This article presents the results of a qualitative study that explored how freedom in music can stimulate creative development in students. A series of musical and pedagogical activities, called Creative Freedom, which involved favourable conditions for autonomy and creative agency, was developed. This study was conducted between 2013 and 2018 in…

A group of 46, first-year, primarily classically trained, undergraduate students took part in an exploratory research study on Group Ear Playing (GEP) in higher education. The students attended the "Playing by Ear" component of the Practical Musicianship module, which adopts the materials and strategies on playing by ear in the…

Approaches to teaching music notation and instrumental technique have been standardized and codified in the United States with great success in beginning instrumental programs. While these skills are important, we do a disservice to students if we do not equally develop comprehensive musicianship and creative thinking at a young age. Creating…

This article explores a comprehensive, student-centered alternative to traditional ensemble instruction with the goal of promoting better opportunities for musical independence and lifelong musicianship. Developed by Caron Collins from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York-Potsdam, the Curious, Collaborative, Creativity…

Introduction: This paper explores the relationship between musicians' information seeking behaviour and their personality traits within the context of musical creativity. Although previous research has addressed different socio-technological and behavioral aspects of music information seeking, the role of personality characteristics around…

People who do not know theatre may think the only creative artist in the field is the playwright--with actors, directors, and designers mere "interpreters" of the dramatist's vision. Historically, however, creative mastery and power have passed through different hands. Sometimes, the playwright did the staging. In other periods, leading…

While improvisation in K-12 schools in the USA has gained some traction since the inception of the US National Standards in 1994, there is still a dearth of improvisation activities in schools because of the lack of music teacher preparation in improvisation. The purpose of this study was to determine if providing group free improvisation…

This column presents an improvisation game designed to be played by any two musicians from beginner through professional skill level. The author argues that two aspects are critical for success: one, an understanding of the creative power of limits; and, two, the importance of framing the activity as a game. The game, based on the limit of the…

This article describes a collaborative clinical field experience initiative conceived to provide meaningful fieldwork for preservice music educators, musically engage underserved students in a high-poverty school, and include instruction on composition and improvisation. The author chronicles the planning, implementation, and subsequent revisions…

Ensembles such as rock and pop bands are places of exciting creativity and intense, enjoyable music making for young people. A recent review of New Zealand's secondary school qualification, the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), has resulted in a new composition assessment of individuals' achievement in groups. An analysis of…

Jamey Aebersold is an internationally known saxophonist and authority on jazz education and improvisation. His series of jazz play-along book and CD sets are valuable tools for music teachers, and his weeklong summer jazz workshops--now in their thirty-third year at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and thirty-seventh year overall--have had…

This paper describes an investigation into the nature of musical intelligence and its links with creativity across two continents, Europe and Africa. In seeking to identify the intellectual processes associated with musical intelligence, improvised music was examined as an example of problem solving in this domain. Twenty-four musicians (twelve…

In this article, jazz music is used as a lens through which early childhood music pedagogy is viewed, specifically thinking about swing and improvisation--the listening and responding to what is heard and seen, and the openness to possibility. These two concepts are defined by prominent jazz musicians and are traced in the child development…