Developing reflection-in-musicking in creative practices

This article examines the development of reflection-in-musicking in a Write an Opera project at a Norwegian upper secondary school. As part of a PhD project, this case study focuses on a group of seven participants collaborating to create music for an opera with a professional composer facilitating the process. Interviews, observations and video-recordings make up the body of the empirical material. Theories of musicking (Small 1998) and reflection-in-action (Schön, 1983, 1987), and a sociocultural perspective, have been central to understanding the creative practices examined in this study. Learning features found build on socially and culturally co-constructed repertoires of experience, knowledge and skills. Three modes of reflection-in-musicking are identified from the empirical data: aesthetic, artistic and structural.