Activating Diverse Musical Creativities 9781472589118, 9781474220316, 9781472589125

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Activating Diverse Musical Creativities

Also available from Bloomsbury Master Class in Music Education, edited by John Finney and Felicity Laurence Music Education with Digital Technology, edited by John Finney and Pamela Burnard The Origins and Foundations of Music Education, edited by Gordon Cox and Robin Stevens

Activating Diverse Musical Creativities Teaching and Learning in Higher Music Education Edited by Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

LON DON • OX F O R D • N E W YO R K • N E W D E L H I • SY DN EY

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK

1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA

www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 Paperback edition first published 2016 © Pamela Burnard, Elizabeth Haddon and Contributors, 2015 Pamela Burnard, Elizabeth Haddon and Contributors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-8911-8 PB: 978-1-3500-0000-1 ePDF: 978-1-4725-8912-5 ePub: 978-1-4725-8913-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Activating diverse musical creativities : teaching and learning in higher music education / edited by Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon. pages cm ISBN 978-1-4725-8911-8 (hardback) 1. Music in universities and colleges. 2. Music–Instruction and study. 3. Music–Instruction and study–Technological innovations. 4. Composition (Music)– Instruction and study. I. Burnard, Pamela, editor. II. Haddon, Elizabeth, 1966– editor. MT18.A35 2015 780.71’1–dc23 2014046604 Typeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain

Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Preface Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon List of Contributors Part 1 1

2

3 4 5

6 7 8

ix x xvi

3

Experiments in Learning

On the Other Side of the Divide: Making Sense of Student Stories of Creativities in Music Dawn Bennett, Anna Reid and Peter Petocz Creativities in Popular Songwriting Curricula: Teaching or Learning? Joe Bennett Killing the Muse: Listening Creativities and the Journey to Creative Mastery Donna Weston and Tim Byron Permission to Play: Fostering Enterprise Creativities in Music Technology through Extracurricular Interdisciplinary Collaboration Elizabeth Dobson

Part 3

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Multiple Creativities and Entrepreneurship

Introduction: The Imperative of Diverse Musical Creativities in Academia and Industry Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon

Part 2

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21 37 57

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Experiments in Teaching

Activating Improvisational Creativity in the Performance of ‘World’ and ‘Popular’ Music Sue Miller The Inner Voice: Activating Intuitive and Improvisational Creativities Esmée Olthuis Activating Empathic Creativity in Musicking through University–Community Partnerships Susan Helfter and Beatriz Ilari

99 123

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Contents

9 Activating Communal Creativities for Redesigning Higher Education Curricula: Drawing on Intercultural Experience Lindy Joubert and Violeta Schubert 10 Being a Composer in an Age of Uncertainties, Risks and Diffuse Creativity: Learning, Career and Creativities António Ângelo Vasconcelos

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Part 4 Engaging Technologies 11 Technology as a Vehicle (Tool and Practice) for Developing Diverse Creativities Andrew King 12 Activating Digital Creativities in Higher Music Education Leah Kardos 13 Creative Teaching with Performing Arts Students: Developing Career Creativities through the Use of ePortfolios for Career Awareness and Resilience Jennifer Rowley, Dawn Bennett and Peter Dunbar-Hall 14 Conclusion: Musical Creativities and Entrepreneurship in Higher Music Education: Activating New Possibilities Elizabeth Haddon and Pamela Burnard Index

203 223

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261 283

List of Figures 1.1 The fields within the fields of power 1.2 The framework for understanding diverse musical creativities 1.3 Diverse musical creativities and distinctive practices located, investigated, developed and applied 2.1 Business students’ views of creativity from narrow to broad 3.1 Track Imperatives: Creative activities leading to a track 6.1 Melquiades Fundora from Orquesta Sublime, Havana, Cuba, 2006 6.2 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute solo – Melquiades Fundora, transcription by Sue Miller 6.3 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute solo by Johnny Pacheco, transcription by Sue Miller 6.4 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Fundora, bar 75: Characteristic motif 6.5 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Developing the Fundora motif 6.6 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Developing the Fundora motif further 6.7 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Rising sequence on a dominant axis with a tessitura of d3 to d4 6.8 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Octave leaps (‘3 in a grid of 4’ cross-rhythms) leading to a melodic four-bar call phrase (llamada) 6.9 Preparatory exercise for improvisation on El Cuarto de Tula 8.1 Relationships between musicking and empathizing, adapted from Laurence (2011) 11.1 Producer and composer Craig Leon working in Abbey Road Studio 2 11.2 Sound installation, St Elisabeth-Kirche, Berlin (2010) 14.1 Dimensions of leadership

10 13 15 25 45 105 107 110 112 112 113 114

114 116 141 212 216 276

List of Tables 6.1 Recorded versions of Sabroso como el Guarapo 8.1 Participant information 13.1 Topic questions with a focus on identity development and career creativities 13.2 Data collection items, student cohort, technologies and chronology

106 146 246 248

Acknowledgements As with all edited volumes we have accrued a large number of debts. At the heart of the project, the first acknowledgement in this volume is due to the dedicated community of authors who dealt with our emails and requests promptly and generously. Thank you for sharing our vision of a higher music education sector in which students’ and teachers’ creativities are valued alongside more traditional forms of academic achievement, and for collaboratively working on this unique volume. We are grateful to you all for your cooperation in helping us to meet precise plans and deadlines. A similar debt of gratitude is owed to Chrysovalentini Konstantinou, an early careers researcher who has recently completed a PhD on Cypriot music education and teacher change. Valanto was at the heart of the project’s efficiency in file management and her contribution was also critical to the effective production and timely completion of this edited volume. Special thanks go to Liz Tray who patiently proofread the chapters in order to get the volume to this point. We would also like to thank our publisher, the copy editor and all members of the production team at Bloomsbury who provided support and efficient service, in particular, Kasia Figiel, Frances Arnold, Camilla Erskine and Srikanth Srinivasan. Of course our biggest debt is to our families and friends to whom we record our gratitude for their love, patience and support. We hope that this volume encourages debate and provides a useful resource for all those who seek to work with, understand and enhance students’ and teachers’ use of diverse creativities in higher music education. Pam Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon

Preface This volume seeks to respond to the challenge of considering how to take forward and develop pedagogical practices within institutional learning cultures that invite and build diverse musical creativities, which are central to caring for and working towards the improvement of students’ learning both within higher education and in their subsequent employment by the contemporary creative and cultural industries. At the heart of the staff–student relationship is the issue of moving students towards being active partners in knowledge creation within a diverse spectrum of musical creativities operating at multiple levels that combine theory and practice, reflexive and active methodologies and a range of disciplinary and real-world practices. In an age of increasing educational standardization, fear of market competition and administrative intervention, real-world practices and discourses of rapid change in the creative and cultural industries differ dramatically from traditional academic discourse and decontextualized practice. Yet, from the standpoint of contemporary arts practice, artists who balance protean careers, working with new creativities and collaborators, are involved in a wide range of practices and social fields which can provide rich inspiration for those working in higher education. Through detailed studies of pressing issues concerning the positive role of diverse creativities in practice in higher education settings this edited volume brings together theoretical chapters and case studies of distinctive creativities. It focuses on the productive forces of multidimensional creativities, exploring what is novel and new in practices ranging from interdisciplinary, intercultural and community projects to digital media performance, composition, songwriting, improvisational, empathic and entrepreneurial creativities. This volume draws together ‘frontline’ advocates for the practice of diverse creativities in higher music education – members of the broad international higher educational research community including artists, performers and scholars. The contributing chapters explore the practice of creativities, examine the interconnections between academic cultures and the nature of arts, and consider the imperative of creativities as a tool for adaptive change within higher education.

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In examining diverse musical creativities, the overarching concerns of this volume are threefold: 1. This volume brings a unique and timely contribution to the growing body of literature on how diverse creativities can operate, challenge and contemporize higher music education learning communities. 2. This volume is structured to facilitate understanding, and to promote and elaborate three areas of musical creativities with new thinking specifically focused on (a) experiments in learning, (b) experiments in teaching and, importantly, (c) engaging technologies in higher music education. 3. Throughout this volume, the reader will encounter persuasive evidence of new ways of supporting the development and enhancing the practice of diverse musical creativities with useful examples which demonstrate convincingly that musical creativities can play a vital part in achieving a wide range of musical, educational and social objectives, with connections to an array of contemporary practice, research and policy.

Organization of parts and chapters This volume presents a collection of chapters by diverse experts who create, teach, research and lead in the higher music education sector and within external fields of practice. Each chapter articulates innovative research and emergent practices that exemplify particular and distinctively diverse musical creativities. Each part, in its own way, presents a cluster of chapters which promote multiple creativities and entrepreneurship (Part One), experiments in learning (Part Two), teaching (Part Three) and ways of engaging technologies (Part Four).

Part One: Multiple Creativities and Entrepreneurship In Chapter 1, Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon explore the imperative of diverse musical creativities in academia/industry connections and describe each in terms of the proliferation of diverse musical creativities that are recognized and communicated in the practices of professional musicians. In addition, the outcomes that may be expected from navigating the expanding boundaries and permeable practice of diverse musical creativities for reimagining higher music education are discussed.

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Part Two: Experiments in Learning In Chapter 2, an argument is made for why providing time to reflect critically on ‘student stories of creativities in music’ is important. Australian authors Dawn Bennett, Anna Reid and Peter Petrocz explore diverse creativities as a ‘bundle’ of elements that incorporate personal ability, process and product situating risk-taking and engagement at the centre of both faculty and student practice. In Chapter 3, Joe Bennett focuses on popular songwriting creativities. The author contrasts learners’ and listeners’ expectations of songwriting creativity as evidenced in a UK university programme and evaluates pedagogical approaches, including peer critique, critical listening, prior learning, repertoire and assessment. In Chapter 4, Donna Weston and Tim Byron examine what constitutes critical listening creativity and its transformative vitality for the creative musician as developed in an Australian degree focused on popular music creativities. In the chapter they ask: what is the place of musical analysis and critical listening in the degree for a cohort which often expresses little interest in music analysis, and indeed sees in it little relevance to their desired career of performing musician. The authors demonstrate the value of critical listening and semiotics in the development of the creative musician working within popular music, particularly through its agency in broadening students’ musical vocabulary and enabling an understanding of the context of their own creativities. In Chapter 5, Elizabeth Dobson focuses on ways of fostering enterprise creativity in music technology through extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration. This chapter considers the benefits of extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration in higher music education institutions, drawing on theories of learning through apprenticeship, community-based learning, literature on creativity and collaborative learning in higher music education in the United Kingdom. In particular, it explores how music technology students build knowledge through interdisciplinary collaboration while developing skills and confidence for enterprise creativity and raises questions that may guide new research on extracurricular collaborative play and enterprise development.

Part Three: Experiments in Teaching In Chapter 6, Sue Miller explores creative approaches to the teaching of improvisational creativity in higher music education. In this chapter, which

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critiques current university music provision, Miller demonstrates how placing improvisation at the centre of the curriculum enables the development of creative musicianship skills. A practical example of research-led teaching is discussed, showing how students can develop idiomatic improvisation skills by documenting their engagement with creative processes while simultaneously acquiring historical and cultural information. In Chapter 7, Esmée Olthuis explores the creative role of improvisation and outlines approaches to training and coaching conservatoire music students within the field of intuitive and improvisational creativities. Musician 3.0, a new department within the Conservatory of Utrecht (HKU), follows a learning strategy positioned within the field of creative learning, improvisation and personal development. This chapter discusses the contribution of these processes to developing improvisational musical creativities. In Chapter 8, Susan Helfter and Beatriz Ilari present ways of activating empathic creativity in musicking through university–community partnerships. They provide the exemplar of one such partnership, Thornton Outreach Programs (TOP) at the University of Southern California, which provides opportunities for music performance students to develop skills in teaching, performing for and interacting with students in the community. Connections are made between the teaching experiences of the university students and empathic creativity and understanding as key components of their social and biographical learning. In Chapter 9, Lindy Joubert and Violeta Schubert look at communal creativities for redesigning higher education curricula, pedagogy and assessment development. In the chapter they discuss face-to-face experiences with a variety of cultural groups that provide informal music education practice for creative learning. The authors present material demonstrating how an informal, field experience can have life-changing benefits for music students and reflect on issues such as cultural styles and heritage, impacts on health and well-being and youth empowerment. Using a case-study approach encompassing examples from various cultural groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific Islands and Melanesia, the chapter proposes stimulating ways to listen and conceive of enriching music education by calling for the embedding of field components of study and cross-cultural perspectives on music. In Chapter 10, António Ângelo Vasconcelos investigates the practices of compositional creativity, methods of educating for compositional creativities, the processes and practices of professional composers, the place of tradition and innovation, the role of knowledge and how composers manage the unknown.

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Taking as a starting point the artistic singularities and individual creativity of composers working as teachers in higher music education in Portugal, the chapter poses the question: ‘in what ways is creative practice conceptualized and exercised by contemporary composers and how do these creativities relate to multisited training and creative careers in an era of uncertainty and ambiguity?’

Part Four: Engaging Technologies In Chapter 11, Andrew King discusses technology as a catalyst for diverse creativities in the music studio. These include: creativities, technology and (live) studio performance; creativities and technology as instrument; and technology, creativities and a diversified creative approach. Implications for understanding this use of technology as a vehicle for developing diverse creativities and for educators to design appropriate curricula are explored. In Chapter 12, Leah Kardos explores the use of social media and the cloud to activate digital creativities. The chapter looks at examples of such practices with the aim of informing a strategy for developing effective curricula for higher music education where (1) fluency in digital literacies is promoted through practice-led enquiry, (2) technical learning is designed to be flexible and adaptable to future technologies, (3) excellence of execution is upheld as a priority and (4) learners are encouraged to be active in and contribute knowledge to online communities of practice. The study of digital creativities through creative practice research can lead our students to develop skills that will equip them with improved employability, musicianship, technical excellence, entrepreneurship and creative confidence. In Chapter 13, Jennifer Rowley, Dawn Bennett and Peter Dunbar-Hall identify career creativities as a key attribute for music graduates; however, they are rarely an explicit component of higher music education. The chapter reports on a study in which higher education music educators devised creative teaching and learning strategies in order to develop students’ career creativities. Drawing on data from a multi-institution study across four Australian universities, each of which developed different ePortfolio initiatives with performing and creative arts students, key findings concerning identity construction and self-efficacy are explored and detailed. Finally, in Chapter 14, Elizabeth Haddon and Pamela Burnard discuss the dynamics of musical creativities and entrepreneurship in higher music education. The chapter presents some principles for constructing teaching and learning

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environments to promote entrepreneurial creativity that lead to institutional change and align education and industry. The challenge that inspired this volume was to create a volume that identified, through research and practice, the particularities of diverse musical creativities and to understand their potential within contemporary leading professional learning communities that characterize higher education music departments. The contributors demonstrate not only the capacities of diverse musical creativities but also their broad relevance in negotiating institutional change in higher music education.

List of Contributors Dawn Bennett is Professorial Research Fellow with Curtin University in Perth, Australia. She became an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Fellow in 2010 with a project that investigated the role of identity development in student engagement, and she currently leads a national fellowship network across twenty-eight Australian universities. Dawn is the recipient of two Teaching and Learning awards and a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for community service. She has authored over seventy publications including five monographs and edited collections. She serves on several national and international editorial boards and reviews for journals in education, cultural policy and human geography. Dawn is a member of the Music Council of Australia and a commissioner for the International Society for Music Education’s Teaching and Learning Forum. She is regularly invited to present at conferences, give seminars and lectures and sit on assessment panels in Australia and overseas. Joe Bennett is Dean of School: Music and Performing Arts at Bath Spa University, UK. His research focuses on the creative practice and psychology of songwriters, particularly collaborative songwriters. He teaches on the Master’s Degree in songwriting at Bath Spa University, UK, and is the founder and organizer of the UK Songwriting Festival. His guitar tuition books and compositions are published worldwide by Music Sales, Rockschool and others, and his monthly songwriting articles are published in Total Guitar magazine. Joe received a National Teaching Fellowship in 2004 from the UK Higher Education Academy in recognition of his work as a teacher of popular music. As an expert witness forensic musicologist, Joe advises music lawyers, publishers, artists and songwriters on matters of plagiarism and musical similarity. Pamela Burnard is Reader in Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. Her research interests include diverse creativities, digital technologies, intercultural arts, across education sectors, industries and communities. Her books include Musical Creativities in Practice (2012), Developing Creativities in Higher Music Education (2013), Bourdieu and the Sociology of Music, Music Education and Research (forthcoming), Music Education with Digital

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Technologies (2008), Teaching Music Creatively (2013) and Reflective Practices in the Arts (2006). She is Co-convenor of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Creativity in Education Special Interest Group and Convenor of the Creativities in Intercultural Arts Network. Tim Byron is a cognitive psychologist, a musician who has played both in small pubs and in the Sydney Opera House, and a writer who has written extensively about the meanings of pop music. In 2013, after some years of teaching cognitive psychology to undergraduates in a psychology department, Tim put together an online music psychology course based at the Queensland Conservatorium’s Gold Coast campus. His main research interests include the experimental study of music in relation to learning, memory and attention, and he has recently focused on the cognitive mechanisms behind earworms (songs that get stuck in your head). His research has been published in peerreviewed international journals. Elizabeth Dobson is Senior Lecturer in Music Technology in the department of Music and Drama at the University of Huddersfield, UK, and Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Following studies at Bangor University, UK, she completed a Ph.D. on the social psychology of undergraduate interdisciplinary creativity at the Open University, UK. In 2012, Elizabeth launched an interdisciplinary and collaboration ‘hub’ to facilitate undergraduate co-creative innovation. She secured £5,000 to develop this social enterprise, which has since helped many undergraduates to develop a range of enterprising initiatives. In 2014, she presented a special session for ‘Innovation in Music’, received the runner-up ‘Thank You’ award for inspirational teaching from the University of Huddersfield, UK, led the Higher Education Academy seminar ‘Scrutinising approaches to interdisciplinary collaborative practice in undergraduate digital, creative and performing arts’ and also presented a keynote for the 2014 National Association for Music in Higher Education conference. Peter Dunbar-Hall is Honorary Associate Professor in Music Education at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, Australia. He has interests in music education and ethnomusicology and has published extensively in the areas of Australian music, Indigenous studies, the history and philosophy of music education, popular music and Balinese music and dance. Peter presents his research regularly in international contexts and is a member of the review panels of Research Studies in Music Education, Perfect Beat and the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. Peter is the author of the biography

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of Australian soprano Strella Wilson (1997) and co-author of Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places: Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia (2004). Peter conducts regular periods of fieldwork in Indonesia and is a performing member of the Sydney-based Balinese gamelan group Sekaa Gong Tirta Sinar. Elizabeth Haddon is Research Fellow at the University of York, UK, where she also lectures on instrumental pedagogy and teaches piano. Her book, Making Music in Britain: Interviews with Those Behind the Notes, was published in 2006, and her other published work includes peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on pedagogy, creativity, professional development, intercultural learning and the music masterclass. During the period from 2006 to 2008, Elizabeth was research assistant for the ESRC-funded project ‘Investigating Musical Performance’ led by Professor Graham Welch (Institute of Education, University of London, UK). She has presented papers at national and international conferences and is currently researching instrumental/vocal learning in the context of the university music degree as well as exploring themes of empathy and partnership in piano duet playing. Susan Helfter is Assistant Professor of Practice in Music Education and Director of Outreach Programmes in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, USA, and an artist–educator known for her community engagement work through music. Susan’s research interests focus on the performer as educator, community-based arts instruction, and she has led teaching-artist training sessions with organizations including the New World Symphony, the Da Camera Society, the Colburn School and Education through Music. As a performer, Susan holds degrees in horn performance, is a winner of the Canadian National Music Competition and performs as a freelance musician and teaching-artist in southern California. Beatriz Ilari is Assistant Professor in Music Education in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, USA. She joined the University of Southern California in 2011, following appointments at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil (2003–10, Associate Professor of Music Education) and the University of Texas, USA (2010, Lozano Long Associate Visiting Professor). Her main research interests lie in the intersection between music, childhood, cognition and culture. She is currently a research fellow at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute and a coinvestigator on the project ‘Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing’. In addition to publishing five books in Brazil, her research has appeared in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education,

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Music Education Research, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Early Child Development and Care (Spain), Revista da APEM (Portugal) and Revista da ABEM (Brazil). Lindy Joubert is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Founding Director of the inaugural UNESCO Observatory and consultant at UNESCO. She is Vice President of the World Craft Council, Asia Pacific region (South Pacific) and was previously Director of the Asia Pacific Confederation for Arts Education. She led teams for Community Arts Development for VicHealth, the Australia Council, the Creative Arts Strategy for the new Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, and has also engaged in UNESCO creative capacity building projects in the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Lapland, Timor-Leste and Indigenous Australia. Lindy has had 34 international exhibitions, including six in New York. She is editorin-chief of the UNESCO Observatory e-journal and series editor-in-chief of the UNESCO Observatory Global Village Reading Series. Her publications include Educating in the Arts – the Asian Experience, Twenty-Four Essays (2008) and she is currently preparing a sequel: Educating in the Crafts – the Global Experience. Leah Kardos is Lecturer in Music, School of Performance and Screen Studies (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) at Kingston University. Leah is a composer, producer and educator active in contemporary classical, experimental, media and commercial music circles. Teaching creative music technology and composition in further and higher education since 2005, she is continually working on new approaches to make curricula accessible to self-taught musicians, widen participation and foster fascination for music making using technology. Leah studied music composition at the University of Queensland under Philip Bracanin and Robert Davidson, submitting her Ph.D. in 2014. Her creative practice research explores the potential of studio composition, the communicative power of timbre and spectral recognition, psychoacoustic phenomena, memory and pattern recognition and collaborative processes. Andrew King is Senior Lecturer at the University of Hull, UK, where he is University Teaching Fellow and Deputy Head of the School of Drama, Music and Screen. After studying music at the University of Huddersfield, UK, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Northumbria, UK, in Computer Science and Engineering. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and previously he was the Deputy Dean

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(Learning and Teaching) and Associate Principal at the University of Hull, UK. He is also editor of the Journal of Music, Technology and Education. Andrew’s research interests examine the use of technology in the music curriculum, particularly focusing on the recording studio environment with an emphasis on the types of technology available, how learners interact in the environment and the roles undertaken within group work. He has worked as a professional recording engineer for the BBC. Sue Miller is Senior Lecturer in Music at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK, and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. In 1994, Sue undertook a postgraduate performance diploma at Leeds College of Music and she completed her Ph.D. on ‘Flute Improvisation in Cuban Charanga Performance’ in 2011 at the University of Leeds, UK. Miller studied charanga flute improvisation with the famous Cuban flute improviser Richard Egües (from Orquesta Aragón) in Havana. In 1998, she founded the United Kingdom’s only full 14-piece charanga orchestra, ‘Charanga del Norte’, undertaking several UK tours. Her book Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation was published in 2013 and she is a contributor to the Bloomsbury Encyclopaedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW): Part 3 Caribbean and Latin American Genres (2014). Miller’s other research interests include Latin music in the United States and the analysis of improvisation and popular musics. Esmée Olthuis is a saxophonist working in jazz and improvisation in the Netherlands, where she has been involved in establishing Musician 3.0 at the Conservatory of Utrecht, a new department focused on research and development in the fields of creating, performing and communicating. Esmée is also active as a teacher and composer. Her main research interest is in the field of intuitive improvisation and musical creativity, which include the processes in the development of the creative learning and intuitive playing and creating of adolescents. She is artistic director of the Kobranie company, an organization which is involved in creativity training, processed improvisation and personal development. Peter Petocz is Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. His research interests include the applications of statistics in the health sciences, particularly human nutrition, orthodontics and diabetes research, as well as pedagogical research in statistics and mathematics. He is author of a range of learning materials, textbooks, video packages and computer-based materials in statistics, mathematics and related disciplines. Peter has undertaken research in a broad

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range of disciplines investigating students’ and teachers’ conceptions of their subject and learning and the development of professional dispositions such as sustainability, ethics and creativity. His expertise in quantitative research combines fruitfully with qualitative approaches for exploring the experience of learning and teaching in higher education. Anna Reid is Professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, Australia, where she is currently Head of School and Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning). Working at both the University of Technology, Sydney (1996–9) and Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia (2000–9), Anna developed her expertise in tertiary policy and practice and her academic approach is underpinned by her strong research base in higher education theory and practice. Anna has established an international reputation based on her research activity and her collegial approach to learning and teaching development. This is supported by her publication output, her collaborations with international scholars, her contributions to the academic community through reviews of the scholarly work of others and the experience of colleagues who have participated in her programmes. Jennifer Rowley is Senior Lecturer in Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, Australia. Jennifer currently lectures in pedagogy and curriculum, child and adolescent development, behaviour management, and social and professional issues for music teachers. She has recently completed an Australian Federal Government-funded research project investigating ePortfolios for creative and performing arts students in Australian universities. The project focused on developing effective pedagogical practice using ePortfolios to enable students to reflect on their learning, documentation skills and competencies acquired during tertiary study. Jennifer has been researching expectations of beginning music teachers and their shifting identities: musician to music teacher, and has special interests in the intersection of identity development and eLearning through ePortfolios. Research-enhanced learning and teaching inform her research and teaching practice. Jennifer presents at national and international conferences and publishes on the use of music teacher identity and new technologies. Violeta Schubert is Lecturer in Anthropology and Development Studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Violeta’s ongoing research interests embrace contemporary notions of society, culture and identity. A key focus of Violeta’s research relates to problems of identity, power and the relational dynamics and tensions that arise

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as individuals and communities engage with ‘modernity’. She has conducted extensive fieldwork-based research in the Balkans, and her unpublished doctoral thesis, Too many men: The problem of bachelorhood in a contemporary Macedonian village, focuses on kinship structures and sentiments, gender roles and the perceptions of personhood and individualism. She is chief investigator of a multidisciplinary research project on youth empowerment, well-being and a culture-based approach to sustainable community development and has been active with community organizations across Europe, Asia and Australia. Violeta’s specialty is work-integrated learning and internship curriculum development. António Ângelo Vasconcelos is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Arts in the School of Education of Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal. He is President of International Society for Music Education (ISME), Portugal, and editor of Revista de Educação Musical (Journal of Music Education). He has a Ph.D. in Education and studied Music and Musicology in Portugal. His research interests include music education policies, music and community, creativities, music teaching and the profession of musicians and music teachers. He has participated in conferences and published research in the fields of music, education and culture. António has worked as a music teacher from preschool to higher education, has led a professional music school and participated in working groups of the Ministry of Education related to restructuring conservatoire music teaching in Portugal. Donna Weston is Deputy Director (Gold Coast), Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Program Convenor of the Bachelor of Popular Music at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Australia. She is particularly interested in the role of critical reflection and critical listening in popular music pedagogy. Her research focuses on the intersections of popular music studies with pagan studies, philosophies of place, esotericism, ethnomusicology and ecomusicology. From a classically trained pianist to studies in audio engineering to head of a popular music degree, Donna’s career pathway is one exemplified by a personal commitment to supporting all kinds of music and to teaching and learning creatively.

Part One

Multiple Creativities and Entrepreneurship

1

Introduction: The Imperative of Diverse Musical Creativities in Academia and Industry Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Haddon

Introduction Creative, entrepreneurial activity is recognized as a fundamental constituent of technological transformation, business expansion, wealth creation and is considered as a major contributor to job creation (Tang and Koveos, 2004). It is also recognized that successful musicians are entrepreneurs who possess well-developed skills in diverse musical creativities, drawing on and showing leadership and also motivating and collaborating with others. The capacity of self-aware musicians to be adaptive, perceiving change as both an opportunity and a challenge, and who bridge the divide between tradition and innovation, and move within a multiplicity of musical networks, is crucial in rendering musical creativities. Our ability to imagine and invent new worlds is one of our greatest assets and the origin of all human achievement; yet the recognition and importance of the multiple creativities that provide the driving force for professional musicians to become independent and self-determined is often unrecognized, underappreciated and underreported in scholastic views of higher music education programmes, undergraduate curricula and coursework projects that supposedly prepare students for the professional worlds they must navigate and inhabit (Smilde, 2008; Karlsen and Vakeva, 2012; Partti, 2012). Historically linked and limited definitions of high-art orthodoxies exalt the romantic view of individual creativity. The romantic conception of a singular creativity embedded in certain cultural hierarchies offers the idea of a ‘great musician’, a genius figure, having a ‘divine spark’ which serves to separate the great artist from ordinary

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musical mortals – an artist who is inspired and through whom the muse speaks. However, when considering ways to equip and link professional training of tomorrow’s industry-savvy musicians to higher education reform today, we must first recognize what it is that the contemporary real-world practices of professional musicians reveal in a context where a multiplicity of musical creativities empower and characterize successful musicians and for whom entrepreneurial creativity can act as a catalyst for encompassing an innovative and often experimental set of practices (Burnard, 2012a). This chapter presents arguments for the need for educators to do more than simply acknowledge the significance of a broader conceptualization of musical creativities. Leading-edge practices of specific musical creativities, shaped by innovative research, teaching and other activities are firmly focused practices which activate and develop specific creativities, such as improvisational and songwriting creativities or enterprise and entrepreneurial creativities. Successful musicians must experience and navigate a diversity of musical creativities to define successful career paths (Bennett, 2008).

Reimagining the academy: Using entrepreneurship as change agent Entrepreneurship, here construed as a distinct type of creativity, is readily associated with, and generally sited in, commercial, technological and industry spheres. Where innovation emerges from the interplay of ideas and experimentation in order to create something of value which is taken up in the public sphere (Roark et al., 2013), entrepreneurial creativity sparks learning from failures, animates thinking outside the box, going beyond disciplinary and institutional comfort zones, taking risks, crossing boundaries and institutional borders, transcending traditions and conventional understandings and venturing beyond the expected. Entrepreneurship involves a constant interplay of doing and thinking which includes passionate cycles of thinking, doing, failing, analysing, rethinking and modifying, then doing again, determined to find solutions infused by experiential learning (Bresler, 2013). In a seminal study of creative scholars, authors and artists, Csikszentmihalyi (1996) characterized entrepreneurial dispositions as ‘dimensions of complexity’ which included a dialectical dancing between being passionate yet objective, ambitious yet selfless, playful yet disciplined, divergent

Introduction

5

yet convergent. How do higher music education courses negotiate and infuse entrepreneurial creativity in taught modules, recognizing the need to set specific tasks and implement assessment strategies of projects that enable students ‘to take risks and learn from failures’ (Bresler, 2013: 24), that is, professing passion, animating experiential learning and activating entrepreneurial creativity? We are seeing a global development for advancing diverse creativities and entrepreneurship which is bringing change and challenges to higher education by producing hybrid for-profit and not-for-profit initiatives. Yet there is little training based on leading-edge entrepreneurship models in higher music education courses. This recognition opens up possibilities for models to bridge (and cross borders) between creative industries and sciences within higher music institutions, where partnerships are sometimes formed with corporate and social sectors. All entrepreneurial modalities required by successful musicians in the twenty-first century are recognized as enterprising and innovative practices, relevant not only to the contemporary milieu but also to how we prepare successful musicians for ‘creative labour’, as described in the book of the same title by Hesmondhalgh and Baker (2011). This seminal text provides a framework and tools for linking the experience of workers in three creative industries in the United Kingdom: television production, the recording industry and magazine publishing. The authors analyse perceptions of quality, how workers distinguish ‘good’ working conditions from ‘bad’ and remind us that ‘we need to hold on to the ambivalence of creative work’ to remember that the creative industries are made up of myriad entities and institutions, each with its own approach to managing creative labour (ibid.: 22). By initiating dialogues, interacting with ideas within broader interdisciplinary contexts and opening up possibilities for knowledge exchange (as illustrated by the contributing authors in this book), we remove the constraints that limit the ability for change. In the chapters that follow we learn how some of the permeable practices of diverse musical creativities and entrepreneurship, both separately and synergistically, as developed by scholars, researchers and practitioners working in music institutions, are challenging the biases and cultural assumptions that constrain and hinder the redesign of higher music education institution courses. This book is underscored by the need for reimagining higher education reform and recognizing how creative experiments in teaching and learning distinctive musical creativities can provide some strategies for institutional change.

