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…

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…

In this historical study, I present the emergence and evolution of Jamey Aebersold's Play-A-Long volumes and their key role in bringing jazz improvisation to formal music education. Drawing on oral histories and using a framework from sound studies, I present chord-scales and pattern playing as Deweyan conceptual technologies that assist beginners…

Collective free music improvisation (CFMI) develops musicians' relationships, identity, and communication skills and engages musicians from different cultures by tapping into their diversities in the music-making process. It also develops an open attitude toward working with children's creative potential--by paving the way for open, egalitarian…

The ability to identify errors by sight and sound--commonly referred to as "error detection"--is a musical ability needed in a variety of music professions. Instructors of undergraduate aural-skills courses often agree that strong error-detection skills are an essential outcome of these courses; however, error-detection activities are…

The purpose of this self-study of teacher education practices was to examine and improve improvisation and composition teaching practices for three university professors at the same institution. Primary data sets were individual researcher journals and transcripts of seven researcher meetings. Secondary data sets were music major surveys,…

The purpose of this study was to create and validate a measure for jazz theory knowledge assessment. The Jazz Theory Measure (JTM) was created by exploring publications on jazz improvisation instruction and research studies that utilized jazz theory as a significant aspect of the study (i.e., dependent variable, independent variable, data…

This paper explores the use of performance in a college-level course that teaches education majors how to use drama, dance, and music in their instruction. Students engage in drama activities such as improvisation and playbuilding in an effort to experience firsthand the benefits of such practices for their future classrooms. The essay shares some…

Jazz dance training in college and university dance programs offers a platform for students to develop a holistic understanding of dance. Three unique qualities of jazz dance are discussed: vernacular expression, improvisation and sense of play, and rhythmic dynamism. Accessing the vernacular nature of jazz dance provides historical context for…

Instrumental music practice has been conceived and investigated from the perspective of self-regulated learning (SRL), i.e. how students acquire the tools necessary to take control of their own learning. SRL processes depend on variables such as ways of studying (method), time invested in practice and behavioural and social/cultural factors. Thus,…

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…

The praxial philosophy of music education in "Music Matters" (2015) argues that music educators should teach democratically, creatively, and ethically toward empowering students' abilities to achieve full human flourishing through critically reflective music making and listening of all kinds. Moreover, "Music Matters" contends…

A successful active learning community in which students engage in meaningful learning is characterized by a number of critical elements. These include a safe learning environment in which both instructor and students are willing to take intellectual risks and share their thoughts about content being discussed. Although many instructors recognize…

This article considers the contribution that Jacques Derrida's work "Of Hospitality" might make to higher music education as it unsettles the usual ascription of normative value to learning and teaching music at the university. Along these lines, what is most at issue in the encounter with Derrida's thinking is the concomitant notion of…