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 after the intervention. In general, the indicators of creativity, higher-order thinking skills, motivation and self-efficacy of students correlate well with each other. The strongest correlation was between creativity and general musical creative self-efficacy. There was a negative correlation between amotivation and these two traits: creativity and higher-order thinking. In general, the results of the study suggest that students acquired the skills of comparing, judging, planning, generalising and using previous knowledge to create a new product. The researchers noted the development of musical style, correspondence between melody and rhythm, and a variety of musical solutions.