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Initiating institutional change Plato said that ‘what is honoured in a society will emerge in that society’. To nurture creativities (in those pursuing a career in music, practising and preparing for music performance and production, arts administration or music teaching, or any of a multitude of career options), music institutions need to be contemporary environments in which creativities are embedded, cultivated, modelled and resourced. While we might regard the historical legacy of creativity as being concerned with domain-specific musical processes, products and people, nevertheless, as will be argued in this chapter, a central ingredient in successful institutions is the ingredient of leadership creativity. Music institutions will be regarded as environments in which leaders make decisions about people, programmes, practices and professionalism at a level of complexity that requires creativities to be championed in ways that provoke invention, originality, imagination, entrepreneurialism and innovation. Despite the proliferation of interest in creativity, the problem of what constitutes musical creativity in higher music education remains unresolved. This is what makes new perspectives on who is professionally making the music, where it is being made, and for whom as significant as the generative aspect inherent in practices such as sampling, resampling, mixing, mashups and songwriting and as important as composing, arranging, improvising and performing. What kinds of collaborative, communal or collective venturing underpin professional musicians’ activity at the beginning of the third millennium? An understanding of musical creativities which goes beyond the common forms of composition and improvisation and is both collective and individualized is an imperative (see Burnard, 2012a, 2012b, 2013). The argument here concerns the expansion of the concept of ‘music creativity’ from its outmoded singular form to its manifestation as multiple ‘creativities’, and considers how institutional change can be enabled by diverse musical creativities (and entrepreneurship) in applying experimental sets of practices (as illustrated throughout this book) that aim to transform coursework and equip undergraduate music students – future professional musicians – to function more resourcefully, flexibly, adaptively, creatively and globally, in an ever-changing society. To accomplish this goal and to meet the societal needs of the twenty-first century, we need to understand and reflect on the musical networks in which musicians operate and which are critical to recasting the field of learning for musicians and the context of applied fields and industries.

Introduction

7

The music industry and fields of power Professional musicians work within the music industry. New industries overlap the music industry. However, what constitutes the ‘music industry’ is rapidly changing (Hesmondhalgh and Negus, 2002; Hesmondhalgh and Baker, 2011). The music industry is part of a generic entertainment industry wherein major corporations position themselves according to their expected market shares. Leyshon et al. (1998) present an interesting model of the music industry that features distinctive yet overlapping musical networks, one of which is the network of creativity within which music is created, performed and recorded. This network includes an army of stakeholders and brokers working in the record industry with producers, sound engineers, recording companies, managers, lawyers and so on. This is one of a multiplicity of musical networks in which musicians operate and which are critical in rendering diverse musical creativities. The effect of this is to challenge and change how musicians negotiate and navigate successful careers. Professional musicians move between tightly defined groups within welldefined fields of music. Whether developing a career working in originals bands, as DJs, teachers or professional orchestral players, or working as portfolio musicians involving different genres, contexts and multiple practices, musicians work to acquire a set of professional, social, cultural and economic capitals, among others. Musicians are constantly repositioning themselves across multiple fields. From the collective creativity of collaborative teams to the empathic creativity of improvised musics, we see musicians broaden their remit and locate their work across different industries. We see technology empowering musicians to communicate directly with their audiences, using social networks and the digital distribution of music. The social and cultural sites and activity systems in which diverse musical creativities arise as new industries overlap with the music industry are increasingly complex. How, and where, music is being created and consumed is defined and valued differently in different cultures. In the world (or habitus) of the internet, e-learning and virtual realities, we also have ‘virtual fields’, the fields of the media and globally networked or spatialized internet fields, within which digital and mobile music can be made. Social networks and fluid roles in contemporary classical and popular musics between musicians, DJs and audiences feature strongly, as in the use of sites such as YouTube. What are the creativities inscribed in the practices of professional musicians? What can we learn from successful musicians working in the creative industries and their position-taking across fields?

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Introducing the fields of power What might be seen in one industry as being very creative indeed, and at the forefront of development, may not be valued in another. We know which music retains the power to fascinate audiences for centuries, and why some musical structures engage our creative capacities as listeners and others do not; but the boundaries of authorship have blurred, and we need to understand how musical creativities are understood and assigned meaning. The individual acquires, in the Bourdieuian sense, a ‘feel for the game’, a ‘practical sense’ (sens practique) that allows agents to act and react in specific situations in a manner that is not always calculated, and that is not simply a question of conscious obedience to rules. Rather, it is a set of dispositions linked to individual history (i.e. the musician’s habitus) that generates practices and perceptions (Johnson, cited in Bourdieu, 1993). Bourdieu’s writings on the field of cultural production and tools of habitus and capital go some distance to help us understand the ‘game’, and conceptualize changing forms of musical creativities that involve new ways of viewing, conceiving and approaching them as acts of creating music in the age of digital media. Because music is part of the field of power, the ‘culturally arbitrary’ ensures that things that are valued by dominant people, institutions and events are valued (at least in principle) by everyone, whether they like them, use them or not. The musician’s habitus, in terms of what some sociologists describe as the ‘specialization’ or ‘cultivation’ of consciousness and the recognized mastery of a technique, is supported by the values and discourses of the general social field, and the specific logic and history of the musical field. So the specific logic of the field of music, with its well-documented hierarchies and oppositions between genres of the field, can be understood in terms of Bourdieu’s use of the term ‘capital’ and the symbolic value associated with and reflected by the intrinsic value of art works, and the capacity of those individuals regarded as having attained ‘distinction’ in the field to recognize and appreciate the cultural specifics of a domain. Bourdieu (1996: 215) defines the field of power as ‘the set of relations of force between agents or institutions having in common the possession of the capital necessary to occupy the dominant positions in different fields (notably economic or cultural)’. Bourdieu (1996: 167) further clarifies the relationship between fields of power: ‘It is a very general property of fields that the competition for what is at stake conceals collusion over the very principles of the game. The struggle for the monopoly of legitimacy helps to reinforce the legitimacy in the name of

Introduction

9

which it is waged.’ This idea is important for explaining the distinctiveness and multiplicity of musical and cultural creativities, and how they belong to welldefined fields. Think, for example, of the Olympic Games opening ceremony as a site for the exercise of social dominance. The practices that are followed use musical symbols, images and discourses to shape the very rules of performance creativity. They are rendered visible in the opening ceremony by the country hosting the Olympic Games. As virtually any Olympic Games opening ceremony testifies, the attitudes and values of a society are expressed in performances that draw on past, present and anticipated future musical practices and performance arts in general. All of the music, musicians and practices are instances of symbolic power and function in action. This symbolic function and symbolic capital, especially that of creative products and the people who make them, is controlled by those ‘gatekeepers’ who are authorized to make judgements, such as an organizing committee or commissioning body. That is to say, the values underpinning the system of generative activity, or the type of creativity with which the music is constituted, are made to seem universally significant. These practices arise because they are important to dominant people and institutions, and because they come to be inscribed in the habitus and supported by the values and discourses of the field. In the case of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, this is executed by carefully selecting celebrity figures belonging to the ‘establishment’ and engaging ‘established’ past masters. There is a clear cultural and economic basis for choosing people from the field of artistic production according to the degree of recognized legitimacy bestowed on them, people who represent the field of music and who will best brand the event. The rules of musical production and values ascribed to certain musical creativities must be understood in terms of their socio-cultural conditions of production, just as in an aesthetic sense the production of music is to be understood as being essentially embedded within the structure of society. As shown in Figure 1.1, the field-to-field interactions of music are enacted and driven by the logic of the field of music and the interrelationships between and within fields are themselves boundaried. Figure 1.1 offers a static representation of a dynamic and ever-changing process. An individual musician, in terms of the structure of the field and the way it is mutually constituted, may struggle for position within any specific one, and within the fields within fields. Composers who work with contemporary ensembles, and depend on collaborative projects between musicians and media sponsors, also

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Field of Technology Digital Digital media/devices Computer/machines Software/hardware Computing devices Games consules Website-related Internet-related Mobile technology TV & Broadcasing Recording studios Social Networks You Tube (etc.)

Field of Commerce Music Companies Music Retailers Record Companies Music Products Merchandise Design Manufacturing Applications Music Producers Entertainment Conglomerates Tourism sponsorship Cultural sponsorship Commercial sponsorship Music Publishers Music Magazines Corporate Media Newspapers Management Services Marketing Journalists/Editors/Critics Advertising firms Distributors Corporations Copyright & Royalties (etc.)

Field of Music Contemporary arts Classical Rock Popular (arts/media) Performing arts/media Jazz Folk World Traditional Multicultural Ethnic Community Dance music Film Sub-genres (etc.) Field of Industries (Creativity-intensive enterprises)

The Fields within the Fields of Power

Creative Cultural Popular music Dance music Games Digital media Recording Broadcasting

Film Television Services Publishing Copyright Fashion Advertising Internet (etc.)

Field of Cultural Production and Social Spaces Institutions (public & cultural) Pubs, Clubs & Bars Arenas & Concert halls Music Shcools Art Schools Music Halls Universities Music Theatres Conservatoires Social Networks Music Organizations You Tube Academies Television Colleges Temples & Churches Musical Societies Communities Professional Organizations Cultural sites Studios Dance clubs Corporate Centres Festivals Community Centres National sites Territories Local sites Neighbourhoods Urban sites Awards (MOBO, Grammys, MTV Events Billboard) (etc.)

Figure 1.1 The fields within the fields of power

Introduction

11

move within the fields of industries, commerce, music, cultural production and technology. Audio sound designers working in the gaming industry often come up with products that give consumers what they want, thereby driving revenues within the fields of commerce, technology and industry. Both DJs and originals bands, as with singer–songwriters, are field participants in the field of popular music, as well as in the fields of technology and industry, and hence have accrued symbolic cultural capital which can be deployed within the artistic field itself. Audio designers help the companies in which they work to maintain a prestigious corporate image, and to position them strategically within the more general field of commerce. We know that musical creativities arise within and depend upon the legitimizing frameworks of public opinion, conventions and gatekeepers. Professionals are constantly repositioning themselves across multiple fields. The common ground among social perspectives is that the rules of fields represent the lived meanings (remits, trends, dominant logics and locations of work across different industries) of musical culture and of diverse communities. There is, however, at the present time little interaction or overlap between educational systems and the ‘real-world’ practice of creativities of the professional musician working in the creative and cultural industries. Bourdieu (1990) claims that musical taste and aesthetic judgement are largely determined by, and distributed in, a ‘field’ (e.g. the cultural field) and are related to each other in terms of their synchronistic positioning (as illustrated in Figure 1.1) and the positioning fields within the fields of power. The full – and different – picture of how the fields of the ‘academy’ (and academia generally) and industries meet and interrelate and engage with communities outside of both sets of fields remains seriously underresearched. The notion of ‘practice’ is particularly relevant here as a term which bridges disciplinary and divisional boundaries and offers synergies at the intersection of social and musical worlds. Bourdieu (1977: 3) puts forward a theory of practice which, he argues, is: The knowledge we shall call phenomenological . . . sets out to make explicit the truth of the primary experience of the social world. . . . The knowledge we shall term objectivist . . . constructs the objective relations . . . which structure practice and representations of practice . . . and the theory of practice inscribed (in its practical state) in this mode of knowledge, that we can integrate the gains from it into an adequate science of practices.

The imperatives for changing and enhancing practices of teaching and learning in higher music education, and for improving our connections across academia

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Activating Diverse Musical Creativities

and industry fields, are many. Real-world applications for our research to transform practice are urgently needed, as are the needs to set up frameworks to develop configurations of new practice. What follows offers one option for transforming our educational system, which is including but not limited to inspiring experiments in learning and teaching.

Introducing a framework for identifying multiple musical creativities and the configurations of practice The understanding of diverse musical creativities presented here and elsewhere (Burnard, 2012a, 2012b, 2013) has its roots in Csikszentmihalyi’s three-pronged systems model of generic creativity, a model that has been embraced by other seminal thinkers on creativity (see, for example, Feldman et al., 1994). Csikszentmihalyi (1999) takes the position that creativity means ‘the ability to add something new’ to the ‘culture’. Figure 1.2 builds on his systems perspective. Individual creation, he says, must be ‘sanctioned by some group entitled to make decisions as to what should or should not be included in the domain’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999: 317). Here we see music as a multiply mediated discipline or ‘domain’, with rules and practices involving an interplay between symbol systems that emerge from and are influenced by the social system, or ‘field’ wherein gatekeepers, experts and scholars have the right to choose the variations that can be preserved in that domain. Cultural forces and cultural institutions, therefore, produce deeply entrenched forms of cultural practices, which are not only tied to authorized domains, but are also linked to the ways in which music creativities are represented by different cultures and cultural systems. Here, we do not question the importance and usefulness of highlighting interaction as an essential component of a three-pronged system composed of ‘a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognize and validate the innovation’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996: 6) (as shown in Figure 1.2). However, the way in which these categories are used is, in our view, highly problematic. The category of a domain (cultures are sets of domains) does not arise in the same way in all areas of musical creation. In the field of music, there is no single, privileged cultural or social system of musical creativity but, as Born argues, there is ‘perhaps the paradigmatic multiply-mediated, immaterial and material, fluid quasi-object, in which subjects and objects collide and intermingle. … Music takes myriad social forms’ (2005: 7).

Introduction

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Tr an sm

its

new and ting xis T ee ICI th PL EX

AL

DIA T

ING

MO DA L

ITI

TEM PO RA L

ME

practices

ES IPL

C IN

SOCIAL FIELD(S) SYSTEMS & RELATED CAPITALS

DIVERSE MUSICAL CREATIVITIES

T ICI PL IM

ES

DOMAIN(S)

PR

Eval uat es Inn TE ov CH at NO ion LO s G IC

CULTURAL SYSTEM(S) & RELATED CAPITALS

PERSON(S) FORMS OF AUTHORSHIP

HABITUS

S E L F -S O CI A L

S O CI O-CU LTU R AL Produ ces Innovations

Figure 1.2 The framework for understanding diverse musical creativities

What distinguishes myriad musical forms of creativities is the diversity of actors and stakeholders in and across fields, along with myriad social systems that become powerful modalities of action. These modalities include social practices, social relations and the social mediations that take place in social spaces. They are tied to historical practices, as well as new global and transnational, national, regional and local practices. The gatekeepers may or may not have the breadth of knowledge required of them, and may be tied to singular and embedded historical practice principles. They may, nonetheless, be called on to navigate a multiplicity of domains driven by technological and powerful mediating modalities of temporal action that draw upon the digitization of music and art, and unprecedented shifts in forms of authorship. Music arises not simply from individual minds but in constructions that reflect the tastes and fashions of social groups, social relations and communities

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Activating Diverse Musical Creativities

sharing common perspectives. From the accounts of professional composers we see how the multilayered self is both enabled and understood in terms of the self and the social realms that capacitate these composers. The forms of authorship identified in the real-world practice of musicians are authorized to greater or lesser degrees by the various forms of cultural authorization that a spatial context provides, such as club cultures, fold traditions, ethnic styles and other contemporary codified practices. The systems model (as shown above in Figure 1.2) encourages us to look beyond the dominant discourse and steer constantly back and forth between the circles/triangles of culture, person and field. The sites of diverse musical creativities can draw from the experiences of musicians and practitioners working in professional learning communities, cultural settings and arts partnership organizations as well as higher music education coursework and programmes. It is here that the framework for understanding diverse musical creativities provides opportunities to bridge the divide between academia and the public sphere. It encourages us to examine how manifold forms of musical creativity are observable and are located and applied in practice.

Introducing a spectrum of distinctive practices of musical creativities The practice of diverse creativities, as identified in a study of professional musicians including composers, improvisers, singer–songwriters, originals bands, DJs, live coders and interactive sound and video games designers in creative industries (Burnard, 2012a), is composed of thousands of independent domains. Novel variations in the contents of the domain are evaluated, normally, by the field. Some of the newly identified creativities have occurred within schools, across communities, in cultural settings, in arts partnerships and teacher education programmes. These sites of practice illustrate, as Bourdieu argued, that the ideas, values and beliefs by which a practice arises involves schemes of action and perception, situated in and governed by space and time. Figure 1.3 provides a schematic diagram of some diverse practices of musical creativities reported by researchers who locate practice across the subsystems domain, field and individual persons (Burnard, 2012b) and include the following. Collaborative (or partnership) creativity grounded in shared responsibility, which comprehends the actual practices as resulting in joint creative endeavours. Ideas are generated from joint thinking, experimentation and from sustained, collective struggles to achieve shared musical outcomes and ownership.

Introduction

15

CULTURAL SYSTEM

DOMAIN

INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNAL

FIELD SOCIAL SYSTEM

• process • interaction • mutuality • dissociation

• unfamiliar educational settings COLLABORATIVE • practical socialization socialisation • project-based task • collectively mediated definition learning MUSICAL • partnership • musical conversations CREATIVITIES • synergizing relationships • musical polyphony • valuing of the other • musical • recognising expertise transgressions EMPATHIC • pedagogical • shared intentionality responsibility • social transformation • imitation • entrainment • disinterested pleasures • flexibility • ambiguity • self-other sensitivity

PERSON(S) ACTIVITY SYSTEM

Figure 1.3 Diverse musical creativities and distinctive practices located, investigated, developed and applied

Group creativity depends on a shared system of creative conventions; no one can create music without first internalizing the rules and conventions of the domain – a kind of codified practice with emphasis placed on the significance of relationships, on synergy in relationships and partnerships and on valuing the other (Colley et al., 2012). Similarly, communal creativity is grounded in a socially distributed, relationship-oriented view of musical creativity. The meaning of one’s self and self-development occurs in relation to others rather than being individualized; the process of communal creativity occurs through mutuality, interaction and exchanges between actors within wider circles of community and creativity and is seen as an ongoing accomplishment of that process (Lapidaki et al., 2012). Intercultural creativity in music allies itself with cultural construction and links musical creativity with its cultural surrounds. It transforms musical creativity in such a way that the cultural meanings play a vital role in creativity,

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with a commitment to both tradition and change. These forms of musical creativity may be evaluated by society and judged to be creative masterpieces by some, or provoke outrage in others with their radical novelty (see Saether et al., 2012). Empathic creativity allies itself with the idea of empathy in creative musical interaction. Empathy, being the involuntary coupling or pairing of my living body with your living body in perception and action, is important for creativity in musical group interaction in which individuals experience intersubjective communication. What implicates empathy as an emotional capacity is an attribute or quality associated with and occurring in collaborative and communal settings in which creative music making gains its expressive power from its mimicking the facial expressions and body postures of others, facilitating the sharing of musical states. Empathic creativity involves the ability to have emotional and experiential responses to the feelings of others that approximate their responses and experiences. Empathic creativity, a processoriented activity, is how musical creativity becomes empathically founded and so resonant with empathic meaning (see Cross et al., 2012; Rabinowitch et al., 2013). Taken together, these differing systems for creating musics form an integral part of generative social practices in the lived-in world: ‘generative’ in that they describe acts of creation or co-creation; ‘social’ in that they each occur with social groups or partnerships; while ‘the lived-in world’ connotes real practices and settings that broaden the remit of the term ‘musical creativity’ and its invariable use in the singular. And, of course, it must be acknowledged that new forms, practices and relationships between different creativities will develop. In locating and characterizing, for example, improvisational creativity, empathic creativity or career creativity, among others, we can extend the dialogue and expand the practice repertoire of musical creativities, giving rise to new practices. This reconceptualization of the pluralism of creativity and the skills base on which it rests will then encompass not only technical expertise, collaborative creativity, interdisciplinary creativity, and leadership creativity but also entrepreneurial creativity. All of these forms of creativity are imperatives for successful musicians to work in twenty-first-century creative and cultural industries. Change process research informs us about introducing new musical creativities into higher music education. The institution needs to play and proactively promote links between research and practice. Institutional change is central in mediating the gap by developing, supporting and promoting diverse musical creativities with explicit learning tasks, frameworks and materials.

Introduction

17

For example, how creativity involves entrepreneurialism is a pervading theme that involves two worlds through the notion of action and reflection. It brings together knowledge mobilization by specific stakeholder groups in the sectors to which the academy–industry creativities relate. This chapter proposes that these ideas have intrinsic value and are worth holding on to as we prepare musicians for a new era of professionalism. The conceptual grasp of diverse musical creativities and the status of curriculum reform within the institutional settings of music academies in higher education contribute to new understandings and a new era of teaching and learning in the realm of higher music education and to the creativities of knowledge and doing music.

References Bennett, D. (2008), Understanding the Classical Music Profession: The Past, the Present and Strategies for the Future, Aldershot: Ashgate. Born, G. (2005), ‘On musical mediation: Ontology, technology and creativity’, Twentieth-century Music, 2(1), 7–36. Bourdieu, P. (1977), Outline of a Theory of Practice, R. Nice (trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. (1990), The Logic of Practice, Cambridge: Polity Press. —. (1993), The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, edited and introduced by R. Johnson, Cambridge: Polity. —. (1996), The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Bresler, L. (2013), ‘Academic intellectual entrepreneurs’, in L. Book and D. Phillips (eds), Creativity and Entrepreneurship: Changing Currents in Education and Public Life, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 18–26. Burnard, P. (2012a), Music Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. —. (2012b), ‘Musical creativity as practice’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 317–426. —. (2013), Developing Musical Creativities in Higher Music Education: International Perspectives and Practices, London: Routledge. Colley, B. D., Eidsaa, R. M., Kenny, A. and Leung, B. W. (2012), ‘Creativity in partnership practices’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 408–26. Cross, I., Laurence, F. and Rabinowitch, T. (2012), ‘Empathy and creativity in group musical practices: Towards a concept of empathic creativity’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 337–54.

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Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996), Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, New York: Harper Collins. —. (1999), ‘Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity’, in R. Sternberg (ed.), Handbook of Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 313–35. Feldman, D. H., Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Gardner, H. (eds) (1994), Changing the World: A Framework for the Study of Creativity, Westport, CT: Praeger. Hesmondhalgh, D. and Baker, S. (2011), Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries, London: Routledge. Hesmondhalgh, D. and Negus, K. (eds), (2002) Popular Music Studies, London: Arnold. Karlsen, S. and Vakeva, L. (eds) (2012), Future Prospects for Music Education: Corroborating Informal Learning Pedagogy, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars. Lapidaki, E., de Groot, R. and Stagkos, P. (2012), ‘Communal creativity as socio-musical practice’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 371–88. Leyshon, A., Matless, D. and Revill, G. (1998), The Place of Music, New York: Guilford Press. Partti, H. (2012), Learning from Cosmopolitan Digital Musicians, Finland: Sibelius Academy, Studia Musica. Rabinowitch, T., Cross, I. and Burnard, P. (2013), ‘Long-term musical group interaction has a positive influence on empathy in children’, Psychology of Music, 41(4), 484–98. Roark, C. D., Daum, K. and Abrahams, M. (2013), ‘How to develop an entrepreneur’, in L. Book and D. Phillips (eds), Creativity and Entrepreneurship: Changing Currents in Education and Public Life, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 77–87. Saether, E. with Mbye, A. and Shayesteh, R. (2012), ‘Intercultural creativity: Affording tensions in music transmission’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 354–70. Smilde, R. (2008), Musicians as Lifelong Learners: Discovery through Biography, Ontwerpen, Netherlands: Eburon Delft. Tanaka, A., Tokui, N. and Momeni, A. (2005), Facilitating Collective Musical Creativity, Proceedings of ACM Multimedia, 2005, Sony Computer Science Laboratory [accessed 3 May 2014]. Tang, L. and Koveos, P. E. (2004), ‘Venture entrepreneurship, innovation entrepreneurship and economic growth’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 9(2), 161–71.

Part Two

Experiments in Learning

2

On the Other Side of the Divide: Making Sense of Student Stories of Creativities in Music Dawn Bennett, Anna Reid and Peter Petocz

Introduction: Investigating creativities At the start of his book on creativity, Bohm (1998) famously declared it to be impossible to define. If this is indeed true, it may explain the problems faced by people aiming to critique a creative or performance-based work as they grapple with the range of possible definitions associated with creativity. Nevertheless, many higher education institutions – including our own – include creativity as a higher-order learning outcome: as evidence for the quality of students’ learning or their work, or in some cases, for the quality of teaching. Such a process makes the implicit assumption that creativity can be defined, or at least recognized, by participants in the pedagogic process. Through adopting the viewpoint of creativities, educators and students may recognize a plurality of experience and application of creativity that can cross disciplinary genre and cultural boundaries. In an earlier discussion of creativity for learning (Reid and Petocz, 2004), two of the authors considered the view that creativity is associated with a personal ability, or a practice of some sort, or the nature of a man-made object. Bundling together the elements of person/process/product, we determined that the domain in which the ‘bundle’ resided was critical in attesting to the uniqueness of the person, process or product. In other words, we agreed with the idea that creativity in all its forms is a socially constructed notion in which the bundle slides between person, process and product depending on circumstances, and that this is perceived quite differently by the ‘viewers’ at each stage of its development. As educators, the idea of the ‘bundle’ made a lot of sense; it provided us with opportunities to create learning environments

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wherein its makeup could be deliberately diverse and hence allow new forms of activity to emerge from self- (or group-) determined, controlled chaos. This earlier work sits well with the notion of creativities that recognizes that ‘the singular conception of musical creativity does not reflect the plurality of the social production of musical creativities’ (Burnard, 2012: 3). Rather, we advocate that musical creativity is simply one lens on a comprehensive phenomenon that spans the gamut of human activity. Oakley (2009: 405) has asserted that ‘creativity is essentially “democratic”, in that everyone can learn it; it is a co-operative activity and best learned via collective activity; and it is essentially pro-social, in that it encourages communication and feelings of empathy’. We wish that we had Oakley’s confidence. We agree that creativity is a cooperative activity; at the least it involves one person who creates and another who perceives that creating. More broadly, creativity can be seen as a social relationship that has its source in the historical dimension of human consciousness and activity, expressed across all spheres of life. Such a broad notion, however, brings us to a series of other problems: if creativity is indeed a basic human characteristic, where is it located? Who does it? Who benefits? And is all human creativity equal? Bleakley (2004) addresses this problem with a ‘topology’ of creativity that includes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Progress, where creativity is seen as an ordering process; Conservation, where creativity is seen as rhythm and cycle; Innovation, where creativity is described as original and spontaneous; Transgression, where the quality of creativity is seen as irrational; Discipline, being a social construction with a focus on group problemsolving for work-related problems; Complexity, where the creative element is in the finding, rather than the solving, of problems; Inspiration, where individuals and groups extend their thinking and activity in response to external stimulus; Serendipity, where people take advantage of chance moments; Negative capability, where people in a bland situation are afforded no chance of creativity; and Withdrawal, where people refuse to engage in creative activity.

These ten elements of the topology (with our brief explanations of them) illustrate a different picture of the scope of creativities. They also suggest a human history of creative work and thought. The term ‘conservation’ (Bleakley’s

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second point) is interesting to us, as musicians may work (or have studied) in a music conservatorium. The term includes an acknowledgement and critique of past musicians’ musicality in composition and performance and a focus on the ‘cycle’ of recreating those works in new and innovative ways; in other words, building on past knowledge and recasting it for the future (Bennett et al., 2014; Reid et al., 2013). Of particular interest in our current context is the tenth and final element of the topography – the notion of withdrawal. Withdrawal is a response to a situation where the risk is higher than that which is warranted for the task. Students involved in music studies may be adverse to such risk if there is a perception that their grade may be affected. Bleakley (2004: 471) states: ‘Maximum complexity at the edge of chaos characterizes not only weather systems but also improvised jazz solos and baroque ornamentation, which are also purposefully ambiguous.’ There is a certain amount of intellectual and reputational danger and risk associated with this level of complexity in music, particularly within the context of formal studies. This has led us to ask whether, and if so, the extent to which, students experience withdrawal, particularly in relation to formal assessments.

Description of the project Educators in higher education music have all experienced the forms of learning associated with gaining a formal qualification such as a degree, but for many of us, it was some time ago. As students we gained an understanding of our own learning preferences and how we should massage them to align with the demands of our teachers. We also acquired knowledge of creativity in the context of learning music. In the years that have passed since our own time as students we have considered and reconsidered our musicality, our professional roles, our educational roles and our position in society. During this time we have also refined our concept and practice of creative thinking, process and outcome. Curiously, we believe that we have developed a shared understanding of creativities. With this long-established intrinsic creative identity, we now work with students and assume that they share our views on the characteristics of creative activity. But do they? These assumptions about the similarity of experience, identity, practice, artistry and education are contestable. We recognize that our mature experience of creative practice is unique to each person; there may be some shared

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characteristics, but our responses are uniquely our own and are mediated through our social interactions with each other. We also wonder to what extent our students recognize our innate creative abilities, and how well they can take these ideas and use them for themselves. Considering our own journeys, it would perhaps be safer to acknowledge that these young musicians are still coming to grips with their initial considerations about the nature of creativity for their musical practice, and that our mature experience may have only a little overlap with theirs! Indeed, it may be safer to proceed without our assumptions and instead to simply ask our students what they think of creativities. The quotation in the title of this chapter comes from a student who is grappling with how to demonstrate creative performance practices to her assessors. In this case, it is the teachers who are on the ‘other side of the divide’. As our music schools include creativity in assessment items and also as a graduate attribute, we devised a project to see just what students thought about creativity. A group of nine higher education music students from a range of instrumental groups was asked to discuss what creativity means in relation to their learning. Their discussion was largely undirected as the official facilitator was also a peer of the student group. The discussion enabled students to explore the meanings and applications of creativity for themselves. The members of the group were all friends, which meant that they had already developed a means of working and communicating with each other. Many creativity theorists indicate that creativity is a socially constructed form of human activity (Runco and Jaeger, 2012), and it followed that using an established group of students would prompt a discussion that may look at both individual and group ideas of creativity. The discussion took place under the best conditions, supported by pizza and wine. All students consented to their free-flowing discussion being recorded. The group discussion transcript was then used as a data source for analysis. The author team first read through the transcript and noted interesting ideas as they came up. As a background to the analysis, the team reconsidered the outcomes from an earlier project (Petocz et al., 2009) that investigated views of creativity shown by students undertaking business subjects as part of their degrees. The context of business studies is a fertile place to explore an alternative viewpoint of creativity, often referred to in this domain as innovation and entrepreneurship. This earlier project found that these university students demonstrated the three hierarchical conceptions of creativity illustrated at Figure 2.1.

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Definitional (simplistic, definitions concerning newness or difference) Attributional (uni-dimensional attribute of a person, process or product) Comprehensive (multi-dimensional conceptions of creativity)

Figure 2.1 Business students’ views of creativity from narrow to broad (revised from Petocz et al., 2009)

The narrowest of the three views was labelled ‘definition’. Here, students talked about creativity using simplistic definitions or stock phrases that revolved around the notions of newness or difference. The most common phrase was ‘thinking outside the square’. A broader view was called ‘attribute’. This referred to the view that creativity was an attribute of a person, or of a process, or of a product. The view was still limited as it was one-dimensional, focusing only on one of these, most commonly the person. The broadest view was labelled ‘comprehensive’. Here, students were able to consider creativity in several, usually three, distinct ways as a characteristic of a person, a process and a product, and these ways were combined into a multidimensional conception of creativity. As well as curiosity about the experience of the music students – supposedly, an overtly creative group – we wondered how similar or dissimilar their views would be to those of their fellow students in business – a context that is generally viewed as quite different from the world of music. Therefore, we decided to see how far the music group’s experience could be mapped onto that of the business group.

Findings and discussion Here we highlight some of the important themes raised by the music students during their group discussion about creativity. Initially we organize these themes under the three levels of conceptions (shown at Figure 2.1) developed from the interviews with business students. We show the extent to which these conceptions are also relevant for the music students, and illustrate each of them with relevant quotations from the transcripts of the session. Following this, we investigate themes that were raised exclusively by the music students. This shows how the music students’ ideas about creativity went beyond the views put forward by their peers in business.

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Music students discussing creativities 1. Definitional conception ‘Definition’, comprising stock phrases about newness or difference, was the narrowest conception of creativity identified from the earlier research with business students. In contrast, among the group of music students there were only occasional comments that could be regarded as definitional, as the following examples show: . . . if we went round, every person in the room has a very different meaning and I’m sure, on the other side of the divide, the staff think completely different things as well. . . . [in] an essay I think you can still be creative within written form . . . but you still have to show some kind of flair, that will then, you know, bump you up to the next mark.

