rather as a generative process, that is, the act of generating new musical material or new renderings of pre-existing music. Musical generativity is best understood as a component of basic musicianship, rather than part of a specialized skill set. Despite creativity being of great interest to scholars for a very long time, only recently has scientific study of creativity borne some useful insights for musicians. This chapter shows how broader principles of human creativity, revealed by research across many domains, are also specifically applicable to music. It also explains the specific processes of composing and improvising music, showing that both require musicians to investment time and energy to build these creative skills to an expert level. Finally, this chapter encourages nurturing the naturally creative behaviors of childhood and facilitating in young musicians a exploratory mindset as a basic part of their musicianship.