Despite the evidence of the benefits of improvisation in instrumental teaching, research indicates that many piano teachers do not include it in their lessons. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences on piano teachers' pedagogy to determine what factors impacted the teaching of improvisation. A total of 117 UK-based piano…

This study aimed to understand the factors predicting creative activities and creative achievements among university students. Based on a recently proposed framework of 10 creative spaces, we hypothesized that exploring those creative spaces, alongside the personality trait openness to experience and divergent thinking abilities would predict…

A tension between freedom and constraint is characteristic of improvisation practice and pedagogy, presenting challenges for teachers/workshop leaders. To create musical focus in ensemble improvisation, some sounds are encouraged, whilst others are edited out, ignored or marginalised. This article investigates improvised sounds as central or…

Years of failed attempts to engage my mathematics teacher students in exploration and co-creation led me to radically change my teaching approach. Inspired by literature that uses the jazz improv metaphor for teaching, I derived three tenets based on principles from jazz improv. First, I would bring no more than a single problem-solving task to…

This mixed methods action research intervention study analyzed the influence of social music improvisation (SMI) on students' behaviors and perceptions of their connectedness to others in a virtual middle school classroom setting. Nine 10-minute SMI sessions allowed for the accumulation of data, with two additional pre-sessions being informative…

This study aims to assess personal creativity and the development of higher-order thinking skills in improvisation. The authors evaluated higher-order thinking skills in music improvisation and creativity of improvised musical compositions. The results of the t-test showed significant progress in both creativity and thinking skills among students…

This study explores young people's arts participation through music-making in Finland and the factors that may regulate that participation. It seeks to understand the construction of active modes of arts participation in and through adolescents' musical life courses. The interview study was conducted with young people (N = 18) participating in…

Music lessons in Croatia are characterised by the existence of three areas that intertwine and complement each other. Thus, in music lessons, students will listen to music, participate in various activities regarding their musical expression, and learn about music. A music teacher can choose which activities of musical expression he will carry out…

The cypher, a circle of MCs improvising rhymes in a collaborative jam session, is a relatively unexplored topic in hip hop. Through its focus on community and reciprocity, the cypher represents a crucial nexus of sociability that enables researchers to examine the shifting positionalities and communicative practices of audience members and…

In secondary ensembles, teachers navigate the demanding balance of developing music literacy skills while preparing for concerts. This challenge intensifies in online learning environments due to limited opportunities for instant feedback, ensemble synchronization, and fostering a sense of community. The problem was the lack of understanding of…