In most part the music students demonstrated views of creativity that were more developed than the definitional conception of something that is ‘new’, ‘novel’ or ‘outside the box’.

2. Attributional conception The view that creativity is a dichotomous attribute of a person, a process or a product – but positioned in a unidimensional way, focusing on one of these at a time – was the most common conception shown from the music students’ discussion. To illustrate, we begin with some examples of students talking about creativity as an attribute of a person: . . . particularly the theory stuff [where] you can’t be very creative at all – you’ve just gotta learn the rules. I think in harmony, and this is a big thing in the classical world . . . we’ve got to be creative within parameters . . . [in harmony] we can be creative within those boundaries and within certain limits . . . that applies to most stuff. The thing that really comes out in my lessons is, um, I wanna be creative too soon so I mean, not actually learn the piece properly before I start doing stupid things . . . you’ve got to learn the rules before you can break them, ’cause you gotta learn how to break them properly . . . you’ve got to have a solid foundation to be able to go from, to be creative.

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At other times, students viewed creativity as an attribute of a process: for instance, the process of playing jazz as compared to classical music, as shown in these two excerpts: [Creativity is] a concept more relative to the jazz degree than classical; [in] that [the jazz] degree is largely based on creativity, whereas with the classical degree there is a lot less call for that. I see where you’re coming from . . . classical music is written . . . you’ve got the whole piece there. Very rarely are you making up something by yourself. . . . creativity is pretty licensed within the classical degree as well. It’s not as cloistered as a lot of people would think it is . . . I got into the classical course, and the first thing I thought was: damn, ’cos like, now I’m going to be spending this year playing sheet music, I’m not going to be doing much outside of that . . . but yeah, this year has really opened my eyes to the fact that creativity is really just, it’s still under licence even if you’re playing a Bach fugue.

The music students also made comments that suggested a view of creativity as an attribute of a product. This was most obvious in discussions about a composition, but a performance was also occasionally viewed as a creative product: When I try to write a composition personally I try to write something original by my criteria. . . . but at the Con I’ve also found that you’re allowed to write ‘not creative’ things if you like. . . . like writing a sonata just for the sake of writing a sonata in pure sonata form, yeah, I think that’s pretty much allowed. If there’s any form of individuality in a performance, then it’s creative; if they can get up there and play and it, it puts you to sleep, is that then not creative, I guess? Or is that just not your day, or not the markers’ taste?

3. Comprehensive conception The broadest conception identified at Figure 2.1 was the combined consideration of creativity as a characteristic of a person, a process and a product, formed into a multidimensional view of creativity. Several exchanges in the music students’ discussion indicated that they were familiar with this conception. This more extended quote from one of the composers (a fuller context of an earlier quote)

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illustrates the combination of creativity as a process (learning to compose), a person (a creative composer) and a product (a creative composition): [Creativity] is such a weird subject to talk about in relation to composition, ’cos you come to learn composition, and the entire point of learning composition sort of implies that you’re learning from a teacher who has their own style, so the act of learning is sort of them speaking from their creative experience trying to tell you what sort of creative decisions you can make that would be most fruitful here or there, or in even, in some cases, it’s even just them imparting their style upon you. I know I’ve seen some compositions by composers here at the Con where you can really see who their teacher is because of a certain device they’ve used in a piece, or a certain stylistic choice, things like that, ah, as a composer obviously you have to be creative to be recognized, um, and you can be the sort of ‘avant-garde, Bouleztype firebrand, dogmatic, everything-has-to-be-new’ type person, and that in itself is a sense of creativity, but at the Con I’ve also found that you’re allowed to write not creative things if you like, I suppose.

4. . . . and beyond As well as illustrating our previously developed hierarchy of conceptions of creativity, the participants in this discussion raised various themes that seemed to be specific to their context as students of music at a conservatorium. One particular theme was the relationship between rules and creativity, and the notion of creativity as a ‘breaking’ of rules. This is shown in short statements such as ‘you’ve got to be creative within the bounds’ and ‘I think in harmony, and this is a big thing in the classical world . . . we’ve got to be creative within parameters’. It is also illustrated by the following, longer statement from one of the pianists in the group: Yeah, this was pretty controversial when I did it at the time, because everyone in my course afterwards had really, really different views on the reason and consequences of me doing this, but at my very, very first concert . . . I was expected to play a piece, any old piece, and I played a Bach Fugue, sorry Prelude and Fugue, it was I think in F major. So anyway, I played it, but by the very end I’d actually grown very bored of it, and whilst it was something you really shouldn’t be doing on stage, I made a spontaneous decision to start improvising on it and at the very end of the Fugue I just jumped into an extended solo and improvised for another two or so minutes still using the theme which was presented in the Fugue. So I was technically improvising as Bach would have improvised, albeit with a lot of

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jazz flavours infused into it. Um, and that, um, earned me a bit of an interesting commentary from the examiners, the panel at the time . . . And their comments simply said: ‘you have “da da da da”, you had a few memory issues in the Prelude, the technical side of the Fugue could have been a little bit less metronomic, could have had a bit more flavour, but extremely good jazz soloing. I think you’ve got a lot of talent there, you should pursue this’. Yeah, I’m like, hey, this is a classical concert . . . and you guys are commending me for doing something so overtly non-classical in the context!

Another theme of immediate concern to the music student participants was the relationship between assessment and creativity. In particular, students considered both the questions of exactly how creativity can be assessed and also the risk that students run if they express creativity in a way that is not recognized or valued by the assessors. The difficulties and the effect on risktaking behaviour are summarized in these statements: If there’s something on the criteria that is [sic] in some way relatively creative, really that should be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. You can’t, I mean, [decide] ‘how creative were they?’ I mean that’s impossible! I think the scary thing or maybe why some people don’t do it as much as they might like to, is because they’re afraid that if they take too much licence, that then the subjective nature of the panel, or the people listening, might then not like that particular thing. And it’s all about taste and subjectivity and that’s where it’s so hard . . . in arts and music it’s so subjective, I mean what you think is really out there and creative and you think is really tasteful, someone else might think is really bland or else . . . I guess in terms of marking criteria it becomes really, really difficult and in the end of the day it’s gonna be a single person’s opinion, or a couple of people’s opinion, on that one work.

The notion of creativity as a professional disposition As we stated earlier, our previous work with business students suggested that students are able to consider three hierarchical conceptions of creativity ranging from definitional through to broad, multidimensional conceptions. The quotes in the previous section illustrate that the music students demonstrated the same range of conceptions of creativity as their business peers, but their comments were more steeped in the idea of creativity as an essential professional

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disposition for their studies and future work. These comments related to both artistic creativity and to the creativities required to fashion and sustain a career as a musician. What seems apparent is that in certain circumstances definitions of creativity can enable novices (and experts!) to understand the range of ways it can be encountered, recognized and utilized. Runco and Jaeger (2012) discussed the history and etymology of the term ‘creativity’ and noted that the term is rather modern. Initially, people demonstrating extreme creative ability were simply called ‘genius’. This word is in itself interesting, as it is based on ‘genesis’ – the starting of something usually out of nothing – and a genius is therefore someone who is recognized by others as having that ability. The word ‘creativity’ is a rather more abstract concept not allied with an individual, but relating to something that could occur and also has an element of genesis about it. The term ‘creativities’ highlights the multiplicity of views, practices and applications that comprise the concept. Runco and Jaeger have spent some time discussing more standard definitions of creativity that are based on two specific and co-related ideas, that of originality and utility. Within this orientation we can note that in order to be seen as original, something that is creative needs to have utility, or to fulfil a function. The co-relation of originality and utility heralds both problems and possibilities, particularly when we consider the environment in which students are likely to work once they graduate. The term ‘creative industries’ has been used since the late 1990s to refer to the idea of creativity in the context of practical constraints, particularly those relating to business. Creative industries have an overt preference for the final object of a creative outcome – the product. In the field of industrial design, for instance, a creative object can have discernible elements of beauty, aesthetics, material, feel and utility. This is a delight from an educator’s point of view, as the quality of the product has specific characteristics that can be assessed. But creative industries also incorporate a more nebulous component – the process. For instance, the ‘industry’ could be focused on changing the public’s attitude to exercise, or the consumption of cigarettes or alcohol. In such a scenario it is not the utility of a product that is under consideration, but the efficacy of a process. Defining the creative qualities of a process is a more difficult task for educators. People who demonstrate creative insight (or genius) are often those who are lauded in the creative industries. These are the ‘entrepreneurs’ in a business context, the ‘creatives’ in a creative arts context, or the ‘innovators’ in the context of a design team.

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The relationship between creativities and creation Many music students positioned creativity as the act of breaking the very rules that were central to their undergraduate courses. As such, students located creativity as what is done with or to their formal learning, rather than as a component of formal learning itself. They actively consider the creative ‘bundle’ as an integrated thought-and-action sequence that supports their music making. The bundle comprises risk elements, as noted by the pianist who risked his mark and reputation by extending his Bach fugue into a jazz idiom. This specific example of risk-taking was integral to the student’s developing musical identity and it seemed important to him that he try out the risky creation even in an assessment situation. In one sense, the student was also testing what may happen if this situation were translated into a professional environment. Breaking the rules is a central component of the development and sustainability of careers, underpinning the real-world practice of musicians. This requires students to experience autonomy, innovation, risk-propensity, critical thinking, collaboration, and even failure – features of creativity and innovation that students should be applying to their music making. The freeflowing discussion among our group of students also showed that they listen carefully to each other as they negotiate their understanding of key musical concepts. In our group, it appeared that the act of the discussion prompted shifts and changes in ideas, and the importance of those ideas for their practice. In this sense, the group negotiated an ownership of their ideas of creative skills and knowledge, and the fact that these ideas can be seen as both socially constructed and contributory to individual identity formation. Cook (1990) explicitly discusses the role of a listener as part of the process of musical creation. He suggests that the act of listening is also one of ‘composition’ where the listener associates sound with previous experiences of sounds and feelings. This is in line with what Feld (1994: 83) calls experiential anchors, from which ‘each experience in listening necessarily connotes prior, contemporary, and future listenings’. While listening, there is also a complex inner creation of perception occurring at the same time that the musician is playing. This suggests that creative risks taken by students are perhaps even more risky than they could possibly think. The assessor is also working within creative parameters that include the topological elements of discipline, inspiration and complexity. As the student takes a risk with their performance, they also risk their interpretation of the musical score, and the perceptions

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of the listeners. The idea of the ‘bundle’ can then be seen as a rather complex concept that includes all that there is in the experience of the student, the listening assessor and the others in the situation. With many classical works this includes questioning the origins of the score itself. Is it the composer’s original? What role did the editor play? Who wrote the programme note, and what informed it? What other writings exist about the piece?

The relationship between creativity and assessment Students described an opaque and difficult relationship between creativity and assessment, with creativity viewed as risk-taking behaviour. Indeed, some students’ comments suggested a degree of what Bleakley described as ‘withdrawal’ – the refusal to engage in creative activity. It is possible that open discussion of creativity may lead to agreed (though fluid and multiple) definitions and a reduction in withdrawal. It may also avoid the situation described by Cowdroy (2007), who wrote about what can go wrong in a higher education institution when the idea of creativity used as an assessment criterion is not well defined. At his school of design and architecture, as in ours in music and creative arts, the faculty had developed a tacit view of creative activity based on each individual’s own practice over time, and their interactions in the school environment. The faculty had formed the quiet and confident opinion that academics were able to judge the qualities of creativity as they pertained to a person’s ability, their ways of working with other students, and the final assessable outcome or product. When students challenged the grades they had been awarded, the case went to the highest levels of the university. The faculty was required to define exactly what was meant by a student’s creative ability, the creative process utilized, and the creative product that resulted; these definitions were then used to define the required qualities for each element of the assessment. This process lends support to our notion of a bundled response to creativity and strengthens arguments for more explicit discussion about how it might be received and assessed within a formal learning environment. Such discussion could usefully consider the purposes of assessments, the potential roles of students and faculty, pedagogical possibilities, and the relationship to realworld practices. We could also learn from Shreeve et al.’s (2004) phenomenographic investigation of students’ conceptions of assessment, which revealed three

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hierarchical and inclusive levels. The narrowest of these was ‘correction’, where students saw assessment as a process ‘done to them’ by tutors who checked that they had done the right things and the right amount of work. A broader level was ‘developmental’: here, students saw the assessment activity as being designed to help their progress, in conjunction with their tutors’ advice and help. The broadest level, and one to which higher music education could aspire, was ‘partnership’, where students saw themselves as equal partners with their teachers in the process of evaluating and judging their own work. While this theoretical model was developed in the context of students of design and creative arts, it seems likely that these or similar conceptions would apply in music.

Implications for learners and learning This volume argues that higher music education must work with a multidimensional toolkit of creativities central to entering and sustaining work in the contemporary creative and cultural industries. In this chapter we responded with an exploration of the notion of creativities as a ‘bundle’ of elements incorporating personal ability, process and product. We found that many students situate creativity as ‘breaking the rules’ or taking unnecessary risks, as a result of which they limit its application in high-stake situations such as formal assessments. One of the challenges raised by our research is that creativity itself is variously defined. The research raises a number of possible actions pertaining to student experience, assessment and preparation for working within the creative industries. As our student group demonstrated, knowing how students work with each other to define creativity within specific circumstances provides a powerful tool for their learning and for perceptions of assessment. In our study, the discussion occurred outside a normal pedagogical environment and with a group of diverse students. Perhaps this approach is powerfully enabling for the students, to be able to discuss the creativity ‘bundle’ in an autonomous way. The complex ideas that are associated with creativity need to have an open and transparent space in which they can be reconsidered and reinvented by every student group. In the same way, teachers need to be aware of students’ need to have space to reconstitute the creative bundle and to be sensitive to the notion that students’ ideas may extend and change ideas that teachers have been grappling with over their lifetime. It has been helpful to explore students’ ideas from music and business, and equally helpful to see the place of these discussions in the context

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of a ‘topology’ of creativities. Tertiary educators can spend considerable time debating how creativities can be perceived in assessment situations, and this is often undertaken without understanding what students say about creativity and how they relate it to their development and capacities as musicians. It would seem logical to extend professionals’ taken-for-granted views of creative activity by the views of those who are newly experiencing the musical profession. By looking at what students understood about creativity in relation to their learning we were able to investigate how to optimize students’ understanding and development of creative capacities, and how creative teaching for creative learning might move creativities to the same side of the divide as higher music students. At present, teaching creatively remains a relatively unexplored area. Moreover, creativity is ‘rarely an explicit objective of the learning and assessment process’ (Jackson, 2006: 4). The intersection of creative teaching and creative learning deserve considerable attention if we are to create a learning environment in which lecturers, including one-to-one teachers, discuss their own and their students’ conceptualizations of creativity; construct their academic teaching to develop creative skills in their students; rethink assessment in order to evaluate and judge work in partnership with students; and frame their pedagogy in the context of preparing students for diverse careers. These are careers that will require complex creativities if they are to be formed and sustained.

References Bennett, D., Petocz, P. and Reid, A. (2014), ‘The music workforce, cultural heritage and sustainability’, International Journal of Culture and Creative Industries, 1(2), 4–16. Bleakley, A. (2004), ‘“Your creativity or mine?”: A typology of creativities in higher education and the value of a pluralistic approach’, Teaching in Higher Education, 9(4), 463–75. Bohm, D. (1998), On Creativity, London: Routledge. Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cook, N. (1990), Music, Imagination, and Culture, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Cowdroy, R. (2007), ‘Assessing creativity in the creative arts’, Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 5(2), 97–117. Feld, S. (1994), ‘Communication, music and speech about music’, in C. Keil and S. Feld (eds), Music Grooves, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 77–95. Jackson, N. (2006), ‘Imagining a different world’, in N. Jackson, M. Oliver, M. Shaw and J. Wisdom (eds), Developing Creativity in Higher Education: An Imaginative Curriculum, London: Routledge, 1–19.

On the Other Side of the Divide Oakley, K. (2009), ‘The disappearing arts: Creativity and innovation after the creative industries’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 15(4), 403–13. Petocz, P., Reid, A. and Taylor, P. (2009), ‘Thinking outside the square: Business students’ conceptions of creativity’, Creativity Research Journal, 21(4), 1–8. Reid, A. and Petocz, P. (2004), ‘Learning domains and the process of creativity’, Australian Educational Researcher, 31(2), 45–62. [accessed 3 March 2014]. Reid, A., Bennett, D., Peres da Costa, N. and Petocz, P. (2013), ‘Cultural heritage and sustainability as an essential disposition for music graduates’, in S. Frielick, N. Buissink-Smith, P. Wyse, J. Billot, J. Hallas and E. Whitehead (eds), Research and Development in Higher Education: The Place of Learning and Teaching, Referred papers from the Thirty-Sixth HERDSA Annual International Conference, 1–4 July 2013, AUT University, Auckland: New Zealand, 381–90. [accessed 3 March 2014]. Runco, M. and Jaeger, G. (2012), ‘The standard definition of creativity’, Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92–6. Shreeve, A., Baldwin, J. and Farraday, G. (2004), ‘Variation in students’ conceptions of assessment’, in C. Rust (ed.), Improving Student Learning: Theory, Research and Scholarship, Oxford: Oxford Brookes, 223–34.

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Creativities in Popular Songwriting Curricula: Teaching or Learning? Joe Bennett

Creativity is the ‘mom’s apple pie’ of education. Indeed, the assumption that ‘all creativity is good’ can go unchallenged in many other fields, including business, engineering, information technology, therapy, psychology and, of course, the arts. Negus and Pickering (2000: 259) suggest that the word’s ubiquity has ‘drained [it] of any valid meanings or any useful critical application’. It follows, then, that any serious academic investigation into creativity must define its terms: in psychologist Donald MacKinnon’s words, ‘Any attempt to identify and measure creativity must be based upon a prior decision as to what creativity is’ (1963: 25). The contributing authors of this book address the problem of definition by pluralizing the term, rejecting the idea of a single phenomenon called creativity and instead choosing to identify and discuss multiple creativities (Burnard, 2012). In my own particular corner of higher music education the creativities in question relate to Western popular songwriting – which I and others (McIntyre, 2008; Bennett, 2011) define as the creation of original songs as in the context of primarily US/UK popular music from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.1 In this chapter, I set out some frameworks for identifying these creativities, and suggest strategies for activating and developing them in undergraduate and postgraduate learners. The approaches I outline are partly based on my own experience of designing and delivering songwriting curricula at my own institution (Bath Spa University in the United Kingdom) at Bachelor and Master’s level. What do you imagine when you read the words ‘writing a song’? If your cultural conditioning is as an Anglophone pop musician born in the late twentieth century (as mine is) you probably have in your mind an image of a single individual at a guitar or piano with pen and paper. If you are a maker of

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contemporary popular music you may visualize someone sitting at a Mac in a music studio environment, mouse-dragging drum loops and samples around the screen, or you may be thinking of a rock band in the rehearsal room riffing loudly as the singer improvises into the vocal microphone. Lovers of musical theatre or the Great American Songbook may conjure a collaborative effort whereby a lyricist and a composer discuss the finer points of a melodic phrase or artful rhyme. If your music education background is in the classical tradition you may even imagine Franz Schubert’s quill pen spontaneously creating what Roger Scruton (2012) called ‘a flow of unaffected melody without compare in the history of music’.2 All of these activities are ‘songwriting creativities’ in the sense that they may result in an artefact of musical and literary intellectual property – a unique combination of pitches and words that can be performed or recorded by a singer. But even this (hopefully unassailable) broad definition of the creative artefact requires refinement. We are asking our students to create something in an educational context: this will require a defined curriculum, a set of learning outcomes and assessment strategies, and a number of pedagogical tools for guiding the learner’s journey. I suggest that this requires an understanding of the created object itself. Before asking ‘how shall we teach songwriting?’ we must ask ‘what is a song?’ The early development of popular music studies as a university subject during the twentieth century grew out of two fields – musicology and cultural theory. Phillip Tagg playfully describes the approaches as ‘MUSIC AS MUSIC – the TEXT’ and ‘EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE MUSIC – the CONTEXT’ (2006: 47). Clearly, if our stated goal is to get students to make music then the former approach is the most useful to us, but the text (of each new song) still needs to be considered contextually – that is, in the context of the art form defined by extant songs. It would be impossible for a student who had never heard a popular song to write one – or at least, not one that would be meaningful for listeners. And the preceding sentence highlights an important verb that has preoccupied popular music scholarship in recent years (McIntyre, 2001; Tagg, 2009; Bennett, 2012; Moore, 2012): ‘heard’. For traditional academic approaches to classical musicology, the score is the text. It is possible for universities to use scores to study the Western art music tradition, and perhaps even to learn about composition, because a musical score contains enough information to describe the sound in some detail, usually based on a known (orchestral) timbral palette. In popular music, the audio is the text. A song score (typically a ‘lead sheet’ consisting of treble clef melody, lyric and harmony) is usually a reductive post

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facto object – that is, a low-bandwidth transcription of an audio artefact. It follows, then, that teaching students to analyse or write music notation does not necessarily teach them to write songs, and that some engagement with the processes involved in creating (recorded or performed) audio will be necessary. Most established theories of creativity agree on two important points – that successful creative individuals must acquire their requisite skills through long-term immersion in a domain (Campbell, 1960; MacKinnon, 1963; Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Simonton, 2000)3 and that an artefact must be valuable to others in order to be considered creative (MacKinnon, 1963; Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Boden, 2004). We cannot expect songwriting students to produce what Pierre Bourdieu (1990: 53) called ‘habitus – systems of durable, transposable dispositions’ without an experiential understanding of what songs are like.4 When a student’s song has been completed, not only can we not avoid applying value judgements to it, we are required to do so if we are to engage in a discussion of the extent to which the song is a creative object. Applying this perspective to our curriculum planning, we must therefore ask how domain immersion can be developed and how we deal with issues of value in student songwriting.

Domain immersion Music students who enter higher education are not beginners. They almost always play an instrument, and many will already have written music. University admissions departments, and the academic staff who work with them, are effectively measuring the depth and breadth of musical and extramusical prior learning in order to decide whether an applicant is able to achieve the learning outcomes of the course. Entry qualifications could be described as a shorthand for measuring domain immersion: when an admission tutor sees ‘grade 8 piano’ or ‘voice diploma’ on a university application form, this describes a prior learning path, neatly packaged by schools, colleges and private music tuition into a known quantity that can demonstrate the student’s suitability for a particular course. A songwriting curriculum, like any higher education music course, must find admission procedures that can measure an applicant’s aptitude for the course. Here in the United Kingdom we currently (as at 2014) work to the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ), defined by the

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independent agency that regulates UK higher education, the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency). This framework requires that a holder of a Bachelor’s degree (FHEQ ‘level 6’) must have developed ‘an understanding of a complex body of knowledge, some of it at the current boundaries of an academic discipline’. Colliding UK higher education requirements and psychological theories of domain immersion as a prerequisite for creativity, it is clear that university music curricula must not only teach domain immersion, but also find mechanisms to evaluate it in applicants for Bachelor’s degrees. Let us now apply the same principle to a Master’s degree – for which the curriculum must enable its graduates to ‘act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level’ (QAA, 2008: 21). Clearly, we must ask our applicants to demonstrate substantial domain immersion on entry, the equivalent of having studied a Bachelor’s degree. The Master’s curriculum must then enable successful applicants to create new work ‘at the forefront of an academic or professional discipline’ that is also demonstrably at a ‘professional or equivalent level’. Following the semantics of the term ‘professional’, our teaching and learning strategy may even have to consider the commercial viability of student songs. These curricula are about creativity, though, so one might (speciously) argue that all creative work is at the forefront of the discipline, because it is by definition new. I suggest that this hypothetical viewpoint has no value in curriculum planning terms because, taken to its logical conclusion, it would enable complete beginners to work at Master’s level, an activity that is (rightly) not possible in any equivalent higher education music course. We therefore need to evaluate the applicant’s work (and later, the work of the on-programme student) by all three of the prerequisites for creativity – the songs submitted must be new, surprising and valuable (Boden, 2004: 1).5 Newness can be measured easily – it requires only that the song is neither a cover version nor is it plagiaristic of extant work. But as Boden points out, anyone can create something that is creative in subjective personal terms. Our curriculum must engage with creativities that go beyond the psychological and embrace the historical. [One might] make a distinction between ‘psychological’ creativity and ‘historical’ creativity (P-creativity and H-creativity, for short). P-creativity involves coming up with a surprising, valuable idea that’s new to the person who comes up with it. It doesn’t matter how many people have had that idea before. But if a new idea is H-creative, that means that (so far as we know) no one else has had it before: it has arisen for the first time in human history. (Boden, 2004: 2)

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Songwriting, like every art form, has constraints that define it. We know from our own experience that popular songs are likely to be longer than 2 minutes and shorter than 5; they are usually in 4/4 time, in AABA or chorus form, and work within four- and eight-bar phrases. The majority of popular song lyrics have first-person lyric themes relating to romantic love; most songs rhyme and the words ‘sing well’, favouring vowel-heavy monosyllables and generally avoiding sibilants and plosives (Bennett, 2011; Salley, 2011). Creatively, there is no reason why a student – or any songwriter – should not choose to challenge these statistical norms. But anyone immersed in the domain of popular songs will have developed an understanding of its conventions and constraints. The choice to break them according to artistic impulse is of course the student’s own, but I would argue that a songwriter’s skill is to make Creative work within known constraints – not necessarily the constraints of the mainstream pop song, but of any genre in which the songwriter is working. An applicant might choose to submit a portfolio consisting of a one-chord song in 13/8 time with a 113-bar introduction and lyrics about a pet cat’s sleeping habits, but such a genreless song would not only be unhelpful in demonstrating the learner’s understanding of the popular song domain, but would also be an arguably uncreative object, being unlikely to create cultural value for a listener. A free-for-all songwriting curriculum where all songs were valued regardless of their content or quality would clearly be meaningless as a learning experience. Paradoxical as it may appear, then, a curriculum that aims to nurture Creativity must embrace constraint. In admissions terms, this means asking all applicants to submit a portfolio of prior work, and evaluating it partly on its originality but also partly on a demonstrated awareness of established constraints of song form, recording and production. In the admissions process I have always favoured an audio-based (as opposed to score-based) approach to songwriting portfolios because audio recordings of songs demonstrate a wider skillset (i.e. including production, arrangement and performance skills). In the early 2000s, I used to ask applicants for CDs – this was later (from 2007) replaced with website URLs for convenience. The ability to post audio online tells the admissions team more about the applicant than the extent of their ability to write songs – it shows a host of tertiary abilities, including online file management, time management, self-editing, presentation skills, adding metadata to audio and web pages, and perhaps even empathy with an imagined audience. These are also indicators of transferable learning that can assist with more general evaluation of the student’s preparedness for higher education.

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A constraint- and domain-based approach to admissions (and later, curriculum design) carries with it the risk that the learning will become too prescriptive – at worst, songs being evaluated and written to a template defined by applying a chosen canon of prior work. In generational terms alone such a prescriptive curriculum would be a cultural and educational car crash, academics being usually older than their students and therefore having different domain reference points. My approach is determinedly genre-agnostic. Students can and should be able to write any kind of song they choose. The challenge for the curriculum and its assessors is culturally contextualizing the song so that its quality can be evaluated – partly by the extent to which it demonstrates knowledge of constraints within a genre and partly by the way it achieves value and surprise within those expected norms.

The learner Why would someone want to do a songwriting course? We assume that the applicants are already songwriters; if they had not yet written songs, they would, as implied earlier, need to start their educational journey at a prehigher education level. In my experience of interviewing and auditioning applicants for Bachelor and Master’s level popular music courses, aspirations are often professional (a desire for a career in music), creative (a desire to use the university experience to build a high-quality portfolio of work) and social (going to university because of parental/societal expectation, and simply choosing popular music because it is a favourite subject). Almost all applicants who are already songwriters state that they wish to improve their songwriting, or at least that they intend to write new songs. This intention displays an inherent humility; learners are stating that there is more to learn and (by implication) that they do not consider their own song portfolios to be yet good enough, in quantitative and/or qualitative terms. But a desire to create popular music – and particularly to write songs – requires self-belief and in many cases an applicant self-identifies as ‘an artist with something to say’. The desire to improve, then, is representative of a need for curricular guidance towards craft but not necessarily towards art. Students want to acquire tools that will enable them to write better songs. They may not want anyone to tell them what type of songs to write. The desire to write original music is already present in every applicant and on-programme student – I contend that tutors have little work to do in encouraging songwriters to write

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songs. There is, however, a great deal of potential curricular activity relating to rewriting songs, as we shall see. If artistic self-belief is a possible driver of learner behaviour (particularly in student songwriters who intend to perform their own material), then a songwriting curriculum must consider how such beliefs function, and perhaps it must interrogate the cultural meaning of the term ‘songwriter’. As I have suggested, for many people the word is assumed to be synonymous with ‘singer–songwriter’, and this carries with it a further set of cultural assumptions – that songs will be implicitly autobiographical, performed on piano or guitar, and expressive of the writer’s own thoughts, feelings and world-view. This is a dangerous cocktail in an educational environment because it means the curriculum is dealing not only with students’ work but also with their egos. There is a risk that such students may perceive song critiques from peers or tutors as a personal attack, and react defensively, using authorial authenticity as a justification for refusing to engage in any further development or editing of the song. Not only could this be an unpleasant educational and emotional experience for the student, but it is also unlikely to be a driver of improvement for the creative skillset. The idea of authorial authenticity is a culturally powerful one, and it is allied to romantic notions of creativity-as-divine-genius that, despite being roundly debunked by creativity scholarship (Boden, Csikszentmihalyi, Simonton and many others), persist in the media and in the minds of some aspirant songwriters. Why is this so? I suggest that it is partly the fault of songs themselves. When we hear a popular song, particularly one performed by a singer–songwriter, we are encouraged to engage in its thematic world, to believe in the authenticity of the story being told and the authorial voice of the teller. As listeners we know that songs are crafted (and most of us know that the audio product itself is a result of teamwork) but as we engage in the soundworld of a song we are invited to put these things aside and follow the story the ‘actor’ is telling us (Hennion, 1989: 416). Part of the songwriter’s craft is purposefully to engage the listener in this way. An aspirant songwriter, then, may fall victim to a powerfully seductive non sequitur – songs speak straight to my heart, so I will write songs straight from the heart. Students who subscribe to this viewpoint are likely to be unresponsive to critique and slow to develop new songwriting skills, constrained as they are by an assumption that to express something in song is to tell a personal truth. This state of affairs seems to be particular to songwriting – we do not assume that film actors who play evil characters are actually evil people, nor do we believe that writers of crime fiction need to commit crimes in order to write good stories. Media

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interviews with successful songwriters often collude in the construction of the fiction. For most people, it is more interesting to hear a songwriter discuss feelings of love and loss than it is to learn how the third line of verse two was edited many times on the page to make the syllable count fit the melody or (even worse) to learn how individual sung notes may have been edited in software to enhance their emotional power or improve their pitch accuracy. Indeed, to take the latter approach would risk devaluing the authenticity of the song in the listener’s mind. I have written elsewhere (Bennett, 2013) about the way that notions of autobiographical authenticity combine with what Boden (2004: 14) calls the ‘inspirational and romantic’ myths of creativity to create problems for songwriting research because ‘mysteriousness itself is a cultural asset’ (Bennett, 2011). In curricular terms this is a difficult obstacle, but one that must be circumvented if we are to support students in achieving original creative expression while improving the skills of artistic craft. Not all songwriting students consider themselves singer–songwriters. Some write songs for a band to perform (indeed, some co-write with others as a band) and a significant minority want to write songs for others to perform. The former group is served by the fact that the curriculum must deal with collaborative songwriting anyway, this activity being a substantial part of US/UK songwriting activity in the twentieth century (Pettijohn II and Ahmed, 2010). Non-performing songwriters present more of a challenge because their skillset represents a smaller part of the popular song production process, possibly making them less autonomous learners because they may need additional support to realize and present the song. A non-performing songwriter is, at the least, required only to create lyric, melody and harmony.6 This creates an admissions and curricular challenge because the group of learners with a broader skills base (the performing songwriters with advanced audio production skills) can produce better audio than those with a narrower one (the non-performing songwriters without production skills). Our classroom activity must embrace both versions of the songwriting act, but clearly the latter category of student will need more support in the audio realization of their song. The alternative solution to the problem is to admit only multiskilled students, but I suggest this would be unfair. It is a fact of history that world-class songs have been written by songwriters who deal only with melody and lyric; we cannot reasonably turn away learners who write songs by this definition. To summarize the problem: audio must be the assessed object, but we are assessing songwriting rather than (necessarily) performance or production.

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Songwriting creativities The constituent elements of popular music’s audio product have remained constant throughout its history, even though their technological and creative context may change. I suggest that this product requires seven creative contributions – production, instrumental performance,7 vocal performance, arrangement, melody, lyric and harmony. In Allan Moore’s terms, the first four are from the ‘performance’ and the last three are from the ‘song’: the two combine to make the ‘track’. He takes the view that ‘the intervention of producers, arrangers and engineers is arguably as important as the contribution of the original songwriter’ (2012: 14). To describe all seven contributions I propose the collective term ‘Track Imperatives’. Recorded popular music has always required these and continues to do so, regardless of how these tasks may be distributed among individuals (Figure 3.1). Songwriting students may excel in any combination of these areas, which can all contribute to a listener’s sense of value in a recorded song. When we are assessing student work – at application stage or in the curriculum – it is important to be able to evaluate the experiential skill development in all of the imperatives. One can understand the temptation for teachers to isolate melody, harmony and lyric for teaching purposes: they are the lowest-bandwidth contributions, and are probably easier to assess than the other four, given the pedagogical and analytical tools available to us from traditional musicology and literary criticism. But to take this approach for all songs would return us to the risk of a cultural canon because different genres of popular music attach different levels of emphasis to audio-based creativity. A student’s prog rock song might be considered unsuccessful if based exclusively on a four-chord harmonic loop,

Production

Instrumental performance

Vocal performance

Arranging

Performance

Melody

Lyric

Song

Track

Figure 3.1 Track Imperatives: Creative activities leading to a track

Harmony

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whereas such a loop might be an effective creative constraint if the intention were to write contemporary mainstream pop. Popular music places its creative surprises in relation to its constraints. A wordy narrative lyric may be balanced with a comparatively static melody; a busy polyrhythmic backing groove may support relatively simple vocal scansion. Static elements such as harmonic loops soon become transparent for the listener and therefore divert the attention elsewhere. A songwriter’s creativities require not only an understanding of the seven Track Imperatives but also the ability to balance them successfully in an audio artefact.

Teaching approaches – from sandbox to curriculum The songwriting teaching and learning strategies I outline here did not appear fully formed based on the above theorizing. Rather, they have evolved based on discussions with many different songwriters, teachers and songwriting students for more than ten years. In 2004, I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the United Kingdom’s Higher Education Academy, which included attendant funding for a five-year project titled ‘Investigating the Teaching and Learning of Songwriting in Higher Education’. The funds were used to set up a residential songwriting summer school (the UK Songwriting Festival) in which songwriters of any level of experience could write one song per day with the guidance of professional songwriters, session musicians, music producers and music academics. Because the project was not allied to the FHEQ (and learners had no particular goal other than to write songs for fun) it could be used as a ‘pedagogical sandbox’ in which I and the tutor team could try different teaching and learning strategies and evaluate their effects, not only upon the learners but also upon the songs themselves. Successful ideas were absorbed into more formal curricular teaching at Bachelor and Master’s level and adapted periodically through the University’s normal quality systems of curriculum improvement. Let us repeat the earlier thought experiment from a pedagogical point of view. What do you imagine when you read the words ‘teaching songwriting’? You may be visualizing an individual tutor (chalk ‘n’) talking to a class of students who are taking notes on the techniques or methods that the more experienced songwriter at the front of the classroom is imparting. This broadcast-based teaching model is rare in my own experience of songwriting in higher education. Students can benefit from learning about the relationship between process and product, but

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this learning is difficult to impart verbally, because it is in the nature of creative curricula that the product must be unique every time. Process and product are interconnected, but no teacher or student can reliably predict the latter based on knowledge of the former. And even if it were possible for tutors to communicate their personal songwriting strategies clearly and reliably, who is to say that students want to write songs that sound like their tutors’? Our curriculum, then, must engender four things: increased domain immersion, an ability to be self-critical and edit work, genre-agnostic creative freedom, and the building of an improved portfolio of work. These translate into four respective approaches to teaching and learning – repertoire analysis, formative assessment, constraint-based tasks, and finally the activity that forms part of all music makers’ learning experiences – practice.

Repertoire analysis One of the joys of a music education is the opportunity to listen to music that is new to the learner, and to be guided towards this undiscovered music by suitably informed teachers and peers. Given creativity’s psychological requirement for deep domain immersion, listening must therefore be a practical necessity for musically creative curricula. But how should we listen, and what should we encourage our students to listen for in order to make them better songwriters? To answer this question, let us consider the constituent parts of a song. It includes lyrics, which are sung to a melody; these elements are structured in musical time to create tempo, pace and form. Lyrics exhibit thematic meaning (or sometimes deliberately ambiguous meanings); they also have literary qualities such as imagery, rhyme, alliteration, metaphor and narrative. Melodies exhibit pitch choices in rhythmic context – notes fall at particular points in the bar. Melodies and lyrics combine to have an arguably different meaning from what they convey separately – a word sung loudly at the top of a vocalist’s range may convey different meanings for an audience than if it were sung at a lower pitch or quieter dynamic. Most popular songs have an instrumental accompaniment – a single instrument or an ensemble. These elements combine in the audio artefact and are received simultaneously by listeners.8 There are, then, many aspects of a song that we can use to engender analytical skills in our students, and this analysis can help to develop a deeper understanding of which of these elements are controlled by the songwriter. This knowledge of songwriting’s raw materials can be combined with knowledge of how previous songwriters have used them

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to inform a student’s own creative practice. We do not necessarily need to know how songs were written to create a valuable educational experience for our students; given the unspecific and romantic reflections on the creative processes supplied by some songwriters in interview (Bennett, 2013), this is probably just as well. Any increase in domain immersion can provide valuable learning for a songwriter. In legal terms, lyrics are usually considered to be 50 per cent of a song’s intellectual property. Lyrics are a literary work, which combines with a musical work – the composition – to make the complete song. Regardless of whether one agrees with this point of view (my own being that 50% is rather generous considering all of the other important creativities embodied in a recorded song), it is undeniable that a songwriting class must engage with lyrics. This is not only a challenge in a music-focused curriculum but it is also an opportunity. Every learner uses verbal language, regardless of his or her level of musical training, and therefore lyric-based work creates a more level playing field than any classwork encumbered by musicological or music production terminology and prior learning. Here, songwriting teaching can draw on literary analysis, incorporating the same analytical tools and terms as would be used to discuss a book or poem. Let’s say we are discussing the Beatles’ Yesterday (1964), and considering the literary techniques and elements that an analysis class might discuss. It displays word economy, telling a complete story in 84 words plus repeats; it contains masculine rhymes and assonance; it is light on consonants and emphasizes vowel sounds and monosyllables. At postgraduate level we could choose to combine our literary analysis with recent research on the way vowels are used in popular songs (e.g. Salley, 2011). Our analysis class could be lyrics-only, or music and lyrics, or in fact any of the seven Track Imperatives in any combination. When McCartney’s narrator sings the words ‘far away’ at the end of line one, he is not only singing three long vowels, he is adding melodic tension by singing a note of E on the word ‘far’ against the underlying chord of D minor, resolving to a note of D on ‘away’. Music and lyric could both be viewed through form analysis – Yesterday is in AABA form (verse/verse/bridge/verse) and yet it slightly subverts the form by using seven bars per verse rather than the more usual eight bars found in many thousands of Great American Songbook standards. As a result, it presents potential for an interesting class discussion about innovation in the context of known constraints. Would such an analysis session make our students better lyricists? Not immediately, perhaps, but it would help them to consider lyrics as a set of creative tools that can be used to create meaning for a listener. And reinforcing

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the idea that lyrics exhibit established literary communication techniques could contribute to an understanding of lyric craft as a conscious editorial choice by the songwriter, helping learners to deconstruct for themselves the mythology of the inspirational and romantic. The above example again raises the difficult curricular question of repertoire. The Beatles are enormously important in the history and study of popular music (a colleague of mine refers to them as ‘the Shakespeare of our subject’). Before 1962, most artists did not write their own songs; after the Beatles, this became the norm in popular music. Their list of studio technical innovations (automatic double-tracking, sampling, guitar feedback) is enormous; the equivalent musical list (harmonic complexity, challenges to form, backing vocal arrangement conventions) still longer. But they released their last album in 1970, and a huge number of popular songs have been written since then.9 I suggest that we should define our repertoire as widely as possible, particularly culturally and historically, within a broad definition of US/UK popular song. This means that analysis must engage with pre- and post-Beatles material. Personally I like to include at least one example of newly released music and one example of pre-1950 songwriting in every analysis session, to demonstrate to students that popular music is constantly changing while retaining many structural, literary and musical constants derived from its evolutionary history.

Formative assessment The second method of teaching and learning is the evaluation of the student’s own draft work. Formative assessment can be delivered through tutor critique, such as a face-to-face tutorial or tutor-written commentary on the song, or it can be delivered through peer critique, typically a group of other student songwriters where songs receive group critique in a playback session. Both models are common in creative writing higher education curricula, and require little adaptation for application to songwriting apart from a classroom environment that allows both live performance (for singer–songwriters) and audio playback (for non-performing songwriters who have recorded their draft work). Formative assessment need not be classroom-based – it is particularly suited to online learning, which can be synchronous, via videoconference, or asynchronous, using web-based time-shifted tools such as online discussion boards. My own university’s distance learning songwriting curriculum was launched in 2010 and runs in parallel with the face-to-face version; students experience the same

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admissions and assessment criteria for both models. Songwriting is not a realtime musical activity (compared to, for example, ensemble performance or improvisation), so the time-shifting implicit in distance learning is at the very least not a barrier, and can even provide a benefit because the learning takes place both during and between tutor contact sessions. Because of the aforementioned issues with students’ egos, it is necessary to adopt teaching strategies that engender a safe and supportive learning environment. The first of these is to make it clear that the song is always assumed to be a work-in-progress, so that the purpose of the critique is to inform the next stage of edits and give the songwriter an increased range of future creative choices. Songs are referred to as drafts, reinforcing the assumption that there is more work to be done. The second strategy is to use literally constructive language, particularly in peer sessions, that describes hypothetical future editing opportunities. After a student has played back a first draft, the peer group is asked to provide feedback in two categories – what worked well in the song and ideas that may be useful in future editing. These ideas for future edits are of course synonymous with what didn’t work in the song, but they are presented less as negative feedback than as additional choices that the writer may not yet have considered. If, for example, the peer critique considered the draft song’s chorus to be melodically uninteresting, this could be expressed as a suggestion to try a wider choice of melodic intervals or rhythmic variation in the next editing session. This approach seems to be valued by students, even in situations where the edited draft is not intended to be resubmitted for more peer critique. Peer group critique sessions require a tutor as chair, and not just to ensure the application of the classroom courtesies as described. One phenomenon that has always fascinated me is the inclination of groups of student songwriters to comment on the performance rather than the song in a playback situation, even though they are fully aware that this is a songwriting class. When the performer has finished playing the first draft of the song, if the tutor then asks an openended question such as ‘any thoughts from the group?’ the first comments will tend to focus on performance elements. Typical responses might include ‘I love your voice’, ‘you really went for it [dynamically] on the outro’ or ‘that’s an interesting guitar part in the middle eight’. It takes considerable guidance from the tutor to steer the comments towards the core song elements of melody and lyric. I speculate that this behaviour relates to what psychologist Daniel Kahneman (2012) calls System 1 and System 2 thinking.10 System 1 refers to our intuitive ‘fast’ response to decision-making situations; System 2 is our considered,

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reasoning, ‘slow’ response. Kahneman’s research suggests that our brains will use System 2 only in situations where System 1 does not provide an easier answer. As listeners, we do not use our reason to decide whether we enjoy a piece of music – we respond emotionally and within our personal cultural frameworks of listening experience. To ask someone to enjoy a vocal performance or even appreciate a guitar player’s skill is to invoke System 1’s response to the audio product; conversely, to evaluate the songwriter’s use of a lyric metaphor or the scansion of a vowel in a melisma is to ask the listener to think structurally – to invoke System 2. The role of the chair, then, is to ensure that the playback session is both positively framed and focused on the task at hand – which is to improve the draft song.

Constraint-based tasks The third strategy is to provide activities that develop songwriting skills. I refer to these as Constraint-Based Tasks (CBTs). The student is asked to write a song within a given constraint. The tasks are chosen by the tutor and can be varied according to the particular background and aspirations of each student, though in weekly group work I prefer to provide a task to everyone in the group in order to encourage students to share and discuss creative strategies with each other. There are two types of constraint – process-based and contentbased. Examples of a process-based constraint would be to write a song by completing the whole lyric before setting it to music (word setting), or to write a song on an unfamiliar instrument. Examples of content-based constraints would be to write a song with a minimum tempo of 120 beats per minute, to write a song in AABA form, or to write a chorus where the title is repeated at least once (Bennett, 2009). Constraints are intended to help students to develop new creativities that may not be common in their personal habitus. CBTs can encourage students to become more aware of their own creativities because the constraints of the task disable the ability to rely on previously used self-generated songwriting processes and content. Even a relatively subtle CBT such as starting from the title can have a substantial effect on the finished product. Because songs are built iteratively, every creative decision is related to every prior creative decision, meaning that simply changing the order of decision-making (by starting with the title instead of, for example, by playing chords) can force an entirely new structure of songwriting behaviours and therefore a different outcome. CBTs provide new strategies that can be

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deployed at will in future songwriting sessions; students learn experientially about their own personal relationship with cause and effect with reference to their own developing song catalogues.

Practice The fourth and final strategy is simply to allow students to practise songwriting. I maintain that in music education terms, songwriting is no more mysterious than instrumental performance, sight-reading or improvisation.11 It is a set of skills that can be deployed at will by the musician to achieve a desired outcome, and the skills can be developed through repetition. The more songs students write, the better songwriters they become. The curriculum can contribute to this by creating schemes of work and lesson plans that require new songs to be generated frequently. At residential summer schools, I set a new task each day, with peer playback the following morning. For undergraduate and postgraduate work the frequency is usually weekly. Student feedback on these (ostensibly draconian) strategies has been overwhelmingly positive. Learners often report that they are surprised to be able to write songs to order, and that the curriculum has enabled them to write more songs than they thought possible in a given timescale. It appears that the curriculum’s macrostructure provides a sufficient incentive for the student to become more prolific than they would be with only self-motivation as their creative driver. In my experience, songwriting curricula can successfully combine these strategies – a CBT can be provided to a group of students, who will then write the song and bring it back for peer critique the following day/week. In the playback session the group or the tutor may make reference to repertoire, and examples can be played and evaluated live in the session. I like to have access to Spotify and Google so that the group can listen to any song that comes up in discussion and project the lyrics via a web browser.

Assessment Designing ILOs (Intended Learning Outcomes) and assessment criteria for creative curricula is always challenging because of the need to evaluate originality and domain awareness simultaneously to reach a judgement

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regarding the work’s value. Criteria and ILOs that are too specific risk distorting the creative process and forcing students to write to a template; those that are too flexible may be too difficult to apply fairly in a summative assessment (i.e. marking) situation. Some of the more technical aspects of a song recording are relatively easy to evaluate, at least in terms of competence in mixing and production. But these are, as we have seen, not elements of the song itself. After many years of trying to apply detailed assessment criteria in assignment briefs I have come to the conclusion that we must simply embrace listener subjectivity (and songwriting tutors’ own domain immersion) and rely on academic professionalism, combined with Quality Assurance systems such as second marking and external examiners, to make a fair and informed evaluation of student songs. From this perspective, summative assessment criteria can be broad. I currently use only three – ‘technical quality of the song recording’; ‘evidence of creative control in the songwriting’; and ‘artistic quality of the finished product’. These are obviously not very specific and may be difficult to apply consistently but I take the view that to be more prescriptive would be to restrict the activation of creativities on students’ own cultural terms, especially at Master’s level. To submit songwriting to the observation effect in this way risks damaging the very learning opportunity that has attracted students towards the subject in the first place.

Higher education? Universities and music colleges are only a small part of a learner’s musical experience. Prior to entering higher education, a student will certainly have experienced domain immersion through listening and making music with peers, and will probably have learned music with a teacher, in school or privately. Returning briefly to the Beatles, who did not of course have a formal music education, their creative output clearly exhibits ever-developing experiential learning based on prior domain knowledge (McIntyre, 2006). I suggest that this was achieved through four routes – repertoire analysis (listening to records and working out cover versions in their early days); formative assessment (peer and audience feedback on their work); constraintbased tasks (writing songs for particular self-imposed briefs); and practice (they wrote frequently). Perhaps, then, the curricular framework I propose here may just be a university version of a long-established songwriter learning experience.

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Notes 1 I hope that the teaching and learning strategies outlined here can be applied outside the framework of what McIntyre calls ‘Western Popular Songwriting’, and I have had limited experience of working with students from other cultural backgrounds (e.g. Cantonese pop, French Chanson or Latin American dance music). But given this limitation in these contexts it will be for others to ascertain how applicable the approaches outlined here may be outside US/UK popular music traditions. 2 This is my first and final reference to songs in the classical tradition. While it is unarguable that Schubert was literally a writer of songs, my work in HE music is based on an understanding that the cultural semantics of the term ‘songwriter’ refer to composers of popular music. 3 One might also include Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 work Outliers, which I do not formally cite here due to its non-academic approach, but his term ‘the 10,000 hour rule’ is useful as a proxy for domain immersion; that is, to become successful all individuals must experience significant exposure to their chosen domain. 4 For a more detailed discussion of the way Bourdieu’s theories can be applied to musical creativities, see Burnard (2012: 72–100 and 271–3). 5 From hereon I capitalize the adjective ‘Creative’ whenever I use it to mean that an object or activity is new, surprising and valuable. 6 Indeed, many successful songwriters are ‘topliners’ and write only melody and lyric, collaborating with producers who provide backing tracks and post-production editing. 7 Like Moore, I use the word ‘performance’ in its broadest sense here because of course an instrumental part does not have to be supplied by a live instrument and could, for example, be programmed in software. 8 For a more exhaustive list of ways in which a listener can receive and interpret the content of a recorded song, see Moore (2012: 331–6). 9 The majority of which were created by people who were not young, white, British males. I do not intend to get into an in-depth discussion of cultural tyrannies here, but nevertheless suggest that a genre-agnostic curriculum requires a diversity of canonic examples. 10 Kahneman himself observes that the two systems are not neurologically categorized – they are themselves thought experiments to describe categories of psychological behaviours as immediate/intuitive (System 1) or calculating/ reasoning (System 2). 11 David Sudnow’s Ways of the Hand (1993) is an auto-ethnographic ‘phenomenological account of handiwork as it’s known to a performing musician’, providing insight into the iterative way improvisational and instrumental strategies are learned and developed. No such longitudinal study exists for composers, still less songwriters.

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References Bennett, J. (2009), ‘SWF 09 – the tasks’, UK Songwriting Festival website [accessed 6 April 2014]. —. (2011), ‘Collaborative songwriting – the ontology of negotiated creativity in popular music studio practice’, Journal of the Art of Record Production #5, Leeds, UK: Art of Record Production. —. (2012), ‘Constraint, collaboration and creativity in popular songwriting teams’, in D. Collins (ed.), The Act of Musical Composition: Studies in the Creative Process, SEMPRE Studies in the Psychology of Music, Farnham: Ashgate, 139–69. —. (2013), ‘“You Won’t See Me” – in search of an epistemology of collaborative songwriting’, Journal of the Art of Record Production #8, Rewriting the rules of production, Quebec, Canada: Art of Record Production. Boden, M. (2004), The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms, 2nd edn, London and New York: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1990), The Logic of Practice, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Campbell, D. T. (1960), ‘Blind variation and selective retentions in creative thought as in other knowledge processes’, Psychological Review, 67(6), 380–400. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988), ‘Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity’, in R. Sternberg (ed.), The Nature of Creativity: Contemporary Psychological Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 325–39. —. (1996), Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, New York: HarperCollins. Hennion, A. (1989), ‘An intermediary between production and consumption: The producer of popular music’, Science, Technology & Human Values, 14(4), 400–24. Kahneman, D. (2012), Thinking, Fast and Slow, London: Penguin. McIntyre, P. (2001), ‘The domain of songwriters: Towards defining the term “song”’, Perfect Beat: The Pacific Journal of Research into Contemporary Music and Popular Culture, 5(3), 100–11. —. (2006), ‘Paul McCartney and the creation of “Yesterday”: The systems model in operation’, Popular Music, 25(2), 201–19. —. (2008), ‘Creativity and cultural production: A study of contemporary Western popular music songwriting’, Creativity Research Journal, 20(1), 40–52. MacKinnon, D. W. (1963), ‘The identification of creativity’, Applied Psychology, 12(1), 25–46. Moore, A. F. (2012), Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song, Farnham: Ashgate. Negus, K. and Pickering, M. (2000), ‘Creativity and cultural production’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 6(2), 259–82.

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Pettijohn II, T. F. and Ahmed, S. F. (2010), ‘Songwriting loafing or creative collaboration? A comparison of individual and team-written Billboard hits in the USA’, Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis, 7(1), 1–5. QAA (2008), The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ), Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (UK)

[accessed 27 March 2014]. Salley, K. (2011), ‘On the interaction of alliteration with rhythm and metre in popular music’, Popular Music, 30(3), 409–32. Scruton, R. (2012), ‘Schubert is needed now more than ever’, Telegraph.co.uk [accessed 20 March 2014]. Simonton, D. K. (2000), ‘Creative development as acquired expertise: Theoretical issues and an empirical test’, Developmental Review, 20(2), 283–318. Sudnow, D. (1993), Ways of the Hand: The Organization of Improvised Conduct, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Tagg, P. (2009), Everyday Tonality, New York and Montréal: Mass Media Scholars’ Press (via www.tagg.org). Tagg, P. and Clarida, R. (2006), Ten Little Title Tunes. Available at www.tagg.org

4

Killing the Muse: Listening Creativities and the Journey to Creative Mastery Donna Weston and Tim Byron

Introduction In this chapter, we propose creative critical listening as a musical creativity and pedagogical tool and consider the following questions: How is popular music analysis best delivered in a popular music degree which is grounded in diverse creative practices? And how can students be convinced of its value? The first of these questions is addressed in an analysis of the structure of the Bachelor of Popular Music degree at Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium of Music (Australia). The second is approached through the discussion of data from a targeted student survey, drawing on psychology literature related to the development of expertise. It is argued here that creatively taught semiotic analysis, as the theoretical underpinning of these courses, reinforces the principle underlying the creativities inherent to the pedagogical design of the degree – to replicate, and accelerate, what successful musicians do through reinforcement of creative listening skills. The degree was designed with the aim of developing diverse musical creativities, central to which, it is argued in this chapter, is critical listening, a musical creativity in itself (see Burnard, 2012).

The Bachelor of Popular Music: Background The Bachelor of Popular Music – or BPM – was launched in 1999. The pedagogical design of the degree is based on the replication of what already occurs quite naturally in the real-world practices of successful popular

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musicians and aims to accelerate these practices within the context of a formal tertiary learning environment. This goal was achieved through a design that incorporates ‘innovative learning practices that reflect popular music-making practices outside structured learning environments’ (Lebler, 2007: 207). That is, the entire pedagogy of the degree is based on critical listening, self-reflection, peer assessment and authentic learning experiences. These four aspects of the pedagogical design work together in a creatively diverse environment towards a common goal. The principal outcome promoted by the degree is the graduation of the ‘DIY’ musician – one who embraces the multiple creativities of writing, recording and performance, and who promotes and distributes his or her own music. As well as a major study, for which students submit original work for assessment, there are audio engineering courses, songwriting courses and – the focus of this chapter – music analysis courses over the three years of the degree. For the majority of applicants, the expectation of the degree is that it will help them develop the multiple creativities required for a career as a performing musician and/or songwriter. And therein lies the issue at the heart of this chapter: while the major elements of study, songwriting and studio-based courses, are understood by students to be directly relevant to this goal, the challenge is to convince them of the value of musical analysis to a successful career in the industry and deliver a musical analysis course that makes this clear. In this chapter, this issue is approached first through a discussion of the rationale and content of the semiotics courses in the BPM, followed by an analysis of student responses to targeted surveys. Finally, these responses are framed within psychological theory as they relate to creative critical listening and the development of expertise.

Music semiotics and critical listening Musical semiotic analysis broadly ‘deals with relations between the sounds we call musical and what those sounds signify to those producing and hearing the sounds in specific sociocultural contexts’ (Tagg, 2013: 145). It functions as the framework for the music history and analysis courses, one of which is studied each semester in the BPM, and we will argue that semiotics is one of the most effective ways to develop critical listening skills. The analytical framework underpinning Philip Tagg’s text Music’s Meanings – a Modern Musicology for Non-Musos (2013) forms the theoretical basis for these courses – specifically,

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what Tagg has called a hermeneutic–sociological method, by which music is studied not only for its communicative functions, but also for its relationship to its social context. This is something approaching what Chris Kennett describes as ‘an all-encompassing methodology whereby all popular music can be discussed in predominantly textual terms, as a starting point from which a wider range of social and cultural factors may be brought to bear on the analysis of what is essentially a complex process of communication’ (2003: 198); or, in the BPM, more accurately as a creative process as well as a communicative one. This is achieved in the music history and analysis courses through requiring students to identify specific musical structures and describe what they communicate. While embedded in a semiotic context, what students are essentially assessed on in these courses is their listening creativity – the ability to identify and articulate the nuances of sound as a communicative medium. The value of these skills to their diverse creative practices – performance, composition, production and so on – is crucial here, and is explored in depth in this chapter. Indeed, listening creativity is critical to the developing expertise and mastery of their craft. From a pedagogical point of view, the basic aim of teaching this hermeneutic–sociological method to students is to provide them with a framework for developing the habits and skills of what has been variously called ‘analytical listening’ (Moylan, 2002), or ‘critical listening’ (Hugill, 2012; Draper, 2013). Moylan defines ‘analytical listening’ as ‘the evaluation of the content and the function of the sound in relation to the musical or communication context in which it exists . . . a detailed observation of the interrelationships of all musical materials, and of any text’ (2002: 90). For Hugill, critical listening involves ‘listening accurately and well to sounds themselves . . . [using] understanding and perception of the context and intention of the work, as well as their innate sense of musicality . . . [and understanding] the cultural aspects of music’ (2012: 64). The ability to creatively and effectively listen to music analytically is widely seen as an important skill for producers of music to possess. This is not only seen in the textbooks aimed at audio production students (Moylan, 2002; Hugill, 2012) quoted earlier, but is also commonly expressed in other fields. The music critic Carl Wilson’s (2007) study of Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love discusses, for example, how the ability to manipulate sounds in order to represent cultural capital is now a more useful skill than sheer musicianship. The Sex Pistols, as another example, are a band that only required rudimentary musicianship, but which had a finely tuned sense of how music fitted into the communication context and cultural aspects of music in the late 1970s (Marcus,

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1990). Similarly, musicians themselves commonly express the importance of analytical listening to their creative process. For example, Gotye, interviewed about his song Hearts A Mess (McMillen, 2012), discusses the feeling he got from an initial sample from a Harry Belafonte song, and how he painstakingly constructed the song around that sample; in discussing the effect of the song Gotye shows an intuitive grasp of the way his music is received, discussing his perceptions that he is singing to ‘the audience . . . the other person in the song, or maybe “the other me”’ (ibid.). These ways of listening can be described as listening creativities, and are crucial to the development of mastery of the musician’s craft. The ability to identify and describe the nature and affect of individual sounds within a piece of music hones these skills. To listen, reflect, articulate and produce are the essential creativities of successful musicians who have mastered their craft. How to develop these creativities in a formal learning environment is discussed further in depth.

The development of expertise How do these listening skills evolve, and more importantly, how do they develop diverse listening creativities? What should we expect the process of acquiring these skills to look like to the musicians in a popular music programme? While there is little research on the specific development of expertise in critical listening, there is extensive psychological literature on the general development of expertise (cf. Hambrick et al., 2013) that could be transferred to the specific domain of critical listening. It is well accepted within psychology that mental processes can be broadly divided into automatic, intuitive, unconscious processes (Kahneman, 2011, calls these mental processes ‘System 1’) and effortful, deliberative, conscious processes (Kahneman calls these mental processes ‘System 2’). Tasks that primarily involve System 2 – conscious deliberation – are generally difficult, effortful and prone to poor performance under stress; in contrast, tasks that primarily involve System 1 – unconscious intuition – are generally performed more effectively, and are more resistant to stress. Domains of knowledge can be transferred from System 2 to System 1, but this process requires consistent and regular practice; it took about 66 days, on average, for participants in a psychology experiment to feel that a new habit had become automatic (Lally et al., 2010). For example, driving a car effectively involves being able to perform the mechanics of driving using System 1; if you have to consciously remember to look in your mirrors, monitor your speed,

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monitor the speed of other cars, change gears, and so on (i.e. if you have to use System 2 when driving), you are likely to forget to perform some of these tasks. Most drivers begin to learn to drive using System 2 – they have to consciously remember to monitor their speed and look in their mirrors – but, through consistent, regular practice, more and more of the processes of driving get transferred to System 1. The development of expertise is, effectively, the learning of a domain of knowledge and then the transfer of that domain from System 2 to System 1. Expertise in analytical listening and listening creativity is an important part of expertise in the production of music, as Draper (2013) argues. If expertise in analytical listening is broadly equivalent to expertise in other skills, then the development of expertise in critical listening should broadly follow a path where students learn the basis of the skill and then practice it until it becomes intuitive. In the context of students in the BPM who aim to become producers and musicians, the students should be able, by the end of the degree, to intuitively hear the parts of the music which are attempting to convey a cultural meaning. The development of expertise in listening creativity has a direct relationship to the expression of diverse creativities in the production and presentation of their music as they learn to identify and recreate, whether consciously or unconsciously, the aural components that comprise their creative intentions. However, the formal analytical listening skills taught in a class at university are rarely the only analytical listening skills that students have come to possess. Students able to successfully audition for the BPM course are likely to have an intuitive but limited understanding of analytical listening which they have previously used in their creative endeavours. We argue that introducing a theoretical framework for analytical listening such as semiotics is likely to disrupt students’ previous intuitive analytical listening skills, and thus creativity, in the short term, but improve their analytical listening and thus creativity in the long term. In Kahneman’s (2011) terminology, introducing the theoretical framework forces students to use System 2 rather than System 1 in their creative endeavours. If various parts of the analytical listening process have become automatic after practice, then this leads to an improvement in analytical listening. However, if these parts of the process are not yet automatic, this would likely lead to a decreased functioning of analytical listening compared to the students’ previous untrained analytical listening processes. This counter-intuitive result – that a little training can decrease performance – is found in other fields. People with experience but little formal

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training perform more accurately when they are asked to use their intuition rather than when asked to deliberate; in contrast, people with experience and established formal training perform better when asked to deliberate. For example, Dijkstra et al. (2013) found, in an art judgement task, that people with experience in the field but little formal training performed in a less accomplished fashion when asked to deliberate rather than use intuition, whereas this result was reversed for experienced people with established formal training. If this is true for critical listening, one would expect that students who have just begun the process of integrating a theoretical framework for analytical listening into their creative practices would find it disruptive – in other words it might ‘kill the muse’, an attitude on which the title of this chapter was based. However, students whose understanding of the theoretical framework for analytical listening has become more intuitive (after further engagement with directed critical listening) would find the theoretical framework to be beneficial to the development of diverse creativities. In summary, we have identified two systematic mental processes through which the mastering of expertise occurs – the conscious and the unconscious. We argue that this model applies equally to creative processes, and specifically to creative listening processes. The development of creative listening is cyclic, beginning as an intuitive process for the young musician entering tertiary study, and becoming conscious and deliberate as new critical listening skills are learned. Students at this point may find that critical, objective listening disrupts their intuitive creative process; however, it is proposed that mastery occurs when those conscious processes once again become intuitive. This process is explored and tested through a discussion of targeted student and graduate surveys.

Putting theory into practice Discussions over the most appropriate methods for studying popular music have, of course, been ongoing for a number of decades – musicologists and popular music scholars, such as Allan Moore, Phillip Tagg, Susan McClary, Robert Walser, John Covach, Richard Middleton and Susan Fast, to name but a few, have grappled with the balance between the musical and the socio-cultural aspects of the study of popular music. The same kinds of questions were brought into play when designing the content for music history and literature courses in the BPM: what kind of study of popular music would benefit not only the musicologists, but also the makers

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of the music itself? Given that, in musical semiotic analysis, we analyse the music with the sound of the song itself, whether live or recorded, as the primary text, then critical listening is the basis on which these courses are built. The critical listening skills required in semiotic analysis produce multiple creativities: they steer the guitarist, for example, to look beyond the guitar line in a song, the songwriter to look beyond lyrics and structure. They require looking not only at other musical structures elsewhere in the song, but also those going on at the same time. In other words, these critical listening skills are creative ones. It is, however, often very difficult to convince students that a semiotic analysis approach is appropriate. BPM students – in other words, music practitioners – often view musical and semiotic analysis with suspicion or even disdain; such analysis can be seen as artificially constructed, as showing little understanding and insight into the creative process itself. There is often resistance to the reduction of the ‘art’ to academic terms and a resistance to deconstructing what is seen as an intuitive and almost ‘magical’ process – that analysing music too objectively will kill the muse. In order to try to quantify these kinds of responses and demonstrate the challenges entailed in convincing popular musicians of the value of semiotic analysis to their craft, a survey of current undergraduate and graduate BPM students was conducted, setting up a separate Facebook group for each cohort. Forty students responded, with a fairly even distribution across the groups. They were asked three questions, the responses to which are further discussed. The analysis of these responses sheds light on how the semiotics courses develop creative listening skills over time, how the students perceive this process, and the important role of the transfer of conscious to unconscious knowing.

Survey of current and graduate BPM students 1. Student perceptions of the role of semiotic analysis Question 1: What do you understand the role of your semiotic analysis courses to be in the context of the whole BPM programme?

The coding of the responses to this question revealed that students were aware that semiotic analysis helped them to understand how music communicates, assisted the songwriting process and helped them to appreciate music – in other words, they understood the intention that it aids critical listening skills. This is exemplified in comments such as ‘it has helped in both the way I listen to

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and make music’ (first-year student). They also articulated the overall aim of understanding the role of music in its socio-historical context. However, they appeared not to understand the value of studying various genres and eras of music in the development of their own music. The trends over time are interesting: by the second year, students appeared to no longer value the critical listening role of these courses; then, in the third year, double the number of students understood its value to the songwriting process. The value of semiotic analysis to music appreciation and communication appeared to peak after graduation. First-year students no doubt appreciate better the role of semiotic analysis in understanding music in its socio-cultural context because at the start of their first year it is presented to them in an entirely theoretical way (as opposed to subsequent semesters in which the music is historically organized). This does not, however, account for the dip in second year and reorientation towards this in subsequent years. Perhaps the clues lie in the second-year peak in a focus on semiotic analysis as an ‘academic skill’. In other words, in the second year, students seem to focus more on semiotic analysis as an academic skill rather than a creative one – this would account perhaps for the second-year decrease in the perceived value of semiotic analysis as a creative tool. But why? Question 2 provides some clues.

2. Student perceptions of the value of semiotic analysis Question 2: Do you think it is useful to include this kind of musical analysis in a popular music programme?

First, it is promising, in these responses, that nearly all students recognized the value of semiotic analysis in a popular music production programme. Reflecting on the responses to Question 1, comments as to the usefulness of the courses tended to centre on critical listening and the creative process – thinking about music, and how it communicates emotion. Students also understood the academic value of the courses, but there was not the disproportionate focus on academic value by second years as there was in Q1. Why? Q1 was about their understanding of ‘why’ the courses were included in the programme, and therefore no doubt influenced by what they were told in course profiles and in class. This question is more about personal understanding of the value of these courses, and it is clear that in various ways they are valued less than other aspects of the programme (i.e. the practical focused courses). This is to be expected in a programme that focuses on creative practice, especially as the history and literature courses are the only courses that do not contain a

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practical component. From the second year, we start to see a questioning of the usefulness of the semiotic analysis courses, which appears to continue into the third year. Interestingly, this coincides with the responses describing the courses as stifling creativity. The usefulness of the courses in understanding the role of music in society remains constant. Unpacking this – across all years – nearly half of the students understood the value of semiotic analysis in understanding the role of music in society (reflecting the responses to Q1); however, only an average of one-third of the cohort valued the courses with respect to critical listening skills. There were no responses reflecting the aim of contribution to songwriting as evident in Q1 – clearly students overall understood that it is intended to assist creative processes, but according to the responses in Q2 they did not relate this directly to songwriting. However, all of these change in the third year, as the responses to Q3 demonstrate.

3. Student perception of intended outcomes of semiotic analysis Before moving on to Q3, more light is shed on the topic through a different look at the data: the same questions, but with the responses coded differently, based on the five intended outcomes of the history and analysis courses. These outcomes are: enhancing the creative process and songwriting skills; promoting critical and creative listening; understanding music in its socio-historical context; objective deconstruction; and understanding musical communication and meaning. The responses show that the value of the courses regarding their contribution to skills in deconstructing music remained of low importance in the survey across all years. With regard to understanding musical meaning and developing songwriting skills, responses also remained steady across all years and all questions, but were of quite high value. This indicates that the role of musical analysis with respect to these attributes is largely understood and valued. Over time, it can be observed that recognition of the role and value of musical communication peaked in the third year, and then dropped off, while the perceived contribution of these courses to songwriting and creative process increased over time, peaking in the third year and remaining steady. This can be interpreted as students taking on board, by their third year, the value of the history and analysis courses to their creativities, and taking these attitudes with them as postgraduates. There was considerable variability regarding the study of music in its sociohistorical context: in the first year, students overwhelmingly understood the role of the history and analysis classes. This is somewhat surprising because

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the survey was administered at the end of the first semester, when first-year students had not yet studied popular music history – just semiotic theory. In subsequent years, little value was placed on this aspect of the courses. This is nicely elaborated on in some of the responses: ‘knowing the year that a Frank Zappa album was released has never once helped me to book a gig, write music, play a show’; or: ‘Instead of learning what drugs the Beatles took and what songs were named after drugs maybe I should be learning the songs.’ Over time and across all years, the data also clearly reflects a downward trend with regard to the emphasis placed on the study of music history. There were largely varied responses to the criteria of critical listening (also expressed as ‘different ways of listening’). Students across the later years did not appear to place great value on this aspect, yet it was highlighted by firstyears. One way of interpreting this is that, in the first year, the courses provide such a new way of listening to music that it is more conscious in their thoughts (System 2: conscious), and by the second year and onwards it has become more natural (System 1: unconscious) and adopted into their songwriting approaches; this accounts for an increase in responses describing the value of the courses to songwriting from the second year onwards. This was clearly evident in the responses to the third question.

4. Student perception of the impact of semiotic analysis on listening creativities Q3: Has what you have learned in this course changed the way in which you approach making or listening to music (for good or for bad), and if so, how?

One of the more interesting features of Q3 is the steady increase, from first year through to graduation, in responses saying that semiotic analysis interferes with the creative process – even more striking than for Q2. At the same time, there is an increase across the years in responses saying that semiotic analysis has improved approaches to songwriting. This seeming anomaly is explained when looking at the verbal responses, which describe how, by the third year, students had learned to ‘switch off ’ analysis mode when creating music. In other words, they had learned to use semiotic analysis as another tool to choose from their artist’s toolbox. One second-year student, for example, said that: ‘it changed the way I actually wrote music, and I found myself over-thinking things instead of just letting it flow . . . it actually caused quite a stumble for me [in the] last half of last year’. A third-year student’s response shows the progression: ‘At first it drove me

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nuts. I didn’t like picking apart a song and asking myself “why?” . . . I wouldn’t consider it a bad thing at all – but if I hadn’t learned to turn it off I would.’ This is supported in this example from a graduate: ‘When listening to music purely for enjoyment, I am able to switch off the “semiotic analysis” in me, and just get lost in the music.’ By the third year, and post-graduation, students described how critical listening helped them to deconstruct music, and the verbal responses relate this directly to improved songwriting skills, which start to be recognized in the second year. For example, one second-year student wrote: ‘I have noticed a massive improvement in my songwriting skills, which I believe has come from listening to different styles of music and really concentrating on the elements that make the song enjoyable.’ And from a third-year student: ‘Semiotic analysis has, basically, nice and neatly labelled and filed all the things I thought I was hearing in music before and now I am able to recreate it with new-found understanding.’ Or from another: ‘Now I am constantly searching through the mix of songs for the different layers and mixing techniques employed to create music.’ A graduate expressed this eloquently: ‘These courses have forever changed the way I listen to music. I now have the musicological tools and frameworks to understand formulas and patterns in the art of songwriting and musicianship.’ Most importantly, comments like ‘improved approach to songwriting and creative process’ and ‘better sense of what makes a good song’ demonstrate that they ‘get it’. While the semiotic analysis courses are contextualized within music history – in fact, popular music history dominates these courses – students appear to value the critical listening aspects of the courses over socio-historical ones, and see a direct impact on their diverse creativities.

Findings: Student responses and theories of learning expertise Students’ responses to the survey are broadly what you would expect compared to the model of the learning of intuitive critical listening skills that emerge from the psychological research on the learning of expertise (e.g. Lally et al., 2010; Hambrick et al., 2013). That research, broadly, suggests that there would probably be three phases to the learning of intuitive critical listening skills. First, it was likely that there would be a pre-existing level of intuitive critical listening that students had previously learned by trial and error, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the student: the naïve-intuitive phase. In the

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naïve-intuitive phase, students’ creative processes are not yet affected by their acquisition of formal critical listening skills, and largely rely on System 1. Secondly, it was likely that there would be a period for students where they were, out of necessity, practising formal critical listening skills for class assignments, and thus using the effortful, deliberative System 2; this was the learneddeliberative phase, where students’ previous intuitive critical listening skills were in the process of being replaced by more refined formal critical listening skills. This necessary learned-deliberative phase was likely to be frustrating for students as they struggled to integrate their new critical listening skills into their creative processes. This phase poses a paradox for students, as they become aware of the limitations of their previous intuitive approach, but the skills learned through formal critical listening have not yet become habitual. Finally, the third phase would be the learned-intuitive phase, where knowledge from the formal critical listening skills has been integrated fully into the student’s creative processes. In the learned-intuitive phase, students no longer need to use System 2 to access formal critical listening skills; instead, the processes of, for example, identifying a ‘sonic anaphone’, and the ways that it can be used within a piece of creative work, have become habitual to the student, part of their System 1. How do student responses to the three questions compare to this model? Broadly speaking, responses to the three questions from first-year students largely correspond to the naïve-intuitive phase; the responses of first-year students generally show little sign of struggling with creative processes, but also show little sign of integrating their formal critical listening skills into their creative processes. This is surprising in some ways; one would expect the first-year students to show the most evidence of the learned-deliberative phase, as they are the ones beginning to learn and thus integrate the formal critical listening skills into their repertoire of creative processes. What this suggests is that students at the end of the first year have not yet begun to integrate the formal critical listening skills they are learning into their creative processes. They are not yet sufficiently assured to be able to integrate knowledge from their formal critical listening into their production, and are not yet prepared to integrate knowledge from their formal critical listening skills in their songwriting or performance. First-year students appear to find their semiotics classes to be interesting but are not yet integrating them into their creative processes. For example, compare this response by a first-year student to Question 1: ‘I believe semiotics allows students to learn, experience and appreciate music on a deeper level, understanding how music impacts society and how society

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impacts music’ to this response by a third-year student: ‘It helps provide us in the BPM with a better understanding of how music affects people and how to explain the effects it has on people in appropriate wording etc. It also helps us write songs and understand how to write specific tunes to fit an emotion or feel.’ Both responses are broadly positive, but the response from the third-year student identifies specific outcomes from studying the subject, and specifically references the creative process. In contrast, the second-year students, who are more familiar with the processes of recording music, and who have more need to create new material, very obviously wrestle more with the formal critical listening skills they have learned in the semiotics classes. It is the second-year students who generally show the most evidence of the learned-deliberative phase in their answers on the survey. The trend in their responses is that they more often resent having to learn the formal critical listening skills and the socio-historical background to music from the past, and are more likely to feel that the new knowledge is ‘killing the muse’; for example, one second-year student said in response to Question 2: I love the people in our course and the lecturers; however, semiotics seems like something I have to get through rather than knowledge I look forward to obtaining. I don’t feel like there is any nurturing done to improve my skills as a musician. . . . We need to do less talking, less reading, and just more playing music. That’s how we learn the artists and each other.

While Lally et al. (2010) found that it took an average of 66 days for a relatively simple habit to form, it is likely that the much more complex habit of listening to music using formal critical listening skills takes considerably longer to develop. It would appear from student responses that this habit has formed by the second year, but has not yet been integrated fully into a student’s creative processes; the process of using formal critical listening skills appears to have become a habit, but not one that has yet become intuitive; formal critical listening for second-year students is still part of System 2 rather than System 1. In this context, the second-year student who noted ‘overthinking things instead of just letting it flow’ is a perfect example of a student in the learneddeliberative phase. Finally, the third-year students and especially the graduates show signs of mastering the formal critical listening skills to the extent of being in the learnedintuitive phase. For third-year students and graduates, the trend in responses to the survey shows that these students are less frustrated by the effect of formal critical listening on their creative process. Instead, these students show

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an appreciation for how these listening skills have improved their songwriting process and appear to be approaching formalized creative critical listening from a more intuitive base; for the third-year student who claims that ‘if I hadn’t learned to turn it off I would [hate critical listening]’, it is very likely that formal listening skills have been integrated into intuitive System 1 creative processes, and that, while System 2 can be accessed to more carefully and deliberately analyse music if necessary, it is no longer something that has to be actively worked at. This can be seen exceptionally clearly in the response to Question 3 by a graduate: Learning semiotics has definitely affected the way I listen to, and make music, but more so as an underlying education. It’s not something I am consciously thinking about all the time, but rather gently sways my opinion below the surface. Rather than say ‘I don’t like this song because of the semiotics of it etc.’ . . . I just seem to have a deeper understanding how to convey ideas in my music, and properly interpret a song.

Limitations Of course, it is important to point out some limitations in this study. First, it is possible that the students who responded to the survey may not be representative of students in the BPM in general. Student responses to the survey were not mandatory, anonymous or private, and so it is likely that students were selective in how they articulated their responses to the questions, and that some students, with what they would perceive to be more controversial opinions, were more likely to decline to answer the survey. Secondly, it is likely that different students with different strengths and abilities will pass through the three phases we have identified here at different points; there are some students who seem to have reached the learned-deliberative phase by the end of their first year (e.g. one first-year student who said in response to Question 3: ‘To an extent yes, as I am still writing in the same way, however now I know why I have unconsciously made certain choices. Knowing this allows me to harness and pick up those different techniques demonstrated in semiotics and use them to my full advantage’), and some students who are still negotiating the learned-deliberative phase at the end of the third year, for example, one thirdyear student said: When the classes first began, I struggled to find a valid reason why I had to take it. I think this kind of learning, like most, is useful to some and pointless to others. For me personally, I never felt the need to define a song or a melody line or why

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they used strings or a certain drum beat – it never mattered. As a songwriter I just do what feels natural to me and I do what I like in the moment.

Thus, it is important to be aware that the matching of student year-levels to the different learning phases identified here are indicative of trends, but not applicable to every student. Nonetheless, given these limitations, the relationship between the overall trend in student responses by year-level and the different learning phases is clear.

Summary of findings On the basis of the analysis of the data from the surveys, it is clear that semiotic analysis has a crucial role to play in the development of listening creativities and impacts positively on songwriting and audio production creativities in the BPM cohort. Students from the first year understood the value of the courses for developing listening creativities; however, by the second year there were not insignificant concerns expressed regarding the potential for over analysis to ‘kill the muse’. By the third year, students had generally worked out how to switch between conscious and unconscious modes of listening and use these skills to their advantage. There was a steady increase across the three years until post graduation in student understanding of the value of creative critical listening, with more conscious emphasis being placed on this in the first years of enrolment. Overall, the surveys showed a development of engagement in the learning process, which aligns with psychology theories of the development of mastery. This took place through learned-intuitive and learned-deliberative cyclic phases, which many students were able to switch between by the time of graduation.

Conclusion Analysis of the survey responses supports the psychological theories that differentiate between deliberate, conscious mental processes and automatic and intuitive processes. Further, this way of thinking in the student cohort is supported by psychological theory, such as that of Kahneman (2011), which proposes that expertise develops through the transfer of domains of knowledge from the conscious to the unconscious. This knowledge transfer has particular implications for the development of the diverse creativities expressed by the

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emerging popular musicians graduating from the Bachelor of Popular Music as they progress from apprenticeship to mastery of their art. While the popular music history focus of the semiotic analysis courses in the BPM degree broadens students’ musical vocabulary and gives them an understanding of the context of their own creative practice, semiotic analysis as the theoretical underpinning of these courses reinforces the principle behind the pedagogical design of the entire degree: to replicate, and accelerate, what successful musicians do; that is, to develop and enhance a range of diverse creativities through creative critical listening. The semiotic analysis courses impart skills particular to the development of the artist and the enhancement of diverse creativities such as: developing the tools and language with which to deconstruct and describe one’s own creative practice; providing an understanding of both the historical and social context of the students’ creative work; and, most importantly, enhancing creative critical listening skills. In this chapter, we have identified creative critical listening as a specific creativity essential to the development of popular musicians. Mastery of critical listening informs other creativities specific to the independent musician in the domains of artistic development, songwriting, performance and audio production. We have proposed that semiotic analysis is a useful pedagogical tool for the guided development of the creativity of critical listening. Further, we have shown that the creative pathway to mastery of this skill passes through the conscious and unconscious domains. At times along this pathway, the student may feel that critical listening has ‘killed the muse’, but as has been demonstrated through psychological theory and analysis of the survey responses, the result is clearly the opposite for most students – that is, that mastery of the creativity of critical listening in fact creates the muse.

References Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dijkstra, K. A., van der Pligt, J. and van Kleef, G. A. (2013), ‘Deliberation versus intuition: Decomposing the role of expertise in judgment and decision making’, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 26(3), 285–94. Draper, P. (2013), On Critical Listening, Musicianship and the Art of Record Production, The Eighth Art of Record Production Conference, 12–14 July 2013, Université Laval, Québec: Canada. Hambrick, D. Z., Oswald, F. L., Altmann, E. M., Meinz, E. J., Gobet, F. and Campitelli, G. (2013), ‘Deliberate practice: Is that all it takes to become an expert?’ Intelligence [accessed 15 March 2014].

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Hugill, A. (2012), The Digital Musician (2nd edn), New York: Routledge. Kahneman, D. (2011), Thinking, Fast and Slow, London: Allen Lane. Kennett, C. (2003), ‘Is anybody listening?’ in A. F. Moore (ed.), Analyzing Popular Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 196–217. Lally, P., van Jaarsfeld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W. and Wardle, J. (2010), ‘How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world’, European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. Lebler, D. (2007), ‘Student-as-master? Reflections on a learning innovation in popular music pedagogy’, International Journal of Music Education, 25(3), 205–21. McMillen, A. (2012), ‘Storytellers: Gotye’ [accessed 17 March 2014]. Marcus, G. (1990), Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press. Moylan, W. (2002), The Art of Recording: Understanding and Crafting the Mix, Woburn, MA: Focal Press. Tagg, P. (2013), ‘Music’s meanings – a modern musicology for non-musos’ [accessed 19 March 2014]. Wilson, C. (2007), Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, New York: Continuum.

5

Permission to Play: Fostering Enterprise Creativities in Music Technology through Extracurricular Interdisciplinary Collaboration Elizabeth Dobson

Introduction Various kinds of interdisciplinary collaborative creativities have become well established within higher education performing arts courses, notably within theatre and dance-based production (Alix et al., 2010). Modules include digital crafts such as VJing, which involves animated projection mapping, and computer-based music and sound that use fixed as well as live interactive materials. This chapter explores how extracurricular work in music technology constitutes a considerable range of creativities, notably through interdisciplinary collaboration. Multiple kinds of music-based creativities include innovative work around multimedia, performance creativities and empathetic creativity in improvised performance (Seddon, 2005; Burnard, 2012), as musicians are not only creative because of their musicality, but also because of their inventiveness; ‘the discovery of newness, and enabling and enacting new reflective practices with imagination and originality’ (Burnard, 2014: 80). Music performance also displays collaborative emergence and distributed creativity; where the situation for music making is formed momentby-moment over time (Sawyer and DeZutter, 2009). Emerging ecologies of creativities are formed collectively over time, through interrelationships: within a group, with wider cultural, physical and conceptual awareness, and from a socio-cultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978). These are constituted

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through the use of tools: such as language and knowledge about musical concepts, technological resources and also knowledge about the history of a particular social group or community. Collaborative creativities in music performance, popular music creating, studio production and other areas of composition display these emergent and distributed qualities, while also offering opportunities for students to learn through participation in multiple and networked communities. For example, in popular music settings, musicians learn through apprenticeship by rehearsing with more experienced band members (Green, 2002), as well as through their taught courses. In scrutinizing these music-making communities we can see how students develop ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll et al., 1992) about music performance (Green, 2002; Seddon, 2005; King, 2006), but our institutions also offer opportunities for learning through creative enterprise, especially through participation in extracurricular interdisciplinary collaborations. By this I mean collaborative work that is undertaken outside the curriculum, in multidiscipline groups involving students on different degree courses. The students are intrinsically motivated to work together as a team, producing a film or exploring ideas in a way that may draw on their domain-specific skills and knowledge but is not dependent on them. Similarly, the output may have no connection with their formal and assessed work. Examples of extracurricular interdisciplinary collaborations: A short, stop motion-based animation: animators with a composer, sound engineer, actor(s) and writer(s). Producing radio jingles: business, music technology and various student societies. Music festival: students from a range of degree courses (music, music technology, business, animation) coming together to build a larger team, commission student marketing films and branding, and promote and organize a major new festival for the area. These activities activate a significant range of creativities; for example, distributed creativity, which is resourced by individual imaginative and entrepreneurial engagements that draw on degree course knowledge, contributing to pockets of collaborative emergence across a growing community. As Hakkarainen explains: ‘Currently, creative activity takes place more and more often in specific kinds of social communities and increasingly complex expanded networks to support knowledge-creation efforts. It is

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therefore appropriate to look further at the context of knowledge creation in institutions and communities’ (2013: 19). This chapter presents a specific community designed to foster extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration in a UK university. It explains how this community has been harnessing the kinds of creativities and entrepreneurial modalities that are necessary for the successful twenty-first-century musician. Extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration encompasses all collaborative creative modes, including: distributed, complementary, family, integrative modes (John-Steiner, 2000), joint devising through thinking together verbally (Littleton and Mercer, 2013), improvised co-creating (Seddon, 2005; Sawyer and DeZutter, 2009), distributed creativity (Sawyer and DeZutter, 2009) and collaborations that include phases of independent parallel and sequential working. Extracurricular and interdisciplinary collaborative creativity offers incredible diversity of experience, which this chapter argues is beneficial for the development of creative enterprise among higher education music students. Undergraduates do not necessarily feel especially confident in their own abilities, and extracurricular explorations offer a relatively safe setting for them to play and explore ideas. Risk-taking is a particularly urgent concern for young creative practitioners, however, (John-Steiner, 2000), and collaboration entails all kinds of challenges to the individual, as Matusov explains: ‘Joint activity has multiple agendas, goals, contexts, tasks, and actors with different intentions. It involves dynamics of agreement, disagreement, and coordination of participants’ contributions’ (1996: 31–2). In education this challenge is compounded by the formal assessment of products and processes, as undergraduates negotiating the dynamics of collaborative creativity must learn to navigate compromise and tensions around what they want to accomplish individually and collectively. Trust is particularly important when collaborative work is to be assessed formally as students need to have developed trust with their collaborative partners, and also the assessment mechanism that is being used (Orr, 2010: 311). Collaborative practice offers particular kinds of training and preparation for certain professional settings, but by removing assessment it is possible to alleviate the anxiety related to compromise, thus enabling musicians to experience a greater variety of collaborative partners and situations in their time at university. Musicians inhabit a community of practice,1 which offers potential for them to experience this kind of range of rehearsal, composition and performance

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structures. As Hakkarainen states: ‘By engaging higher education students in expert communities and networks of the field from an early stage of their studies, they can deliberately be socialized to collaborative practices that collective creativity calls for’ (2013: 26). Extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration can broaden the range of experience and opportunity for learning much further, particularly for musicians who are interested in composing and producing music with other media. It offers a kind of incubator away from the constraints and complications of formal studies by fostering creativity and enterprise through a range of collaborative and co-creative experiences. Providing an alternative to coursebased group work, extracurricular interdisciplinary co-creating can also offer a complementary setting for students to reflect more deeply on their own abilities, while developing a breadth of experience in collaborative practices. This chapter presents the case of an interdisciplinary collaboration ‘hub’ that was developed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Huddersfield in 2012. This hub, or CollabHub, was set up to build a community for generating learning through joint creative effort and the kind of apprenticeship that can be seen in popular music (Green, 2002). Despite the selfselecting, spontaneous and messy qualities of this extracurricular group, this chapter explores how individual members have become engaged in collaborative learning and enterprise beyond the curriculum.

Creating a creativity incubator Mindful of socio-culturally framed literature on creativity and collaboration in music performance and composition (Spalding Newcomb, 1998; MacDonald and Miell, 2000, Sawyer, 2003; Barrett, 2006; St John, 2006; Burnard and Younker, 2008; Miell and Littleton, 2008) and computer-based composition (notably Dillon, 2004; Seddon, 2005; Burnard, 2007, Mellor, 2008),2 I launched the extracurricular platform for students from across the university to work on their own projects collaboratively. Beginning as an invitation to devise new work, the CollabHub gathered momentum and it has begun to show some characteristics of a sort of community of practice, where learning emerges through interactions with peers, tutors and also external creatives. Theoretically, without concerns about assessment criteria, extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration could offer a kind of permission to play, so

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the CollabHub was set up to encourage students to experiment on modest or ambitious ideas, while building knowledge about collaborative experiences in a range of social, physical and disciplinary settings. It adopts a cultural–historical perspective of creativity as something that emerges through interrelationships between people, their cultures, communities and physical environments (Sawyer, 2006; Hakkarainen, 2013, Littleton and Mercer, 2013; Burnard, 2014). Students bring their respective expertise to interdisciplinary groups by influencing other’s knowledge through joint practice. The idea of collaborative learning, guided most fundamentally by Vygotsky’s ZPD3 (Vygotsky, 1978; Mercer and Littleton, 2007; Littleton and Mercer, 2013) is at the heart of CollabHub; in summarizing what guides the theoretical principles of an interdisciplinary and extracurricular collaboration hub, we can say that it is: grounded by a cultural–historical view of creativity; free of assignments, staff-led initiatives and professional or external clients; offering permission to play with ideas and take risks, learning through apprenticeships within and across disciplines; built on a community of practice where students can also choose, test and build relationships with students from other disciplines; supportive of students’ needs and facilitative of connecting collaborators; enabled by relationship building and developing longer-term collaborations; fostering the ‘gift of confidence’4 (John-Steiner and Mahn, 2002) To summarize, collaborative music making presents a diverse range of creativities, which reflect increasingly rich opportunities for learning through longer-term collaborative creativity. So far, I have argued that, where music and music technology students are provided with a community for exploring interdisciplinary collaboration outside of the formal degree context, students can experience ‘expanded networks’ in support of knowledge creation, as described by Hakkarainen. By offering extracurricular interdisciplinary communities we can foster an ecology of practice that activates ‘enterprise creativities’: where innovation is fostered by deadline independent collaborative processes that simultaneously reflect the multiplicity of creativities as they are outlined here and elsewhere (Sawyer, 2006; Burnard, 2014). In support of this synthesis of ideas, the remainder of this chapter introduces a specific extracurricular interdisciplinary community, CollabHub. Considering interviews with members of this community, it presents more specific examples of how CollabHub has been activating enterprise creativities in music technology.

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The collaboration hub The first CollabHub meeting was held in a large atrium at the University of Huddersfield. Using social networking sites, and our blog,5 regular meetings are set up in different locations. Students are invited to pitch an idea, which can be modest or ambitious.6 They are also encouraged to network and begin exploring ideas which can be developed and presented as work-in-progress at subsequent meetings. Around 15 months after the first meeting there were almost 600 members of the University of Huddersfield CollabHub Facebook Group: a community that consists of digital artists, writers, photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, historians, film makers and conceptual artists as well as a large number of musicians. Roughly a fifth of the members classify themselves as composers, performers, sound engineers, sound designers or electronic musicians. The first projects that were set up started to illustrate how undergraduate musicians were ready to be enterprising in a variety of ways. Music and music technology students pitched and developed the CollabHub News team, the CollabHub Motion Comic Book group, and an idea for an interactive generative music app. A local artist also started working with two music technology students on a sound installation and an interactive sound and colour text generation project.

An incubator for interdisciplinary enterprise creativity? The QAA guidelines for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education describe enterprise as ‘a generic concept that can be applied across all areas of education’ which combines ‘creativity, ideas development and problem solving with expression, communication and practical action’ (The Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education QAA guidelines, 20127). It is easy to locate enterprise both within and beyond the music curriculum, especially where students start and run bands or ensembles, set up and run record labels, or organize events and festivals. CollabHub presented a complementary opportunity for fostering enterprise within a more explicitly interdisciplinary setting. To understand the students’ perspective on enterprise, creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration I interviewed six CollabHub participants: this chapter will now focus on their insights and the wider implications for enterprise creativities in higher education.

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Interviews with CollabHub members In talking to a range of CollabHub members it has been possible to develop a richer sense of how they experience interdisciplinary collaboration, within and around CollabHub. The members include a psychology and social sciences Ph.D. student, Diane, two undergraduate composers, Matt and David, a recent graduate, Neil (now director of his own media company) and a local artist Dex Hannon,8 who has been working with David and another composer on an interdisciplinary project. An academic was not interviewed; however, as the coordinator of CollabHub, a music technology tutor and author of this chapter, I navigate the emerging themes to help link key issues with the broader academic discussion of enterprise, assessment and creativity within higher education. A thematic analysis of these 30- to 60-minute interviews presents a set of topics that is discussed in the remainder of this chapter: collaborative relationships, freedom from assignments, and emergent metacognition through collaboration and fostering enterprise.

Collaborative relationships Course-based group work often requires students to work with peers whom they know very little about.9 Familiarity can provide friendship and enough common knowledge to offer a foundation for negotiating difficulties; however, collaborative creating can offer the gift of confidence (from Jean-Paul Sartre as presented by John-Steiner and Mahn (2002)) to reflect ‘reciprocal emotional support offered by partners in collaboration’, which affords confidence in the group through belonging. Research on co-creating and interdisciplinary practices has commented on the affordance of familiarity, trust and shared understanding in collaboration (John-Steiner, 2000; MacDonald and Miell, 2000; Green, 2002; Vass, 2002; Storey and Joubert, 2004) and in an extracurricular setting students are free to make their own choices about who they prefer to collaborate with. Neil, a student who has started his own media company with two other students, cites his past band rehearsals and friendships as evidence that he knew they would work well together: being in a band and that kind of working together to do something that you don’t have to do. That did help with the filming collaborations, as you’ll realize

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Informal creative settings, such as music rehearsals, enable students to find and develop these relationships, where there is trust, not simply to be responsible (attend and deliver), but to trust in the collaboration, which affords the confidence to criticize, explore, play and engage in imaginative work together, as Neil explains: Trust is key. I think that, before you can really say you know anything about . . . when you know someone and you’ve got good relationships, you’re more open to experiment and play. I think, once you’ve got that level of friendship, you’ve got that level of contact, it’s a lot easier to kind of initiate something like that [Neil: response to interview question on choosing collaborative partners].

The implication here could be that by fostering longer-term relationships we could be activating long-term enterprise creativities, and simultaneously a context in which enterprise creativity can actually help students to develop this kind of collaborative confidence. Groups like CollabHub provide opportunities to seed new creative possibilities and collaborative practices, where students meet and work with like-minded individuals who bring different skills and develop a collaborative practice that is not dependent on their existing relationships. This has powerful implications for networking, but also for broadening the range of enterprise creativities that students can foster and experience in their time at university. Matt explains his journey, building work with a student he met from a different course: He [the digital media student] wanted some music for an animation so he posted that in the CollabHub Facebook page and I responded to it because it just seemed interesting, and eventually he came up to me and said ‘I’m doing this game would you be interested in working with me on that’ so it sort of spawned into something bigger than it was originally. Now he’s been offered a long-term contract to develop a game for a company he’s done some other work with and, because he knows me through CollabHub and everything, he’s got me to do the soundtrack for it. So, from the small initial collaboration it’s sort of become a long term paid project [Matt: responding to interview question asking him to describe the collaborations that he is involved in].

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These students did not build collaboration from friendship, but friendship and collaboration through low-risk enterprise: imagining what they could accomplish by exploring creative practices together. Matt’s natural curiosity to get involved drew him in to a fruitful longer-term partnership. Arguably, the students’ early invitations reflect their interest in looking for opportunities to play and seek collaborative experiences which have come to activate a long-term collaborative enterprise. The implications for students to make connections with course content, or across a resource of knowledge developed through collaborating, are not explored in this chapter, but the interviews raised implications for how engagement in multiple groups can activate a deeper level of reflection and understanding about collaborative creating; building a resource of knowledge afforded by comparisons of collaborations (curricular and extracurricular). Reflecting on how he ‘acts’, Neil explained how his interactional style differs when he is working with friends, or undertaking professional work with external partners: you act in a more professional manner with them. You’re more formal and that can kind of, it just gets you thinking in a different way, instead of as a friend, you’re more, maybe, honest . . . just a more professional manner really, like, instead of muckin’ about you get down to it and you’re direct [Neil: responding to interview question on choosing collaborative partners].

His awareness about these shifts in approach and talk is especially interesting, implying a kind of metacognition for collaborative process. David, a second-year composer, has been involved in a particularly wide range of projects that include organizing sound for an internationally resourced animation project and other local projects with much smaller teams where he is composing music, rather than managing others. Reflecting on his range of experiences he explains how he tends to find himself taking on a particular role as a kind of team leader. He feels that it may be because of his ability to communicate with different members of a team: I sort of spot details and try and pull people together on things because I tend to be able to talk each of the languages they need to be able to communicate [David: responding to interview question asking him to describe the collaborations that he is involved in].

His multiple collaborations can be seen as a kind of mirror; through collaborating David has a useful self-awareness about his contributions and interactions in group work. The importance that he places on communication

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is particularly interesting, as a significant body of research has highlighted the importance of communication in transforming collaborative processes. Research has begun to show the effect of friendship on collaborative creating among school children, and how this is displayed according to their dialogue (MacDonald and Miell, 2000; MacDonald et al., 2000; Vass, 2002). Similarly, research on how children think together in group work focuses on exploring relationships between particular characteristics of talk and what is accomplished jointly (Littleton and Mercer, 2013); a socio-culturally framed approach, grounded in Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of how language (a cultural tool) stimulates higher mental functioning. In higher education a range of collaborative experiences could therefore seem to stimulate cognitive development as students learn to communicate their own ideas and concepts to students within and across disciplines; create ideas jointly through talk and practice; and reflect on their choice and use of language in doing so. Vygotsky’s concept of ZPD articulates how mental functioning can develop through a child’s interactions with more experienced people like parents and teachers. An extension of this concept, IDZ10 (Mercer, 2002), characterizes situations where the teacher and student are engaged in thinking together. In each respect the quality and character of talk is considered to be influential. Following each of these is another extension: the Intermental Creativity Zone, or ICZ,11 in which ‘collaborators negotiate their way through the joint activity in which they are involved using appropriate linguistic tools – such as specialized discourses. The ICZ is thus a continuing event of contextualized, co-regulated joint activity – the product of a process of interthinking that involves a reflective and metacognitive orientation to collective work’ (Littleton and Mercer, 2013: 111). So to summarize, it is possible to offer a platform that activates new and developing enterprise creativities where students can build confidence and trust through their shared experiences. While also learning to create work together, their collaborations might simultaneously enable them to: discover new personal insights about their own abilities, roles and skills through multiple experiences; develop higher mental abilities through interaction, interthinking and collaborative creating; and deepen their metacognition for collaborative exploration and enterprise. These brief insights implicate a need for further research into the affordances of enterprise creativities and the kinds of learning and development that can emerge.

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They are at least compelling reasons to foster extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration as a complementary approach to activating enterprise creativities, showing how students are engaged in learning that is not assessed, or even witnessed by an academic tutor. In fact, formal assessment seems to prohibit enterprise creativities, such as playful exploration and distributed creating, as students can seek to demonstrate what they perceive their tutors’ definition of creativity to be, as the next section of this chapter illustrates.

‘. . . opportunity to experiment, play and discover’ While undergraduate courses set up groups and assess work in different ways, we find that students are concerned with how the effort of peers affects their work (Orr, 2010). For example, as we know: [When] you’re sort of forced to be in a group it’s not quite as effective because if some people in the group don’t put as much effort in then it can be difficult to create a good product, but with the CollabHub stuff everyone involved is there because they want to be involved [Matt: responding to interview question on choosing collaborative partners].

As extracurricular work is self-selecting, enabling students to find like-minded peers, the students know that their peers are motivated to collaborate, and importantly, that these collaborations are not impacting on their individual marks. This is not news; however, my interviews showed the composers appreciating an opportunity to experiment with their own ideas well away from their assignments: To a certain extent I get to be more creative outside the course. Slightly because I’m worried about doing things within the course that just would not work, and they’ll affect my grades, so that said, I know that they put things against that but that still keeps me back and keeps me thinking that I need to stick with something I’m fairly comfortable with, that I might get a good mark with. So, a lot of what I feel comes from my development is stuff that I take from the course and sort of do in my own time, that I’m not going to be submitting to be assessed [David: responding to an interview question that asks him to draw comparisons between creating work that will be assessed, and work that is not part of the degree]. . . . being assessed means that you maybe don’t have as much freedom because you’re focusing on making it the best thing, rather than exploring and

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Activating Diverse Musical Creativities experimenting things. . . . [In CollabHub] no one is putting pressure on you. You can do whatever you want, and being able to experiment in a free environment is beneficial [Matt: responding to an interview question that asks him to draw comparisons between creating work that will be assessed, and work that is not part of the degree]. There is less pressure, when it’s not part of your degree, to try new things, because when you’ve got your degree it’s being marked on. I know you have formative assignments as well, when you’re working on extra-curricular [work] you have more opportunity to experiment, play and discover other things that you didn’t know you were good at, and part of it being collaborative means you can learn with people as well [Neil: responding to an interview question that asks him to draw comparisons between creating work that will be assessed, and work that is not part of the degree].

This seems to imply the ways in which some students might perceive creativity differently when it is course-based or extracurricular. There is a particular sense of pressure, perhaps to deliver the right, or best thing, and formal (summative) work appears to be perceived very differently to extracurricular creativities; which involve exploring, experimenting, play, discovering new skills and learning with other people. Extracurricular collaboration activates enterprise creativities, offering learning opportunities that simultaneously tug the students out of the kinds of compartmentalized thinking that can be encouraged by modularized course structures. One of the interviewees, a local artist, who has been collaborating with two music technology students, articulates how interdisciplinary collaborative creativity affords learning: You [the creator] can sort of become very modular and very trapped in what you’re working on . . . and never think of how an artist would come at this . . . all of a sudden you can think a little bit differently and just see a brief with separate eyes. I think it’s kind of important because I think when you’ve come straight from school, or you’ve done a bit of say college or sixth form and then you go in to university, you’ve still got that very singular way of seeing things because you’ve [been] taught, taught, taught, taught. When you get to university you’re supposed to expand that and change [Dex: responding to a question on the value of extra-curricular collaboration in higher education].

Perhaps enterprise creativity complements the formal curriculum, in that students are starting to identify themselves as professionals who seek knowledge and skills, while also seeking opportunities to explore and innovate. When external partners participate in a community like CollabHub they contribute

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significantly to the student experience of learning and practice, but this introduces other kinds of risks that have consequences, as they have their own investments and concerns. Students might be perceived to be incomplete or inexperienced practitioners who are only ‘half-full’. But there are also compelling benefits for external partners who choose to do interdisciplinary work with undergraduates, such as the range of contemporary knowledge and skill on offer, as Dex explains: [M]ost creatives are, you know, they’re just a hot bed of ideas, and you can take your idea so far but then you have to sort of realize you can either do a poor job of it, and you know it’s still your idea and you can have this precious thing for yourself, or you can take a step back and realize that there’s possibly someone else out there that has the skills to take it, sometimes beyond what you originally thought the idea could be [Dex: responding to a question on the merits of collaborating with undergraduate practitioners].

In seeking to develop his own visual work, to incorporate an interactive sound dimension, Dex found this ‘someone else’ within the university. External partners can find fresh fuel and inspiration with the students’ energy and motivation, and students often have access to the most contemporary technologies. Interdisciplinary collaboration also offers opportunities for a local expert to learn through being a mentor as well as collaborator in a kind of creative apprenticeship: [B]eing softly, softly is I think the best way to do it, and also, always give them the creative freedom, you know I think that’s kind of important because there’s a lot of things that I don’t understand that someone else will, what is possible, so by me stomping my foot down saying ‘oh no, don’t do that, do this’ I could be missing out on something great that could happen with it [Dex: responding to a question on the challenge of collaborating with undergraduate practitioners].

While students learn through joint creating with each other, perhaps engaged in an intermental creative zone, this relationship with a professional suggests another form of apprenticeship; perhaps a zone of proximal development is formed in this kind of apprenticeship, where the more experienced person is providing scaffolding for students to learn and develop in collaborative creating. Dex is flexible in his approach; ready to adopt an even responsibility while ensuring that the group’s efforts are focused and coordinated, but the natural hierarchy in this type of interdisciplinary collaboration does present a kind of

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challenge, as Dex is both an established professional and older partner in the group: [B]ecause of my age I’m always going to be seen as you know ‘oh right well we have to wait for your decision’ . . . even if we try and fight it, it’s still there mentally in us. He’s an older guy so we have to respect what he sort of says even though I think he’s wrong [Dex: elaborating on the challenge of collaborating with undergraduates].

Partners can learn as much as the students, not only about new possibilities for their work through distributed creativity12 but also about how to build collaborative confidence, or the gift of confidence and mentor emerging practitioners. So to summarize, extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration activates enterprise creativities that students value, which stimulate knowledge transference and exploratory work that can lead to the development of longerterm partnerships. The CollabHub presents this messy informal setting, where any kinds of work and goals can be developed by anyone. David explains how this presents him with a ‘grey area’ that bridges his formal and social environments: CollabHub’s a sort of bridge between a formal and a social environment, and I’m still struggling between those two . . . but it’s a good place to sit, in the grey area and be allowed to be relaxed because you haven’t got goals or targets really, you’ve come together and you wanna try this thing [David: response to interview question on why he takes part in projects outside the course].

For David, formal is the course, and social is around the course, but perhaps some aspects can be more incremental and fluid, as Folkestad explains: ‘Formalinformal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum’ (2006: 135). The students are probably responding in various ways to formal and informal settings, but this grey area presents a community that offers a really wide range of collaborative contexts and experiences. It also helps students to navigate their practice identity (present to imagined future) where there are other goals and risks to consider; most fundamentally, this grey area offers a space for students to grow, be enterprising and foster creativity on their own terms. [T]hey’re adults and equal within this environment . . . rather than a student, students having to do a task for a particular purpose. This is something that their

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agency has a voice in [Donna: in response to a question about why students take part in CollabHub].

In short, these music technology students: welcome freedom from assessment, to take risks and explore their own initiatives; welcome the chance to explore a ‘grey area’ between different contexts for creating new work; experience different modes of communication which test their abilities to create work with others; generate and explore their own vocational opportunities by testing partnerships and working with local artists; want to build a broader portfolio of work; welcome opportunities to see problems from other perspectives through interdisciplinary practices; develop a natural metacognition for creative and co-creative practice through their extracurricular collaborations. In respect of our own agendas for collaborative learning, and activating creativity through extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration, the interviews provided evidence of how students can: be motivated by the idea of collaborative creating outside of the degree course; become insightful about their own collaborative experiences; build a resource of knowledge about enterprise creativities through multicollaboration experiences over time.

Fostering enterprise creativity Some students generate new initiatives and demonstrate natural leadership in bringing others on board with their projects. Mindful of the potentially profound benefits to this messy opportunity for learning through co-creating, we probably need to think about how more undergraduates might be encouraged to engage with extracurricular projects. Considering approaches to fostering enterprise creativity, we might refer our students to key texts, such as The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering Five Skills of Disrupting Innovators (Dyers et al., 2011) and Zig Zag: The Surprising Path

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to Greater Creativity (Sawyer, 2013). Each provides theoretically resourced steps that may activate skills in innovation and creativity respectively. Considering the conditions that appear to activate enterprise creativity I offer four ingredients: platforms, community, confidence and risk.

Platforms In CollabHub, there are several kinds of platform: a framework that includes regular meetings where students can propose projects and share work, the online social networks that draw others into the community, a few staff-led initiatives designed to bring specific cohorts together, and finally the exposure and celebration of collaborative achievements.

Community The platform activates a community for learning: ICZ, distributed creativity and longer-term trajectories of development that traverse courses and foster new collaborative relationships.

Confidence Building the platform and community offers students a chance to develop personal and collaborative confidence through belonging, collaborative creating and sharing their work in a low risk environment.

Risk Within this extracurricular community students can begin to be truly exploratory, through moving out of their comfort zones and exploring new terrain across their range of collaborations.

Considerations for educators There are so many compelling reasons to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration; however, some students may never feel comfortable working with others. Coursework commitments could be compromised by extracurricular

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work and, as David suggests, there is little that we can do to convince some students to do more than their coursework: I tend to find that people who do things do other things as well. It’s not often that you’ll find someone who sort of just turns up to this thing, just does that. I think you have a very small chance in getting people who aren’t enthused to do anything but the bare minimum to do something [David: responding to an interview question on reasons for participating in extracurricular projects].

Perhaps there is a need, then, for new research to examine pedagogical and vocational benefits of enterprise creativity. It may be necessary to provide more compelling arguments for the extracurricular work, especially as students could be taught enterprise formally within their degree if it is considered to be academically or vocationally important. Within the creative and digital creative arts, however, there are flaws in this approach, as Neil suggests: People choose the course because they want to study and if you put a module in that people don’t necessarily want to do then I don’t know if that’s the solution . . . I think if you give the opportunity for people to do it you can’t really do anything else [Neil: responding to an interview question on reasons for participating in extracurricular projects].

The CollabHub appears to provide opportunities but this kind of platform might only attract students who are already seeking or creating their own opportunities. So what is the message for higher music education in activating diverse musical creativities? Some of our students have been starting new ensembles, media production teams, record labels, developing music software and even creating a music festival. In doing so they are engaged in distributed creativity (Sawyer and DeZutter, 2009), possibility thinking (Craft, 2000) and various kinds of business enterprise, teaching us a great deal about their immense enterprise creativity through a synthesis of knowledge and interdisciplinary collaborative creativity. Enterprise creativity may be considered as a valid and valuable setting for learning, but I describe it as messy because engagement is variable and outputs can emerge over years rather than weeks (if at all); it cannot be measured or assessed within the curriculum. As such, I summarize three key messages for higher education institutions interested in providing music technology students with an interdisciplinary platform for enterprise creativity:

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1. Build a community that thrives on voluntary engagement Learning and enterprise is already prolific in extracurricular music making and many students choose not to participate; the opportunity is all that is necessary. For musicians, interdisciplinary extracurricular collaboration is a natural extension of this, especially for studio-based music composers who need to develop their media networks for the future. The projects emerging out of CollabHub have demonstrated that students are not only motivated to engage in work that does not contribute to their degree result, but also thrive on opportunities to explore new ideas and collaborate without the constraints of assessment. Furthermore, students who may appear to be disengaged with their course can take on a different identity and drive when engaged in their own initiatives, while the most accomplished students seek to exercise projects that exceed the expectations of their course.

2. Extracurricular interdisciplinary collaboration is grounded in theories of learning through collaboration and within a community The collaborative learning and creativity literature strongly implies that this extracurricular setting should be supported as a valid setting for learning and development. As such, my observations and interviews start to provide compelling evidence of the ways in which music technology students grow through extracurricular collaboration through applying course knowledge, developing personal insights, building a range of experiences, enjoying the freedom to experiment and being enterprising with support fostered by a community.

3. Be prepared to support messy education if you choose to foster enterprise creativity There is a kind of paradox for educators, as we are tasked with identifying learning outcomes and measuring standards in a formal setting which is validated in order to meet particular standards. If students learn through interdisciplinary collaboration within a community of practitioners (other students in various years and cohorts as well as external partners) their experiences may be valid, but simultaneously difficult to measure. But it is precisely this open, messy

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situation which fosters student-led enterprise; a parallel learning experience where knowledge can be transported from formal training and explored in ways that are inherently unpredictable. There are broader social implications for higher education which Diane, a postgraduate social psychology Ph.D. student, outlined in her interview. By helping to foster a culture where we recognize learning outside the curriculum, communities like CollabHub have the capacity to ‘strongly influence the culture of university and academic life’ (Diane). Diane welcomes CollabHub specifically because it is not a clear-cut, marketed, branded or consistent situation for learning, but something that is diverse in its uniqueness and celebrates individuality. Diane also feels that the idea of CollabHub is simultaneously difficult to understand and digest until you have participated. This means that some students might need a compelling reason to undertake extracurricular work on top of their assessed coursework. The range of impacts on learning and development, and how this can complement and extend formal study, needs to be documented and made explicit to undergraduates. This also needs careful reflection within higher education due to the staffing implications around supporting unassessed activities. In music technology, extracurricular co-creating is not only a valid pedagogy, providing relevant learning experience and openings for enterprise, it also helps us to provide students with a bridge into professional life through an understanding of how it feels to be creative and enterprising.

Concluding thoughts Despite the challenges, there are also certain benefits for the staff who feel compelled to foster extracurricular work. The music technology students have taught me such a lot about their capacity to be enterprising, their natural drive to create work, and how this impacts on their individual journeys as well as their peers and external partners. Some students do this anyway, but something like the CollabHub makes it easier: it offers permission to play and be enterprising together with other students. Some students really are not simply assessmentmotivated, sometimes working longer hours, researching and developing new skills and synthesizing them into new products because of an intrinsic motivation to make. CollabHub has an identity that provides a community for the students, and they keep coming back.

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Notes 1 Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept is a fitting description of what the CollabHub aspires to accomplish, but in an interdisciplinary setting where collaborative creativity constitutes the collective interest of the community. 2 More contemporary work has also been undertaken since: see Gaunt and Westerlund (2013). 3 Zone of Proximal Development. 4 Jean-Paul Sartre refers to the gift of confidence that can be afforded through collaboration. A concept that John-Steiner and Mahn (2002) cite and adopt not only to describe confidence brought about by belonging to a group, but also confidence in the group to navigate critical incidents. 5 Full details available at. 6 . 7 . 8 To see examples of Dex Hannon’s work under his four names see . 9 See Collaborative Art Practices in HE: Mapping and Developing Pedagogical Models (Alix et al., 2009), a more in-depth discussion on fostering interdisciplinary group work strategies in higher education: . 10 Intermental Development Zone (Mercer, 2002). 11 Intermental Creativity Zone (Littleton and Mercer, 2013). 12 To borrow a term from Sawyer and DeZutter (2009).

References Alix, C., Dobson, E. and Wilsmore, R. (2010), ‘Collaborative art practices in HE: Mapping and developing pedagogical models’ (Higher Education Academy) [accessed 21 January 2014]. Barrett, M. (2006), ‘Creative collaboration an eminence study of teaching and learning in music composition’, Psychology of Music, 34(2), 195–218. Burnard, P. (2007), ‘Reframing creativity and technology: Promoting pedagogic change in music education’, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 1(1), 37–55. —. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. —. (2014), ‘A spectrum of musical creativities and particularities of practice’, in P. Burnard (ed.), Developing Creativities in Higher Music Education, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 77–98.

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Burnard, P. and Younker, B. A. (2008), ‘Investigating children’s musical interactions within the activities systems of group composing and arranging: An application of Engeström’s Activity Theory’, International Journal of Educational Research, 47(1), 60–74. Craft, A. (2000), Creativity Across the Primary Curriculum: Framing and Developing Practice, London: Routledge. Dillon, T. (2004), ‘“It’s in the mix baby”: Exploring how meaning is created within music technology collaborations’, in D. Miell and K. Littleton (eds), Collaborative Creativity: Contemporary Perspectives, London: Free Association Books, 144–57. Dyers, J., Gregerson, H. and Christensen, C. M. (2011), The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Folkestad, G. (2006), ‘Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning’, British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135–45. Gaunt, H. and Westerlund, H. (2013), Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education, Farnham: Ashgate. Green, L. (2002), How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education, Aldershot: Ashgate. Hakkarainen, K. (2013), ‘Mapping the research ground: Expertise, collective creativity and shared knowledge practices’, in H. Gaunt and H. Westerlund (eds), Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education, Farnham: Ashgate, 13–26. John-Steiner, V. (2000), Creative Collaboration, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. John-Steiner, V. and Mahn, H. (2002), The gift of confidence: A Vygotskian view of emotions’, in G. Wells and G. Claxton (eds), Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education, Oxford: Blackwell, 46–58. King, E. (2006), ‘The roles of student musicians in quartet rehearsals’, Psychology of Music, 34(2), 262–82. Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991), Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, New York: Cambridge University Press. Littleton, K. and Mercer, N. (2013), Interthinking: Putting Talk to Work, Abingdon: Routledge. MacDonald, R. and Miell, D. (2000), ‘Creativity and music education: The impact of social variables’, International Journal of Music Education, 36(1), 58–68. MacDonald, R., Miell, D. and Morgan, L. (2000), ‘Social processes and creative collaboration in children’, European Journal of the Psychology of Education, 15(4), 405–16. Matusov, E. (1996), ‘Intersubjectivity without agreement’, Mind, Culture and Activity, 3(1), 25–45. Mellor, L. (2008), ‘Creativity, originality, identity: Investigating computer-based composition in the secondary school’, Music Education Research, 10(4), 451–72. Mercer, N. (2002), ‘Developing dialogues’, in G. Claxton and G. Wells (eds),Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education, Oxford: Blackwell, 141–53.

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Mercer, N. and Littleton, K. (2007), Dialogue and the Development of Children’s Thinking: A Sociocultural Approach, Oxon and New York: Routledge. Miell, D. and Littleton, K. (2008), ‘Musical collaboration outside school: Processes of negotiation in band rehearsals’, International Journal of Educational Research, 47(1), 41–9. Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D. and González, N. (1992), ‘Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms’, Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132–41. Orr, S. (2010), ‘Collaborating or fighting for the marks? Students’ experiences of group work assessment in the creative arts’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(3), 301–13. Sawyer, K.R. (2003), Group Creativity: Music, Theatre, Collaboration, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. —. (2006), Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation, New York: Open University Press. —. (2013), Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Sawyer, K. R. and DeZutter, S. (2009), ‘Distributed creativity: How collective creations emerge from collaboration’, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 3(2), 81–92. Seddon, F. A. (2005), ‘Modes of communication during jazz improvisation’, British Journal of Music Education, 22(1), 47–61. Spalding Newcomb, R. (1998), ‘Music in the air: A theoretical model and music 331 system for music analysis and composition’, Organized Sound, 3(1), 3–16. St John, P. (2006), ‘Finding and making meaning: Young children as musical collaborators’, Psychology of Music, 34(2), 238–61. Storey, H. and Joubert, M. (2004), ‘The emotional dance of creative collaboration’, in D. Miell and K. Littleton (eds), Collaborative Creativity: Contemporary Perspectives, London: Free Association Books, 40–51. Vass, E. (2002), ‘Friendship and collaborative creative writing in the primary classroom’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 102–10. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978), Mind in Society: Interaction between Learning and Development, London: Harvard University Press.

Part Three

Experiments in Teaching

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Activating Improvisational Creativity in the Performance of ‘World’ and ‘Popular’ Music Sue Miller

Introduction World music has been accepted (albeit grudgingly in some cases) within institutions of higher education as a bona fide area of academic study, but it has had relatively little impact to date on core areas of music education as experienced by most students in the United States and Europe: in courses on ear training, music theory, composition, applied performance, and so on. There still seems to be an assumption on the part of many educators that non-canonical music has little or nothing to offer the aspiring ‘serious’ instrumentalist. (Moore, 2014: 14)

In this chapter, I hope to show how the study of a variety of improvisation traditions often labelled as ‘world’ or ‘popular’ music can develop students’ creativity alongside their musicianship and research skills as part of mainstream university music provision. As Robin Moore has stated, ‘world’ music is still at the margins of university provision in terms of core curricula. Using my own practice-based research into Latin improvisation I demonstrate here how research-led teaching in improvisation can be adapted to a wide range of musical idioms, leading to both creative teaching of improvisation as well as students’ own creative development. Using the example of a specific ‘Latin’ style of improvisation I first demonstrate how teaching improvisation in the context of a music perceived by some as peripheral (for those unaware of Latin music’s influence in the Americas, the Caribbean and internationally) allows for the simultaneous acquisition of core musicianship skills, creative improvisational abilities and contextual knowledge. Through documenting the creative process,

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I show students how they too can devise their own strategies for learning idiomatic improvisational styles. While courses in ethnomusicology do teach students about music’s history and culture and provide frameworks for ‘fieldwork-based’ research they do not usually develop core musicianship skills consistently – even transcription skills, once thought essential for budding ethnomusicologists, have fallen out of favour in recent times (see Agawu, 1997: 297–307 for further discussion of this issue). Where practical courses on ‘world’ musics do develop performance skills to a higher level there is rarely a chance to develop these beyond the one or two modules or ensembles on offer and there is little attempt to link these practical courses to more historical or analytical modules (outside the usual one/s offered within ‘ethno’musicology). For historical reasons music curricula has focused on Western art music and has only offered courses in jazz, folk, popular and ‘world’ music/ethnomusicology in recent decades (see Tagg, 2012: 83–132 for a critique of Western institutional music aesthetics). More awareness regarding the hybridity of styles, a realization that Western art forms are present in other traditions (indeed a contributing stream to them in many cases) and the inclusion of a diversity of styles at the heart of the curriculum could lead to music education being organized in more exciting ways. Aural training is beneficial to all forms of music making and analysis – developing these skills within new contexts can only enrich the learning experience. Even when improvisation-based repertoires reside in genres not obviously connected with classical forms, improvisation techniques can be fruitfully applied beyond their local origins. ‘Teaching’ improvisation creatively at university level involves breaking down traditional barriers in order to demonstrate that there is no real divide between the classical and the vernacular if we put a variety of musics into the core curriculum. As Christopher Small remarks: The barrier between classical and vernacular is opaque only when viewed from the perspective of the dominant group; when viewed from the other side it is often transparent, and to the vernacular musician and his [sic] listeners there are not two musics but only one. (1987: 126)

The purpose of this chapter then is to demonstrate in concrete terms how one can foster creative improvisation at the centre of university level teaching. I will not pursue the reasons for the divisions mentioned above any further here except to give a brief critique of what is currently the norm in university improvisation provision.

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University improvisation: Contexts for improvisational creativity Improvisation is often used in higher music education to teach ideas about composition. It is frequently seen as a participatory way of exploring compositional process, but although creative improvisation has compositional processes within it, extemporization does not necessarily need to be viewed as mainly at the service of written composition. When not used as a compositional tool, improvisation is commonly taught within a free (jazz) improvisation context in order to develop students’ listening skills and teamwork. This does produce creative work but often ignores African American and Latin music forms (not to mention other ‘non-Western’ genres) which have improvisation at their centre – music traditions which have stylistic vocabulary and creative process embedded within them. These idioms have long histories and are rooted in the cultures that produced them so one would think that the music curriculum would make more use of these genres rather than restrict the majority of their course content to the euroclassical tradition. Indeed the Western art music curriculum could be similarly expanded to incorporate improvisation once more as it did up until the mid-to-late nineteenth century (of course, this tradition is maintained in the French organ tradition – see Bailey, 1992: 29–38). The decline of improvisation in art music has been discussed in detail by Robin Moore (1992: 61–84) and, just as old species of animals (such as wolves, kites and wild boar) are currently being reintroduced into the wild, improvisation could again form a main part of Western art music pedagogy. Modules in early music do deal with improvisation at university level through figured bass realization, ornamentation and melodic embellishment, mostly based on written evidence of past performance practice (Historically Informed Performance or HIP). This is pertinent to the study of improvisation but one has to ask why, when we have a wealth of recordings from the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, do we not also work with other styles of music to explore stylistic improvisation within the mainstream of university music provision? Recorded evidence exists, as do live performers of these styles (we could even ask them about their approach!), and study of these musics can be researched through a variety of methodologies including historical musicology, music analysis and fieldwork. A Royal Musical Association (RMA) research conference titled ‘Performing Musicology’ with a thematic strand on improvisation held at City University, London on 17 June 2011, for example, made little mention of historically and socially grounded improvisation forms and, instead, talks and performances were centred on

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mainly abstract improvisation games or historical performance. No mention was made at all of jazz, one the most important musical forms of the twentieth century. Historical performance practice at undergraduate level has typically only considered music before the age of recording but needs to expand its relevance to vernacular twentieth- and twenty-first-century forms. Over a century of recorded improvisations could be studied and analysed to see how music is structured and approached using listening and transcription skills alongside contextualization and performance studies (including improvisation as a matter of course). Historically informed performance has now come into the age of recordings – Elgar, Holst and Stravinsky, for instance – albeit in the Western compositional sphere, and I am not suggesting that historical performance should disappear from the curriculum – rather that it should be expanded to include vernacular music of the twentieth century to the present, making full use of the audio and audio–visual material available. Research-led teaching in music departments is not as widespread as is often claimed perhaps due to specialized work being deemed too complex for undergraduate level students. Seemingly specialized research can, however, be incorporated into teaching if space for students’ own ideas and musical backgrounds can be brought into service using a more integrated approach to music studies. In my university teaching I draw on my own practice-led research (in which I have documented the creative processes involved in improvisation), and apply similar techniques to other musical forms (where appropriate). I teach Latin improvisation aesthetics in my courses on Cuban music; outside these courses, I guide students on how to apply similar techniques to other styles of improvisation (such as blues, jazz and other popular music forms). Following an example of my practice-led research later in this chapter, I will demonstrate how these techniques can be applied to the teaching of creative improvisation at university level within a variety of idioms. Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation (Miller, 2014a), while informed by my practice-led research, gives a social and cultural history of the Cuban flute style from the late nineteenth century to the present, detailing its performance practice within the charanga tradition, and analysing recorded improvisations. It is not a method book but nevertheless contains some pedagogical information outlining a long-term plan of action to guide those wanting to learn the style. Although it may seem obvious it perhaps needs underlining that studying improvisation can lead to greater contextual knowledge about specific musical idioms and the musicians who play them. Many universities run courses such as ‘Music in Culture’ or ‘Music in Context’ where the social, political and cultural aspects of music are considered. Some

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of these connect to other more specific modules or performance groups but they can be a rather disconnected affair. Again, these contextual courses could be attached to both theoretical provision and high-level performance modules featuring improvisation, where an understanding of cultural context informs practice. In my own higher education teaching it has been frustrating not to have been able to combine lectures on Cuban and Latin American music history with practical sessions on Cuban and Latin forms (sessions that universities have been happy for me to run as practical ensemble work). It is almost as if those in charge of curricula do indeed consider non-classical forms as less worthy of study. The ghettoizing of ‘world’ and ‘ethno’ provision common at university level sends a message to students that these musics are not as important, that it only takes 10 hours or so of study across a semester to master them (typically ‘world’ musics are taught in short practical skills modules) and that improvisation is not an essential skill. This is not to negate the excellent work undertaken by ethnomusicologists at university level but merely to point out that provision is unequally divided between the classical and the vernacular, the composed and the improvised, the Anglophone and the non-Anglophone. Creativity is presumed to reside in composition modules and improvisation is most often not a prominent feature of ‘world’ music or ‘popular’ music provision. Ensuring that improvisation, transcription and analysis of a wide range of musical idioms are included in taught musicianship skills and placed at the centre of the curriculum would redress this imbalance and foster creativity across subject areas. I have demonstrated how Western art music has contributed to the development of the Cuban flute soloing style in my own research and this work can be used with students to show that the barrier between the vernacular and the classical is not as impermeable as commonly believed. Analysis of most film music similarly illustrates this point. In the classical field, William Kinderman’s account of Beethoven’s playful improvisations in the form of cadenzas and fantasias (2009: 296–312) has parallels not only with solos by Richard Egües in Orquesta Aragón but also with African musicians’ practice as exemplified by the role of the trumpet solo in Borborbor performance cited by Professor Kofi Agawu at a talk given at City University, London, in 2013. In this trumpet solo the waiting note of the fifth is playfully extended as the soloist plays with audience expectation in a similar manner to Beethoven’s performances cited by Kinderman. Improvisation courses could incorporate these ‘suspension’ techniques, alongside covering classical improvisation in the form of cadenzas, preludes, impromptus and fantasias. Certainly, injecting improvisation skills into the traditional classical curriculum would enable creativity beyond the usual interpretation of the score (some contemporary composed music of course does

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incorporate improvisation in performance but the focus here is on idiomatic improvisation). A general introductory course on improvisation that was both theoretical and practical would be useful if it was to then lead to more specialist courses which allowed for further development of improvisational skills where creativity is developed imaginatively within specific stylistic parameters. Connections between traditions could also be made leading to more interdisciplinarity. Why not, for example, include West African drumming and a study of ‘African Minimalism’ (as outlined by Agawu) alongside the usual coverage of minimalism focusing on the works of, for example, Riley, Reich, Glass and Eno? Students could then apply techniques and processes to both areas (after all, contemporary minimalism has one of its roots in West African music). Imitating solos by ear is a very useful skill, as is transcription for all music students. Both are essential for the study of improvisation and could be an integral part of aural training and general musicianship. In terms of performance skills, to be creative within a style requires learning that idiom’s language; learning the stylistic vocabulary and syntax through imitation is a prerequisite to innovation. The rules governing different types of improvisation need to be learnt through intensive immersion in those particular styles. Classical traditions such as North Indian raag have many rules governing performance; other more vernacular styles may have more freedom in this regard. What unites many styles containing improvisation as a major component of performance, however, is the necessity for oral transmission, and a return to oral modes of teaching (in addition to notation-based ones) could only enrich provision. Interestingly, saxophonist Dave Liebman, in a jazz conference talk at Leeds College of Music in March 2010, rejected the now outdated Aebersold approach to jazz education he helped to create, in favour of copying solos by ear and via transcription. Aural training and memory are exercised this way and stylistic elements are absorbed naturally in the learning process. The ability to analyse solos and take ideas from them to generate new ones within the style thus develops musicianship skills creatively. These processes also enable students to find out how the music is structured and provide musical and cultural insights into the style studied. In the following short example I outline how analysis of two improvised solos of the same Cuban son1 piece Sabroso como el Guarapo (and live performance of it with the original band in Havana) enabled me to create my own arrangement and solo of the piece using ideas gleaned from close study of these originals. I will then explain how this work can be applied to the creative teaching of improvisation at university level. Before looking at the wider application of

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these techniques I therefore provide an example of a research-led project to demonstrate how the study of a non-canonical piece of non-Anglophone music can produce new creative work. Transcription skills, ear training, stylistic awareness, cultural and social knowledge, ethnomusicological methodology, analytical skills – all of these are involved in this study which has, as its final outcome, a new improvised solo. Documenting the creative process forms part of this work and it is key to the subsequent examples on research-led teaching for creative improvisation.

Sabroso como el Guarapo (Tasty as a Sugar Cane Drink): Practice-led research and its pedagogical application Table 6.1 shows the chronological order in which I studied recordings of Sabroso como el Guarapo, culminating in my own live and studio versions as a creative way of demonstrating my research findings (solos 3 and 4). The Orquesta Sublime mid-twentieth-century recording (solo 1) features a flute solo by Melquiades Fundora who I met in 2006 and performed with on several occasions in Havana (Figure 6.1). The band was founded by Melquiades and

Figure 6.1 Melquiades Fundora from Orquesta Sublime, Havana, Cuba, 2006. Photograph courtesy of Sue Miller

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Table 6.1 Recorded versions of Sabroso como el Guarapo 1. Sabroso como el Guarapo

Orquesta Sublime: Sabroso como el Guarapo – A La Pachanga Con La Sublime, Artex Canada, 1956–60 recordings, 1994, EGREM License reissue.

2. Sabrosa como el Guarapo

Pacheco, Johnny: Sabrosa como el Guarapo – Pacheco y su Charanga, Fania Records 773 130 219–2, Emusica Records, Re-issue on CD, 2007.

3. Sabroso como el Guarapo

Orquesta Sublime with Sue Miller, Sabroso como el Guarapo. Performance at the Cabaret Nacional, Havana, 6 April 2009. Available online at: [accessed 23 January 2014] Sue Miller and her Charanga Del Norte: Sabroso como el Guarapo – Look Back in Charanga, CDN00CD10, 2010.

4. Sabroso como el Guarapo

his brother Rolando in 1959, the year of the Cuban Revolution. On the other side of the cold war divide Johnny Pacheco recorded his version in 1961 at the height of the New York chachachá2 and pachanga3 craze (solo 2). He is better known as a bandleader and founder of both Fania Records and the inventor of the ‘salsa’ marketing term in New York (for more information on the origins of the ‘salsa’ label see Berríos-Miranda in Waxer, 2002: 23–45). Originally from the Dominican Republic, Pacheco is said to have been greatly influenced by the Cuban flute players Richard Egües and Antonio Arcaño. Many Cuban musicians defected to the United States after the 1959 revolution to find work, fuelling a renewed interest in Latin music in venues such as the Palladium in New York. Pacheco gave work to many of them, including Eddy Zervigón from Orquesta Broadway (Zervigón 2007)

The solos Solo 1: Orquesta Sublime In the following annotated transcription (Figure 6.2) of Fundora’s flute solo, octave ‘bounces’ between fourth octave altissimo d4 and third octave d3 are

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Figure 6.2 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute solo – Melquiades Fundora, transcription by Sue Miller

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Figure 6.2 Continued

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clearly in evidence, as are rising figures using a dominant axis (on d3) and triplet mordent figures and sextuplets around the ninth degree of the scale (a3). It needs noting that the solo is to be played an octave higher as indicated by the octave above treble clef sign. The solo takes place in the third and fourth octaves and is heavily tongued. The improvised solo begins with short inspiraciónes 4 and then transforms into a longer solo continued over a I-V chord progression of Gm and D7. The ninth note a3 is predominant throughout and acts as an alternative axis to the tonic g3 and the dominant d3 and d 4 notes. The texture gradually increases through semiquaver and sextuplet figures and an increased frequency of octave ‘bounces’. Many of Fundora’s phrases draw upon elements in the composed introduction and semiquaver motifs are a main feature of the solo.

Solo 2: Johnny Pacheco’s Sabrosa como el Guarapo Pacheco’s solo (as transcribed in Figure 6.3) is also played characteristically in the third and fourth register on the five-key wooden flute with a one octave tessitura between d3 and d4. His improvisation is similar to Fundora’s in that he uses the dominant note d3 as an axis note around which turns and phrases are based, alongside triplet mordents and sextuplets on the ninth, and turns around the tonic. Like Fundora he uses octave ‘bounces’ and semiquaver motifs. In contrast his solo contains the five-beat cinquillo5 rhythm played several times (Figure 6.3: bars 77 and 79), a stylistic feature more common in charanga players of the 1940s (see Miller, 2014a: 65–97). Inspired by both Antonio Arcaño, a player who was innovative in the late 1930s and 1940s and by Richard Egües, the famous Aragón flautist who rose to fame in the mid-1950s, it is not surprising that Pacheco has a mix of influences here. The cinquillo patterns derive from the Cuban danzón6 and the part quotation/adaptation of Egües’s composition El Bodeguero (Figure 6.3: bar 71) thus demonstrates both players’ influences here (this piece is analysed in Miller, 2014a: 222–43). Due to the similarity of Pacheco’s solo to Fundora’s it would not be surprising if Pacheco had based his solo on the earlier Orquesta Sublime version. Both solos are energetic and strongly articulated but the Pacheco solo is a little more continuous with fewer discrete call and response phrases, perhaps betraying a brasher New York flavour.

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Figure 6.3 Sabrosa como el Guarapo, flute solo by Johnny Pacheco, transcription by Sue Miller

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Figure 6.3 Continued

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Solos 3 and 4: Taking ideas for a walk – the Orquesta Sublime with Sue Miller and Charanga del Norte versions I have been playing Sabroso como el Guarapo since 1999 in my own band Charanga del Norte and have performed the song on several occasions with the original band, Orquesta Sublime. I had learnt the flute solo by Melquiades Fundora by ear before transcribing it later in 2001. I performed the song again with Orquesta Sublime in the Cabaret Nacional, Havana in April 2009 to pay homage to Fundora, who died on 14 February 2009 (solo 3). My own version for the album Look Back in Charanga is a deliberate homage to Fundora and I incorporated (exaggerated, even) his particular stylistic traits in my own solo. I transcribed Johnny Pacheco’s solo on Sabrosa como el Guarapo in order to inject additional stylistic vocabulary into my playing. Pacheco’s solo is very similar to Fundora’s and the elements I took from both players blended well in my own improvisation. The aim was to produce a new creative solo which was nevertheless in keeping with the original style. My solo was mainly an exercise in creative motivic development and from the outset I wanted to highlight Fundora’s use of the rhythmic motif of two semiquavers and a quaver (Figure 6.4) derived from the composed melody and so set about experimenting with various ways to develop sequences using this and other double-tongued motifs (as in Figures 6.5 and 6.6). Figure 6.5 is further extended through sequencing on chord notes, motif reversal and combinations of both variations. Figure 6.6 solo builds

Figure 6.4 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Fundora, bar 75: Characteristic motif

Figure 6.5 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Developing the Fundora motif

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Figure 6.6 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller, developing the Fundora motif further

gradually in intensity from the Fundora-Pacheco blendings of the early inspiraciónes to the motivic development of the second section and then to the more intense and densely packed finale. In addition, I incorporated a rising sequence on the dominant similar to that used by Fundora, as transcribed in Figure 6.7. The increased texture, based on the Fundora model, is followed by a series of octave bounces, a stylistic element common to both Pacheco’s and Fundora’s solos, leading to a llamada7 or ‘call phrase’, which I took from Fundora’s melodic phrase in bars 75–78 (Figure 6.2), which in turn functions as a cue into the final coro8 as coda (Figure 6.8). The piece is about the sugar drink extracted from the sugar cane called guarapo and is full of sexual innuendo (with lyrics translating roughly as ‘your kisses are tastier than guarapo and this is how you make the mixture – with your hands and your hips, like this, like this’). I therefore wanted to build the solo gradually from elements borrowed from the solos studied. Seeing the solo as a ‘seduction in three movements’, I added a new coro: ‘ruñame papa, aprietame por dios’ (‘squeeze me tight daddy o’ for god’s sake’) to the final section to underline this ‘from kisses to tight squeezes’ intention.

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Figure 6.7 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Rising sequence on a dominant axis with a tessitura of d3 to d4

Figure 6.8 Sabroso como el Guarapo, flute – Sue Miller: Octave leaps (‘3 in a grid of 4’ cross-rhythms) leading to a melodic four-bar call phrase (llamada)

Teaching improvisation: Demonstrating and fostering creative improvisation The previous example serves as one of many models used to encourage students to choose a solo (either from a Latin music tradition based on clave9 or, if for a more generic improvisation module, from another tradition) and apply similar analysis techniques to their own chosen music (adapting their approach to each idiom’s stylistic and structural elements). The motivic variation thus demonstrates how a handful of ideas can be expanded creatively within stylistic rules. It also reveals cultural meanings, which in turn affect the approach taken in a solo. Building to a climax, for example, may underlie the improvisation’s direction as in Sabroso como el Guarapo where the seduction in three parts moves from the flirtatious to the consummatory. Indeed, increasing the texture of a solo is a common phenomenon (in North Indian classical raags,10 for example) but not all solos build in this manner, and stylistic parameters

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need to inform the approach taken. Copying elements by ear and memorizing them are only part of the process and learning how to develop ideas gleaned from recordings and live performances are key to improvisational creativity. In the Cuban flute example the idea of motivic development is foregrounded but other aspects of the style, such as the top octave tessitura, rising figures on a dominant note axis, ‘3 in a grid of 4’ cross-rhythms, octave ‘bounces’ and heavy articulation are made overt through transcription and analysis. I teach students aspects of this style in Cuban music practical courses by giving them motifs or ideas, and encouraging them to incorporate these into their own improvised inspiraciónes. I also hone in on ideas presented in students’ improvisations and playfully demonstrate the potential of their ideas, stretching their improvisational abilities in real time in a fun, relaxed environment (nurturing beginner improvisers while making greater demands on the more experienced). In these practical ensembles a simple idea is repeated until imitated exactly and then developed progressively towards more virtuosic phrases and/or techniques. I often listen out for ideas they produce which can be ‘Cubanized’ to fit the two-bar clave organizational principle, spontaneously inventing games and idiomatic riffs derived from their ideas which are then shared by the group. When workshopping other styles of improvisation in more compositionfocused seminars, students’ ideas are picked out and shown to be ‘pregnant’ with possibilities. By the end of a course in improvisation students are then more able to identify and develop good ideas (not leaving them too soon), and pay more attention to the content of their own improvisations through increased stylistic awareness. Student work can be both theoretical and practical, taking the form of written dissertations, listening exercises, transcriptions, analysis and performance. I have led modules where I can introduce some teaching and analysis of improvisation (often smuggled in) including modules on ethnomusicology (North Indian classical music, Cuban music and Latin music styles in general), musicology (African American musical forms including jazz and Latin jazz history), composition (including improvisation) and performance (Cuban music and popular music styles). Past students of mine have studied Latin styles of piano, timbales, trumpet, violin, flute and guitar improvisation, Brazilian bossa nova-styled drum solos, and various blues (Robert Johnson/Eric Clapton), jazz (Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald), Indo-jazz fusion (Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, both led by guitarist John McLaughlin) and heavy rock improvisations (Van Halen). Cultural contexts of chosen recorded solos can be examined and linked to analytical

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and performative processes and indeed need to be contextualized for deeper understanding. Students are taught stylistic vocabularies and strategies in order to develop idiomatic ideas in a variety of contexts. Creativity is thus developed through imitation and innovation where originality is not emphasized but rather exemplified in practice. In composing and improvising modules with a practical focus students have created their own backing tracks and performed their own improvisations to them, drawing on what they have learnt from studying related recordings. In the context of a Cuban music big band I teach students about the music through the performance of arrangements in a variety of Cuban styles where there are opportunities not only to improvise but also to learn about approaches to improvisation. I teach students to play the underlying harmonies and demonstrate the stylistic vocabulary myself, ensuring that they learn the chord progressions and rhythmic elements which underpin the associated improvisations, which they learn by ear and through notation. Figure 6.9 is

Figure 6.9 Preparatory exercise for improvisation on El Cuarto de Tula

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an example of a preparatory improvisation exercise I devised for the piece El Cuarto de Tula. The exercise not only teaches students the underlying harmonies, but also clave direction (through the tie over to the three-side of the clave in the piano montuno11 pattern) and the anticipated chord change on beat four as emphasized by the bass tumbao12 pattern. It also introduces students to the idea of sol-fa as practised by Cuban musicians. Arpeggiating the chords makes students aware of the harmonic progression (and the importance of tonic and dominant chords) so that they can concentrate on melodic and rhythmic ideas rather than worry about pitch choices. I often play ideas using notes from the chords for students to repeat, gradually adding variations, and this call and response demonstrates how they can experiment with these musical ideas idiomatically. Listening skills are developed as phrases have to be either copied exactly or responded to using ideas from other soloists. I encourage students to learn complete recorded solos by ear and, if they are able, to transcribe improvisations from audio recordings, reflecting on this process in listening diaries and commentaries. In performance settings such as in the Cuban music big bands I direct, the call and response structure of Latin music has enabled many students to take their first steps into improvisation. Video and audio resources alongside scores and other online course materials are used to foster and inform this practical approach. Reading lists which link to this practical work are also designed to link to lectures on Latin American musical forms (wherever possible). In more general ethnomusicology seminars on North Indian classical music I have introduced students to the concept of bol13 and sargam14 improvisation within the taal15 rhythmic cycle. Students have enjoyed marking the tabla beats on the fingers, singing the composed ‘gats’ and fitting in their improvisations in different laykari16 rhythmic groupings in the prescribed gaps. Here, creativity within the rules of North Indian raag and taal introduces students to rule-bound idiomatic improvisation and simultaneously links theoretical and contextual matters to experimentation in performance.

Assessing improvisation Learning to improvise is a messy process and improvisation skills are developed over a long period of time. It is not easy to ‘measure’ progress for university assessments but there are ways of doing this that allow for diversity and creative

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freedom. Opportunities to improvise need to be plentiful (to learn a language one needs to be around people who speak that language) but this should not be confused with ‘teaching improvisation’. Idiomatic improvisation is borne of socially and culturally grounded traditions (whether classical in an Indian raag sense or vernacular as in blues, jazz or Latin styles). Learning to improvise need not be divorced from context, and studying the nuts and bolts of a solo can lead to cultural information being revealed in subtle and interesting ways. Through combining the theoretical with the practical one can learn about the hybridity of styles and specific improvisational aesthetics, and use this knowledge to create new performances and recordings. Learning to improvise is a slow process and any assessment needs to take note of this, using forms of assessment which encourage listening, analysing and performing. Assessment of practical improvisation skills ideally requires live performance after a series of workshops to ensure that improvisation is constantly revised and developed. That is not to say that students should not prepare some composed material, particularly as solos typically draw on elements from the composition/ arrangement and the wider repertoire on which they rest. If taught creatively, students will be armed with strategies for generating new material from stylistic ideas – this then avoids the assessment becoming a performance of rearranged memorized chunks of precomposed material. There is a fine line between memorized performance and live improvisation and allowing for risk-taking will that ensure this particular pitfall is avoided (e.g. by emphasizing that risktaking based on solid preparation will improve the performance and be more likely to gain a good mark). In my improvisation classes students choose a solo to study and learn by ear, keep a related listening diary, create their own backing tracks and practice improvising to these backings using ideas gleaned from their chosen recordings. They subsequently workshop these solos and are given feedback on how to develop their ideas. The final assessed performance is then the culmination of all this study, with written work surrounding the live solo forming an integral part of the whole. By the end of a course such as this, students are then aware that improvisation is not simply ‘made up’ but is based on musical traditions which have their own stylistic rules. Interviews with improvisers by Derek Bailey (1992) and Paul Berliner (1994) respectively have also emphasized the importance of immersion in a particular idiom to learn these overt and covert rules. Of course, none of these ideas are new but nevertheless I hope to have shown that research-led teaching of improvisation in both practical and more theoretical settings can inform the creative teaching and learning of

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improvisation. Sabroso como el Guarapo is just one example of how working with recordings can lead to the development of creative improvisation while building on core musicianship skills, creating a desire to learn about and research the cultural, social and political contexts in which the idiom originated. There is a need for more analytical ‘ethno’musicology at the heart of music higher education provision, one that links to all aspects of music studies and one which puts improvisation centre-stage. In the twenty-first century we can no longer maintain the trichotomy of ethnomusicology, musicology and popular music with its outdated divisions and Anglocentric outlook. Creative improvisation in a variety of contexts can lead to new and exciting university-level curricula which encompass historical musicology, music analysis, performance and many other interdisciplinary areas in a more inclusive and stylistically rich environment. As Patricia Shehan Campbell states: [A]s the realization grows that it is ‘human to improvise’ the way ahead in music courses and programs is to allow the incorporation of improvisation exercises so that students may develop a deeper and more comprehensive musical understanding. In schools and in higher education, a more thoroughgoing musical education may be achieved by setting aside time for imitating various musical styles, experimenting with a variety of sound sources, and improvising on predesigned motifs and materials. (2009: 139)

With the example of Sabroso como el Guarapo I hope to have demonstrated how this can be achieved in practice. I look forward to a time when the mainstream music curriculum at university level fully supports the teaching of creative improvisation, one where the study of improvisation (both theoretical and practical) is considered fundamental rather than peripheral to a well-rounded creative musical education.

Notes 1 Son – a popular Cuban form traditionally comprising a line-up of maracas, claves, bongo, guitar, tres guitar, double bass and vocals. This influential style was the foundation for salsa music in the United States. For more information see S. Miller (2014b), ‘Cuban Son’, in D. Horn and J. Shepherd (eds), The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW): Part 3 Genres: Caribbean and Latin American Genres, London: Bloomsbury Press. 2 Chachachá – a style created in the Cuban charanga orquestas of the 1950s (the traditional charanga formation is piano, bass, congas, timbales, güiro, flute,

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Activating Diverse Musical Creativities violins and vocals). Although less syncopated than the son style it nevertheless incorporates elements from it. For more on the Cuban charanga see Miller (2014a). Pachanga – Cuban popular dance music that developed from the chachachá in the late 1950s with the addition of Afro-Cuban rhythms in the congas. Inspiración – short improvisations between sung coros, these can be instrumental or vocal. Cinquillo – a five-beat rhythm which characterizes the danzón style. Danzón – a late nineteenth-century form of Cuban dance music which has its roots in the earlier habanera and contradanza styles. Played by both orquesta típica wind bands and violin and flute-led charangas. For a detailed account of danzón in Cuba and Mexico see A. L. Madrid and R. D. Moore (2013), Danzón: Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance, New York: Oxford University Press. Llamada – a call phrase that is often the tune of the main coro used to signal the end of a section or solo. Coro – short refrains sung by a vocal section. Clave – the organizing principle of Cuban music, clave takes the form of a two-bar pattern or timeline which can run in both directions as a 2–3 or 3–2 clave. See Miller (2014a: glossary and chapters 5 and 6) for more details. Raga – the melodic component which relates to the time cycle or taal in North Indian classical music. Many rules govern a raga’s performance, from the scale or thaat to the composed gat compositions, characteristic phrases, types of ornamentation and characteristic melodic movements known as varna or chalan. The scale or saptak is made up of seven notes (swars) some of which can be flattened (second, third, sixth and seventh) and the fourth, which can be raised. The tonic or ‘sa’ is moveable and therefore comparable to the solfège system and is known as sargam. See Bailey (1992: 1–11) for more information on raga performance. Montuno – a piano montuno pattern is based around clave and can be in 2–3 or 3–2 clave direction. The montuno open section is where call and response coro/ inspiración and solos take place. Tumbao – a term mainly used to refer to the bass and conga patterns in popular Cuban dance music. Bol – this means ‘speak’ in Hindi and the bol syllables in North Indian classical music are used to verbalize and improvise rhythmic patterns where Thom = 1 beat, Ta Ka = 2 beats, Ta Ki Ta = 3 beats, Ta Ka Di Mi = 4 beats and Ta Di Gi Na Thom = 5 beats. Sargam – the notes used in ragas Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa Dha, Ni Sa (see raga). Taal (Tala) – a rhythmic cycle of a set number of beats and accents. The taal is played on the tabla and has a spoken form called theka.

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16 Laykari – rhythmic feels created by grouping notes in threes, fours, fives, sixes, and so on, playing with accentuation by fitting improvised runs and patterns (taans, sapats, alankars, tihayis) to the tabla cycle.

References Agawu, K. V. (1997), ‘Analyzing music under the new musicological regime’, Journal of Musicology, 15(3), 297–307. —. (2013), ‘The minimalist impulse in African musical creativity’, paper given at City University, London, 10 April. Bailey, D. (1992), Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music, New York: Da Capo Press (Originally published in 1980 in Ashbourne, Derbyshire by Moorland Publishing). Berliner, P. (1994), Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Berríos-Miranda, M. (2002), ‘Is salsa a musical genre’, in L. Waxer (ed.), Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local Meaning in Latin Popular Music, New York and London: Routledge. Kinderman, W. (2009), ‘Improvisation in Beethoven’s creative process’, in B. Nettl and G. Solís (eds), Musical Improvisation: Art, Education and Society, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois. Liebman, D. (2010), Lecture demonstration on jazz improvisation given at Leeds College of Music, Jazz Education Conference, 24–26 March. Madrid, A. L. and Moore, R. D. (2013), Danzón: Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance, New York: Oxford University Press. Miller, S. (2011), Flute Improvisation in Cuban Charanga Performance: With a specific focus on the work of Richard Egües and Orquesta Aragón, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds. Miller, S. (2014a), Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. —. (2014b) ‘Cuban Son’, in D. Horn and J. Shepherd (eds), The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW): Part 3 Genres (Caribbean and Latin American Genres), London: Bloomsbury. Moore, R. D. (1992) ‘The decline of improvisation in Western art music: An interpretation of change’, International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 23(1) (Croatian Musicological Society HMD), 61–84. —. (2006), Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. —. (2014), ‘Foreword’, in S. Miller, Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation, Lanham: MD: Scarecrow Press.

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Shehan Campbell, P. (2009), ‘Learning to improvise music, improvising to learn music’, in B. Nettl and G. Solís (eds), Musical Improvisation: Art, Education and Society, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois. Small, C. (1987), Music of the Common Tongue, London: Calder Publications. Tagg, P. (2012), Music’s Meanings, New York: MMM.

Online video An example of Borborbor performance can be viewed here: [accessed 11 January 2014]. Orquesta Sublime with Sue Miller, Sabroso como el Guarapo, Performance at the Cabaret Nacional, Havana, 6 April 2009 [accessed 23 January 2014].

Interviews by the author Melquiades Fundora, charanga flute player, Havana, April 2001 and 28 March 2007. Eddy Zervigón, charanga flute player and bandleader of Orquesta Broadway, New York, 14 July 2007.

Discography Buena Vista Social Club (2008), El Cuarto de Tula – Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall, World Circuit Production, WCD 080. Orquesta Aragón (1956), El Bodeguero –That Cuban Cha-Cha-Cha, RCA Tropical Series 2446–2-RL, RCA Victor, re-mastered for CD (1990) – recorded in Havana 1955–6. This recording also appears on the CD Orquesta Aragón: Cuban Originals. BMG (1999). Orquesta Sublime (195601960), Sabroso como el Guarapo – A La Pachanga con la Sublime, Artex Canada, 1994, EGREM license reissue. Pacheco, Johnny (2007), Sabrosa como el Guarapo – Pacheco y su Charanga, Fania Records 773 130 219–2, Emusica Records, reissued on CD. Sue Miller and her Charanga Del Norte (2010), Sabroso como el Guarapo – Look Back in Charanga, CDN00CD10. All transcriptions, analyses and musical examples are by the author.

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The Inner Voice: Activating Intuitive and Improvisational Creativities Esmée Olthuis

Introduction I am a musician, more particularly a saxophone player, and even more specifically I am an improviser. Actually, I like the order to be the other way around; I am an improviser, I often use the saxophone as the instrument to express my creativity as an improviser, and the field wherein I improvise is music. The field of improvisation could also have been something else; sculpture, science, working with horses . . . anything that requires a certain state of mind and way of being. I believe that the art of improvising has its heart in being in the moment, in the now, as discussed by authors such as Tolle (2001) in The Power of NOW. Call it intuition, being in contact with your essential self, an ultimate balanced state of mind: it is the state of being from where creation begins, and that is the most important thing for me as an improviser. Being an improviser enables me to make music with anybody that I meet, in any circumstance, and provides the opportunity to make contact on a truly personal and engaged level with people with whom I have previously never exchanged a single word. Being able to create on the spot, to be in the moment and to go with any flow that is present at a certain time is an enormous gift. Music is communication, music connects: these words might be clichés, but are nevertheless true, especially when music is improvised, created on the spot with no expectations, with no set time and outcome. No rules, just freedom of play and freedom to create. I experienced the most spectacular expression of this communication and connection at a world music festival in Uzbekistan

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in 2007. Musicians from many Eastern countries were staying at the same hotel. At nights, spectacular jam sessions took place: percussionists, flautists and singers from different backgrounds joined together in heated, purely improvised and creative performances. There were no rules; there was space for every player; the atmosphere of the music changed easily, as well as the form, the dynamics, the colour; players stepped in and out, were musical leader for a while, stepped back again, and so on. The result was a never-ending highly creative magical togetherness. People came to listen and formed a large circle around the players; they danced, cried, shouted, whipping the musicians up to the highest level of energy. For me, this was the ideal musical experience: music coming from the inner voices of the players. The concepts drawn from this experience lie at the foundation of my ideas for teaching within the curriculum of a new study programme at the Utrecht Conservatory: Musician 3.0. This chapter discusses my belief that improvisation is fundamental to creation and explores the training of music students at the conservatory within the field of intuitive and improvisational creativities.

Musician 3.0 In 2011, a new department at the Conservatory of Utrecht (HKU), The Netherlands, began to train the first cohort of Musician 3.0 students. It was felt, both from within the Conservatory and externally, that there was a need to develop a new course through consideration of didactic insights and different artistic points of view, and that the course would foster a renewed connection between playing and creating. The course design emphasizes three fundamental activities: creating, performing and communicating. The course is non-style-based and focuses on improvisation, creative learning and reflective practice. The creative music making within the course places a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity and musical leadership. The three pillars of creating, performing and communicating form a holistic framework for the future musician. However, the course is also very much understood as a laboratory, as highly experimental research. The construction and development of the Musician 3.0 curriculum is a creative process in itself. The Musician 3.0 learning strategies lie in the fields of creative learning, improvisation and personal development. All three fields require the state of mind wherein students are connected with their intuition. ‘Intuitive Creativities’ is the term I use to explain how creativity can be activated from adapting a state of mind called ‘Free Space’. Training the

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ability to act in this ‘Free Space’ means building the fundamentals essential for creativities and creative learning. In the discussion of improvisational creativities that follows, these are conceptualized as musical creativities that exist through using improvisation, and, more precisely, through using the tool of processed improvisation.

‘Free Space’: The state of mind that activates intuitive creativities The concept of ‘Free Space’ refers to a state of mind which is not hindered by convictions, limited imagination or emotional obstacles. However, access to this free space can be obstructed by lack of imagination, self-trust, curiosity and determination. It is all about acting in the now, being in contact with intuition and an authentic sense of self, and learning to act in this space. In order for students to enter this space as easily and deeply as possible, training and experience is necessary. Students need time for experimenting, making mistakes and experiencing success in creating within the here and now. I believe that it is only from this state of mind that musical creativity can develop. Too much thinking can easily obstruct intuition, as can interfering thoughts, low self-esteem and judgemental opinions. An open and highly receptive mind is the starting point for creative exploration. Within the curriculum of Musician 3.0 improvisation is the organizational form in which musical creativity is trained. Students follow a path of creative learning through the curriculum, which enables them to become autonomous creators, performers and communicators.

Creative learning: The line of process In this course the students’ first challenge is to begin by letting go of their opinions and received views about music. A creative process starts with one’s own resources. Students learn to focus on a state of mind that is fully receptive and open to anything. They are offered input in different ways (project-based, theoretically, through assignments and exercises) and from different artistic fields (including dance, theatre and fine arts), and are at the same time given supervision in the fields of communication, and personal and artistic development. After some time, their musical ideas begin to become more diverse and they increase

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their ability to adapt. Their creative skills are trained through improvisation and improvisation didactics, exercises and assignments. Divergent thinking, the ability to associate, training the imagination, stimulating playfulness and experimentation, and being exposed to different forms of art are all subjects of importance during the training. While their creative abilities develop, students increasingly find themselves inspired, immersed in their work and learning to influence the occurrence of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). I have created the term ‘forming’ to describe the creative process which comes after the magic moments, periods of illumination and flow. ‘Forming’ refers to the process of conceptualizing and the crystallization of ideas. ‘Forming’ is hard work and requires high levels of curiosity, reflectiveness, collaboration and determination. It is concerned with manifesting musical ideas and concepts and making those ideas and concepts contagious. The method of Critical Response Process (Lerman and Borstel, 2003) is used to reflect on the (formed) artistic work in such a way that the artist is invited to deepen his or her understanding of their own piece of art. These creative processes usually follow their own unpredictable path and pace; creative learning requires an individual and student-oriented approach to education. Through many years of performing, teaching, research and soul-searching, I developed a very personal and, at the same time, universal vision on teaching adolescents to become intuitive, creative, authentic and powerful performers. The fundamental part of this process lies in improvisation, which I teach within the section of the Musician 3.0 course called LAB. For this course I use a concept of processed improvisation and creative learning called Kobranie. This concept is fundamental to the activation of intuitive and improvisational creativities, and the ideas and processes that are involved are discussed in subsequent sections.

Kobranie: Processed improvisation The Musician 3.0 students receive weekly LAB (laboratory) lessons. These group lessons (heterogeneous groups of approximately 12 players from different instrumental backgrounds) are highly experimental and are concerned with creating and developing from the ‘free space’ state of mind. Students learn to play, think and act out of the box, to step out of their comfort zones and are urged to think for themselves. Improvisation has many appealing aspects: the unknown outcome, the endless possibilities, the opportunity to create in the moment, the possibility to deeply connect with other players, and the peacefulness of nonjudgemental playing. To be able to use one’s creative mind at any given moment

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helps you to express yourself as honestly as possible. Improvisation allows players to use their skills to express themselves instead of expressing their skills. Allowing freedom and playfulness into people’s playing is the first step into improvisation and creative music making. Within this context, ‘processed improvisation’ is a didactic on improvisation and refers to improvised music that is led, or ‘processed’ by a ‘conductor’, whom I call a processor. The space created within this setting allows players to form new ideas, to be guided into new musical concepts, to experiment with sound and musical form and so on. The interaction with the other players challenges and inspires, and the ‘processing’ makes it possible to direct the group into new fields of sonic possibilities. The players are arranged in a semicircle and improvise according to the directions of the processor. The directions are given by hand signs (students learn around one hundred different direction signs during the course). The processor can also use visuals, or just energy and focus, his/her own playing, language/text, space or motion as other possibilities to put sound to his/her musical ideas and inspirations. Students create their own experiments within these settings. There is freedom and space for the players’ own initiatives during the processing: they can offer ideas, interact and follow their own inspirations. I consider this to be very important because it allows the process to be creative in collaboration and therefore connected, offering all players the possibility of acting in the now. Striving for some form of equality between the processor and the players is vital. It gives all participants the opportunity to be highly creative and communicative. Players need to be free to act and react within the framework presented by the processor. The players’ input and inspirations are essential for the quality of the music. Each student is trained as both a processor as well as a player during the sessions. Improvisational and creative skills are trained by means of exercises and assignments. New conducting signs can be developed by the players and students are invited to experiment with all possible means of creating sound (extended techniques, using non-musical material for musical expression, experimenting with language and movement).

Creative learning within the processed improvisation The first developmental step that students take within the creative learning process is to open themselves to new musical possibilities and processes. The instant compositions created during the processed improvisation sessions give rise to new ideas and inspirations while contributing to the package of skills

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available to each player. Students playing within these processed improvisational settings typically start playing with tools and musical materials that are known to them. Initially, they are not yet confident enough in using their musical ability and skills to create music they do not yet know. They respond readily to things that are familiar to them (e.g. a groove which requires a bassline that sits within their current experience of musical styles). The musical material is fixed in style-oriented forms and at this stage is generally not used as style-independent musical material. Scales, rhythmical components and sounds can, however, all be used as independent musical material. Furthermore, the independent material can be used to create ‘new’ musical material. Through the role of processor, without the limitation of their instruments and instrumental skills, students learn to create wider and more far-reaching music. The ensemble (the peer group) provides the processor with unlimited possibilities of expression through colour, shape and atmosphere. These experiences open and trigger the imaginations of the processor and the playing participants. The musical conversations and reflection quickly gain richness and the students experience the wideness and possibilities of this new open field. I coach students in experimenting with form, and combining sounds, textures and structures of tension and release. I train, for example, improvisational interaction (developing the quality of musical offering and response), musical role-modelling (as a vocalist you can be responsible for the groove, as a drummer for the phrasing of the melody, etc.), working with the concept that processed improvisation exists within the organization of sound. The first steps of ‘Forming’ consist of finding ways to collect, process and reflect on the inspiration and creative experiences discovered. This can be done, for example, by using a notebook to write or draw, to retell the experience, collecting information, to create an artwork based on the new inspiration or insight. The way students describe their inspirations is personal and an important part of their creative learning process.

Implementing association, metaphor and imagination into musical expression Students are often easily able to be associative in language but musically this is more difficult. In his book Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art, Stephen Nachmanovitch (1990) argues that language is the first manifestation of improvisation because it requires a creative, associative and improvising mind to

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be able to place words after each other in incoherent order. This ability is trained through the use of text, words and storytelling as improvisatory material. This process is developed through connecting language to musical expression: in other words, I bring it into the same creative field. Exercises in associative thinking (which are frequently used in theatre and modern dance courses) teach students divergent thinking and enable them to be open to every appearance of their imagination. Associative skills, together with metaphorical thinking and language/story improvisation, are important competences in creative music making. Students often say that their best musical ideas and interventions come from impulse, body and feeling. They describe being in a different state of mind, with no idea of time, and no obstructive thinking preventing them from experiencing. I believe that the creative moments in musical improvisation occur in different areas within one’s consciousness and unconsciousness. In order to develop musical ideas within these areas, connecting conversations are necessary, and, therefore, in addition to musical communication, one also needs language to explain the processes. In my opinion, it is crucial that this language, used by the coach or lecturer, is as associative, metaphorical and imaginary as the music itself. In order to coach students in the field of creative music making, the communication about the process and the outcome has to take place within the same creative area or state of mind. During my teaching I also use the power of metaphor to develop the capacity of imagination. As spoken language is sometimes not sufficient to explain or express the experience of either improvisation or creativities, metaphors offer a different point of entry for explanatory work, for example: ‘it is the kind of silence that sounds like snowflakes falling down in the middle of a windless night’; ‘play a melody that tries to find itself ’; ‘let’s make a soundscape like a swamp where little gas bubbles pop up once in a while, and where trees have interesting twisted shapes and only very slow snakes can survive there’. These processes are derived from the inspiring work of Martha Beck (2012) and from Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards designed to help artists break through creative blocks devised in 1978 by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.1

Creating musical lines from the area of free space One way in which I teach students to be in the moment is by letting them become deeply aware of their ‘first impulses’. In every improvisation each player

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is constantly making decisions. Why someone chooses to play a specific rhythm at a specific moment depends on a variety of factors, both conscious as well as unconscious. A known factor to base a musical decision on might be the trigger of the bass guitar ostinato where musical memory and experience immediately creates the missing complementing groove or rhythm. This could be defined as an impulse created by ‘trained solutions’: the drum rhythm that complements the bassline is something students may have learned by listening to the radio, or recordings, or through previous teachers who taught them to play funk and jazz combo grooves, and so on. In this sense I would call a ‘first impulse’ the most obvious solution. I ask my students to let their first impulses pass by and wait for the second. They are then asked to focus on what they notice happening in their bodies and what they are feeling. The focus is definitely not on what they are thinking. The thinking in this kind of situation often tells you that you had better not be out of tune; that the guitar player is giving you a bored look – nothing very useful. The second impulse may become a little different when focusing on what happens in your body. I often experience a little movement in energy, which I immediately follow, and therefore it grows into something more explicit. The energy is, for example, something really soft but under high pressure. Through allowing this little energy to grow it will become clearer how it will translate into music. I put the ‘concept’ on an imaginary line and let it become the controller of my instrument. Then it forms itself in a musical statement; sometimes as slow as you read it now, sometimes as quick as only a fraction of a second. I have found that the Musician 3.0 students can learn to deepen the quality of their musical offerings in this way. They realize that they are experiencing this when those people who are responding are inspired by their offerings and can take the ideas to another level or use the ideas as a starting point for something else. The role of the lecturer is to focus on the ‘aha’ moments, explaining those moments and facilitating reflective and musical conversations about the process.

Being the processor During the processing of the music, students are confronted with the contours of their compositional ideas, their solutions, sound ideas, and so on. The first processings are usually ‘airplane-shaped pieces’: tension bows that start with a slow development of tension and thickness, then stay for a while at a climax and quickly go to an ending. These pieces are usually horizontal and thickly

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layered, often with no space for silence. Students subsequently learn to create different directions for musical material and at the same time learn to organize the material in more diverse, surprising and creative ways. The next step is to train improvisational skills; for example, to learn to define the musical material more deeply; make intelligent use of the power of rhythm; consider the need for a story; find possibilities to encourage players to play their most inspiring material; learn how to develop a seed of musical material and work with different layers, different types of tension bows, and so on. The processors are able to make a personal mark on the pieces quite quickly. Students are challenged to be as authentic in their pieces as possible: on hearing the piece, listeners should be able to recognize the processor. After the first level of skill training (learning to use the signs, and learning to be the musical leader) students are encouraged to become more conceptual in their processing through experimenting with clear ideas and material, instrumentation, sound, extended techniques, different forms of tension bows, and so on. The processors also experience the importance of their state of mind, focus and energy. The processor’s state of mind is directly reflected in the ensemble and affects the music that is created. Exercises and reflection help to clarify the understanding of this topic and deepen the experience. The processors will grow in their ability to show themselves as a musical leader, both physically, emotionally, and as a visionary through the communication of their imagination. In my opinion, a musical leader is not the person who decides which part of the piece is rehearsed and how it should be played. Musical leadership is the ability to form musical ideas, to be associative, to have a musical vision and form that into playing and composition. It is the process of forming: moving from the imagination into the arena of putting sound to that imagination. The imagination develops and grows in the state of being in the moment, after which it manifests into sound. A musical leader, as understood in this context, ideally has a wide imagination, a deep sense of intuition and is able to hold the space of being in the now. Then the musical leader is able to form this imagination and state of mind into sound and musical shape. Musical leadership is ‘leading from the inside out’. Furthermore, after the forming has taken place, a musical leader can exchange inspiration, ideas and imagination with the community around him. This community can consist of different entities; a group of musicians, Syrian refugees, neighbours, a village population, and so on. The creative and therefore inspiring exchange takes place through the commonality of shared experience within different contexts. The capacity of the musical leader is defined by the sum of his/her talents, level of creativity, artistic preferences and energy.

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‘Free Play’ ‘Free Play’ is the next level towards activating intuitive and improvisational creativities and allows the opportunity for flow. Creativity is the dimension that comes through this process. The level of creativity is influenced by the extent of awareness of the ‘new’ and of flow. ‘Free Play’ requires higher levels of receptiveness and of being in the now. There is no processor, only the group of players and the music they have yet to create. Nevertheless, training occurs: students learn to qualify their impulses, direct the music with their input, offer useful material, change the mood and atmosphere of a piece and engage with experiencing the endless number of musical tools, rules, meanings and more. Free improvisation in the jazz and improvised music scene is a well-known phenomenon. Usually musicians in this field work with small groups and the music has a certain aesthetic. It has always been a challenge to improvise with groups larger than around four to five players without processors or strict agreements, as difficulties occur in maintaining direction, collaboration and musical variety. What struck me when commencing ‘Free Play’ sessions with the second-year Musician 3.0 students (a group of 14 students: guitar players, vocalists, bass players, pianists, drummers, saxophonists) was the absolutely authentic, strong and urgent music that was created on the spot. The pieces possessed direction, layers, variety, creativity, humour, high and intense energy; all interesting musical ingredients. These students have no shared history in this field and no history in free jazz; however, they have created something new as a group. Every session sounded totally different, not only in terms of the form of the pieces or tempo, but also particularly through the themes, the stories that needed to be told and the collective emotion. It seems that the music that was created was highly responsive to the type of day, the total energies of the players, the shared moods, the weather, the hour before, the day after, and so on. The group often concluded that they had never played in that particular kind of atmosphere before. In addition to the experience of being trained in intuitive and improvisational creativities, the structural circumstances wherein students experiment and develop play an important role. Musician 3.0 students are trained in groups (formed according to their year of study), similar to those often seen in theatre and dance education. The Musician 3.0 groups usually contain 12–14 students. The forming of a stable and safe group empowers the group and the individual, while the interaction, role-modelling and the feeling of being part of a safe space all contribute to an inspiring learning environment.

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I developed the concept of ‘Free Play’ from the work of Stephen Nachmanovitch, who wrote an astonishing book about improvisation: Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art (1990). I adapted ‘Free Play’ from this book because I feel that the words ‘free’ and ‘play’ are the most essential words in improvised music: Improvisation is intuition in action, a way to discover the muse and learn to respond to her call. Even if we work in a very structured, compositional way, we begin by that always surprising process of free invention in which we have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. The outpourings of intuition consist of a continuous, rapid flow of choice, choice, choice, choice. When we improvise with the whole heart, riding this flow, the choices and images open into each other so rapidly that we have no time to get scared and retreat from what intuition is telling us. (Nachmanovitch, 1990: 41)

This process of ‘intuition in action’ links directly to what I consider to be good communication, which I consider essential to forming a good group. Musician 3.0 students follow intensive lessons in reflective practice and feedback skills as well as communication skills. The development of the group and its dynamics are of paramount importance. The students experience safety within the group; they feel free to perform, to experiment, to try, and to fail. They experience feelings of competition in a safe way, which allows them to mainly benefit from this competition. The group develops a safe space for ‘Free Play’ and improvisation in which there is trust, respect and knowledge of each other’s talents and competences. The students care for each other, help each other and communicate: a fundamental basis for artistic exploration and development. I believe that a powerful group creates powerful individuals. This is, of course, only true if the essential aims of the group include a shared desire to create a safe holding, which is a place of non-judgement in which there is no open judgement about other people’s or one’s own performances and ideas. Opinions do not help the creative process because they stop free thinking. Therefore, posing questions is enormously important. The group has to be continuously brought into the arena of communication and self-searching in order to become the safe holding that all the students need in order to develop themselves.

The role of the lecturer in the process of improvising and creating: It takes a village to raise a Musician 3.0 The didactic of intuitive and improvisational creativity is focused on coaching students to connect inspiration into form and transform creative ideas into

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expression or design. Students need guidance in the process of creative development and transformation. Writing that ‘it takes a village to raise a Musician 3.0’ acknowledges that diverse styles of coaching by many different people are involved in the student’s growth and development. As well as core coaches, students are surrounded by experts and peers. Experiencing peerto-peer education means that senior students play a part in the development of younger students through co-creating, being a role model, peer support, conversation and exchange. The experts involved in the training of the students have the roles of inspirers (through giving seminars, working together on music, etc.) and critical friends (as internship coaches and experts from different artrelated fields who are invited to give their feedback on artistic work). In this context, the creative and improvisational processes are coached through mentoring, as described by Renshaw: Mentoring is a developmental process, including elements of coaching, facilitating and counselling, aimed at sharing knowledge and encouraging individual development. It has a longer-term focus designed to foster personal growth and to help an individual place their creative, personal and professional development in a wider cultural, social and educational context (e.g. Why am I doing what I do? How do I perceive my identity? In what ways does this impact on my professional life and work?) (2009: 3)

As noted, mentoring is present within the process-driven coaching for students taking the Musician 3.0 course. This also contributes to the development of divergent, lateral and self-sufficient thinking. Apart from skills that need to be taught in perhaps a more traditional teaching setting (instrumental skills, applied knowledge) there are many skills within the improvisational and creative learning processes that benefit from mentoring rather than teaching. It is not about giving the answers; it is about asking the right questions and facilitating students to become autonomous artists. The profile of a Musician 3.0 mentor would be that of a creative musician who possesses the experience and skills to coach creative and personal processes and development. To be able to connect deeply in conversation (verbally and through the language of music) involves being able to be the expert, the critical friend, the co-creator, the responder and the teacher at the same time. These highly skilled musical coaches are not easy to find, and therefore institutes need to invest in schooling and coaching teachers for the twenty-first century. The students of today will become the inspirational coaches of tomorrow.

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The Musician 3.0 course connects creating, performing and communicating by activating intuitive and improvisational creativities. It is the holistic approach of a discipline which connects imagination with skills. Diverse creativities are the source from where students develop into artists and these also form the starting points for expression, innovation, collaboration and research. Improvisation didactics trains musical creativity and invites players to act in the moment, to put sound to their inner voice.

Note 1 .

References Beck, M. (2002), Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, New York: Free Press. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997), Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, New York: Basic Books. Lerman, L. and Borstel, J. (2003), Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process: A Method on Getting Useful Feedback on Anything You Make from Dance to Dessert, n.p.: Dance Exchange. Nachmanovitch, S. (1990), Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, London: Penguin. Renshaw, P. (2009), ‘Lifelong learning, a framework for mentoring’ [accessed 10 April 2014]. Tolle, E. (2001), The Power of NOW: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, London: Hodder and Stoughton.

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Activating Empathic Creativity in Musicking through University–Community Partnerships Susan Helfter and Beatriz Ilari

Introduction The music profession is undergoing many changes due to social, global and economic exigencies, affecting the lives of performers, composers, educators, researchers and therapists alike. The consistent decline in opportunities for full-time, lifelong employment has given much room to what has been known as the portfolio career (Myers, 2007, cited in Smilde, 2011), where the musician combines many simultaneous professional activities. These, in turn, require musicians to serve many roles while working with distinct populations in diverse educational, community-based and performance settings. To act on these diverse roles professional musicians need to develop important skills such as reflection, responsiveness and the ability to work collaboratively, as well as to be innovative and entrepreneurial (Smilde, 2011). To be successful in their careers, professional musicians also need to be lifelong learners who possess a wide range of skills and knowledge (ibid.). Lifelong learning relates directly to one’s biographical learning, or ‘a (trans) formation of experience, knowledge, and action in the context of people’s life histories and the world they live in’ (ibid.: 290). In other words, biographical learning builds on one’s abilities and capacities to cope and act within life transitions in an environment that is undergoing rapid changes (Hallqvist et al., 2012). According to Alheit and Dausien (2002), biographical learning is characterized by three main elements: (1) moments of ‘self-education’, when individuals use their biographical corpus of knowledge in challenging situations that call upon reflexivity and choice; (2) the impact that social space

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has on learning and (3) a combination of individual differences and contexts. Hallqvist et al. (2012) further suggest that biographical learning requires two main interrelated components to take place: reflexive identity work and creative action. While the former relates to individual efforts to use and revise one’s life story to sustain or change aspects of his/her identity, the latter refers to specific frameworks through which ‘individuals act on their current life conditions in order to change or sustain their new life course or reaffirm their old one in new conditions’ (ibid.: 73). Creativity, and particularly musical creativity, is a crucial element in biographical learning and, thus, exists within the development and construction of one’s identity as a professional musician in our fast-paced and ever-changing world. Yet, as Burnard (2011) contended, conceptions of creativity in music are also changing and becoming even more complex and multifaceted. It is now common to speak of musical creativities in the plural, as there are multiple forms of musical creativity and particularities of practice. On that note, Burnard (2011) distinguishes four distinct yet interrelated forms of musical creativity, namely, communal, collaborative, empathetic (or empathic) and intercultural. In this chapter, we explore the emergence of empathic creativity and its relationship to biographical learning and professional identity construction in university music students who serve(d) the role of mentors in a university– community partnership programme in the city of Los Angeles. We begin this chapter with a discussion on empathy, musicking and empathic creativity, and their links to the ‘new’ identity of the professional musician. Next, we provide a thorough description of the Thornton School of Music Outreach Programs (TOPs), which will be followed by an analysis of interviews conducted with former and current student participants. This chapter ends with a call for universities to partner with communities in order to provide meaningful programming and learning opportunities for developing musicians, amidst constant change.

The social nature of musical practices: Musicking, empathy and empathic creativity In recent years, much attention has been given to the social aspects of music teaching and learning (Wright, 2011). Studies in the sociology of music education and the social psychology of music have shown how socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender and race have a direct impact on how children learn

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and how adults teach music (Green, 1995; North and Hargreaves, 2009; Hebert, 2011; Wright, 2011). Most (if not all) of these works are based on the premise that music is, above all, a social activity. That is, musical practices are deeply rooted in socio-cultural interactions, conventions, rules and rituals (Mans, 2009). Learning occurs through interaction as humans participate in different communities of practice (Wenger, 1998; Barrett, 2005; Ilari, 2010). In other words, social participation is both an action and a form of belonging, with participation as a synonym for being active in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in relationship to them (Wenger, 1998). Small coined the term ‘musicking’ to refer to the act of taking ‘part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (what is called composition), or by dancing’ (1998: 9). Music is, therefore, a form of action and the meanings associated with musicking reveal themselves in terms of the interactions that take place in its course (ibid.). In his own words: The act of musicking establishes in the place where it is happening a set of relationships, and it is in those relationships that the meaning of the act lies. They are to be found not only between those organized sounds which are conventionally thought of as being the stuff of musical meaning but also between the people who are taking part, in whatever capacity, in the performance; and they model or stand as metaphor for, ideal relationships as the participants in the performance imagine them to be: relationships between person and person, between individual and society, between humanity and the natural world and even perhaps the supernatural world (ibid.: 13).

Laurence (2009) calls our attention to Small’s (1998) use of the term ‘ideal’, which should not be understood in a Platonic way. That is, musicking should not be understood as being inherently positive or virtuous; nor should it be viewed in terms of specific values. Humans may ‘musick’ in relationship to ideal relationships that, in turn, may promote peace building, for example, or in ways that emphasize power relations, hierarchies and alienation (Laurence, 2011). In other words, Small’s (1998) concept of musicking is a philosophical construct, through which one can examine the associations between music, musical performance and meaning making, without necessarily referring to ‘the good’ (Laurence, 2011). Building on Small’s (1998) notions of musicking and ideal relationships, Laurence (2011) theorizes that music may be viewed as a way to promote selfawareness, self-esteem, mutual tolerance and intercultural understanding.

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She further stresses the idea that music and musicking affords people with opportunities the chance to ‘get inside’ each other’s minds, to feel each other’s feelings while recognizing a shared humanity. But why does that happen? Cross et al. (2011) explain that musicking in cooperative contexts affords humans the opportunities to connect with others in an emotional way. When such experiences happen, there is often a sense of a flowing musical interaction, which feels as if the players (or dancers) are in complete synchrony with others, both musically and affectively. Collective musicking, then, adds a new, creative dimension to music making. Such creative experience of mutual affective alignment can be defined as empathic creativity (ibid.: 341). Musicking may catalyse specific aspects of the empathic process. Importantly, empathy here should not to be confused with pure emotional contagion (see Hatfield et al., 1993). For Laurence, empathy is a process that ‘begins with a cognitive act of intellectual comprehension of someone else’s feeling and inner state, with reflection/over time leading to one’s own feeling in response to the other’s experienced feeling’ (Laurence, 2011: 246). Musicking and empathizing reinforce one another, giving room for human agency, or the ability to act and make decisions in an autonomous fashion (see ibid.: 253). Relationships between musicking and empathizing are depicted in our adaptation of Laurence’s (2011) model (see Figure 8.1).

Musicking and empathizing: An exploratory study In the study that follows, we used Laurence’s (2011) model (Figure 8.1) and the concept of empathic creativity (Cross et al., 2011) as frameworks to examine ideal relationships (Small, 1998) and biographical learning (Hallqvist et al., 2012) in a very specific community of musical practice (Russell, 2002; Barrett, 2005): a university–community partnership programme. As a consequence of the many changes in the music profession (Smilde, 2011) outlined earlier in this chapter, universities are now seeing the need to adapt to these new demands. While university programmes vary immensely across institutions in terms of offerings, mission statements and ethos, valuable opportunities are being provided through university–community partnership programmes. Such programmes have been central in the provision of handson musical experiences that are likely to aid students in the transition between professional training and future careers (Soto et al., 2009; Ilari, 2010). Even if institutions of higher education continue to develop connections with their

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Musicking

Empathy E th

• RELATIONSHIP • Exploration and expression of interpersonal relationships

• RELATIONSHIP • Empathy as the basis of interpersonal relationships; personal connection to the Other • AGENCY • Agency and empathizing: conscious and active effort to know the Other while maintaining one's identitiy through reiterative empathizing • EMANCIPATION • Empathy as a means to enhance equal power relationships that are also emancipatory

• AGENCY • Development of agency by means of 'ideal relationships'

• EMANCIPATION • Emancipation and enhancement of the Other through 'ideal relationships'

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Figure 8.1 Relationships between musicking and empathizing, adapted from Laurence (2011)

community constituents through engagement and educational programmes, it is often the musicians themselves who are involved directly in programme delivery (Myers, 2007). Although many universities worldwide hold such programmes, few studies exist on the topic, especially where music is concerned. Two previous studies hint at some long-term benefits for students involved in such programmes (Soto et al., 2009; Ilari, 2010). Yet a critique that could be made to them is the fact that they have not focused on ideal relationships (Small, 1998), nor on the ways through which participation impacted the development and construction of the identities. In this study, we searched for this information by examining the experiences of members (students) and former members (graduates) of the Thornton Outreach Programs.

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The USC Thornton Outreach Programs: Description and contextualization The University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university located in the centre of Los Angeles, California, and is a ‘global center for arts, technology and international trade’ (University of Southern California, 2013a: para. 1). At USC there are slightly more graduate students than undergraduate with 39,958 students enrolled during the 2012–13 academic year. The all-inclusive cost of two semesters of undergraduate study during the 2013–14 year is estimated at $62,245 (University of Southern California, 2013b) and the demographic representation of the student body is 39 per cent Caucasian, 23 per cent Asian, 14 per cent Latino, 12 per cent International, 7 per cent Other and 5 per cent African American (University of Southern California, 2013a). In the university’s strategic vision, one of the pathways forward addresses connecting individuals with the world (University of Southern California, 2011). While this refers to connections at the state, national and international levels, the university has a particular interest in community engagement within Los Angeles and, even more locally, engagement with the immediate geographic neighbourhood surrounding the campuses. The academic experiences at USC are very strong but it is the interactions within the community in which USC resides that create extremely rich and unique experiences. The main campus of USC is located in the region of Los Angeles called South Los Angeles or South Central. The region has been notorious for cultural clashes among ethnic groups with ongoing decline in employment, high poverty and a shift in the ethnicities from predominately African American to first-generation immigrants of various Latino ethnicities. The six-day racially charged riots in 1992 began 3 miles from USC and marked a height of unrest in the city with widespread violence, looting and arson. Civic and government changes have helped to ease racial tensions, though not eliminate them. The families living in the neighbourhoods in which USC exists have backgrounds and lives that contrast with the population of USC students. In a typical school in the community, high school is the highest education completed by parents and all students qualify for free or reduced lunches through a federally funded programme for low-income families. Within the same school, ethnic representation is 97 per cent of Hispanic or Latino background and 3 per cent African American (California Department of Education, 2013). The contrast

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is visually apparent immediately, especially in any classroom in a local public school. In 1994, USC began the Good Neighbors Campaign, an innovative initiative to which faculty and staff members of USC may make charitable donations to help the immediate community thrive. Through a competitive grant application process, nearly $16 million in Good Neighbors Grants has been disseminated to programmes that (1) demonstrate a strong partnership between a community organization and a USC entity and (2) that clearly provide benefit to the community. A geographic service area was defined for the USC community engagement initiatives and it extends approximately eight blocks from the sides of each of the two campuses. Within this region, there are over ten elementary schools, two K-12 schools, one middle school and two high schools, most of which are public schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The USC Thornton School of Music is comprised of over one thousand students in three divisions: Classical Performance Studies, Contemporary Music, and Scholarly and Professional Studies. There are approximately equal numbers of graduate and undergraduate students in the school and the majority of students focus their studies on musical performance at a very high level. A small percentage (less than 4%) earns degrees in music education. However, many undergraduate and graduate students have a personal interest in teaching and learning music – whether rooted in a sense of social consciousness, enjoyment of the teaching and learning process, or as a practical way to augment a performance career. The result is student interest in, and demand for, opportunities to learn to teach and contribute within the surrounding community.

Thornton Outreach Programs The Thornton Outreach Programs (TOP) coalesced in 2004 from a series of community engagement efforts by individuals within the School of Music, combined with growing requests from community members and student interest. The aim of the TOP is to provide low or no-cost, high-quality music learning opportunities to students and families in the community while simultaneously developing the teaching, mentoring and community engagement skills of Thornton students. This is accomplished through weekly and periodic programming that supports our local school music programmes where they exist and provides supplemental music programming in schools where possible. Each

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academic year, approximately 6,000 community members and 100 Thornton students benefit mutually from the rich relationships built, community musicmaking and overall experiences of the TOP. Unfortunately, music instruction provided through the Los Angeles Unified School District does not reach all students. A music teacher provided by the district may be assigned to teach only one day per week at an elementary school, which might translate to teaching students in second and third grades only. In addition to the district-provided music teacher, a community-based arts provider might offer afterschool instrumental music instruction for fifty students from fourth and fifth grades, who self-select to participate, and a five-week programme for all kindergarten students. In this typical scenario, the TOP might provide music programming for students in first grade to help prepare them for music classes the following year, or programming for fourth-grade students to reinforce and extend the music instruction from their previous year and link to the opportunities for them when they enter the upper elementary grades. In this way, the programming is tailored to each school site. For Thornton students, known as mentors, TOP provides graduated and non-formal learning opportunities to develop a range of skills in teaching, personal interactions in diverse environments of public school and community settings and in the administration of a not-for-profit oriented organization. Mentors with little experience may begin participating with Meet the Instruments, a one-time programme in which mentors prepare and deliver a short instrument demonstration to young children in schools. On the other end of the continuum, mentors who have developed sufficient skills may lead all aspects of the Los Angeles Youth Jazz Ensemble, an all-star youth jazz ensemble with auditions, weekly rehearsals and special recording and performance opportunities. Thornton students self-select to participate in TOP and are paid small stipends for their work. The expenditures for student stipends, administrative personnel and general expenses are funded from yearly grants secured from several foundations and the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, while office space and equipment are provided by the Thornton School. As much as is feasible, students support TOP administrators in preparing grant applications and reports, thereby broadening the learning experiences available through this programme. Programming in TOP is representative of all disciplines of study within Thornton, with many opportunities for mentor training, and crosses

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institutional boundaries. Classical pianists with an emerging skill in jazz might accompany an elementary jazz choir or a bassist in popular music might teach an afterschool general music class. Nearly all programming occurs at the local school sites, placing mentors in the everyday environment of their students, and makes available an enormous range of experiences culturally, socially, personally and educationally that would not be available otherwise. From the initial stages of the programme through 2013, over 600 Thornton music students and nearly 50,000 neighbourhood constituents have participated in this mutually beneficial programme. There have been weekly classes in guitar, general music, recorders, traditional choir, jazz choir, jazz big band, individual instruction and violin in addition to Meet the Instruments, assistance for local band teachers, choir and band festivals, recording sessions, master classes, modern band combos, educational assembly programmes and song composition contests. Through the countless classes and student performances, Thornton mentors have been active participants too, teaching, encouraging, modelling, hearing and supporting the young children.

Methods For this qualitative, multiple case study, we used semistructured, face-toface interviews to investigate the meanings associated with participation as mentors in the TOP. Participants were identified through purposeful sampling (Creswell, 2011) and had to have taught weekly for at least two semesters, although many had more experience. Twelve current and eighteen former mentors agreed to be interviewed, but due to space constraints only nine of them are represented in this chapter (refer to Table 8.1). Interviews lasted between 15 and 45 minutes and were recorded in audio format for subsequent transcription and analysis. Data was transcribed, coded and analysed in terms of common ideas and themes (Creswell, 2011). Four main themes emerged from the process of data analysis: (1) Validation of the learner – how they learn, what works and what doesn’t in terms of teaching and learning; (2) The learning environment – resources, problems, choices, opportunities; (3) Interaction with students – listening, experiencing, empathy, sympathy; (4) Relating – putting things into perspective, rethinking the self. For the purpose of this chapter, we selected theme number three, as it was arguably the one that allowed us to examine

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Table 8.1 Participant information Status in the programme

Anne, 30

Former

Conrad, 32

United States China/ United States Malaysia

John, 39

Mexico

Current

Katy, 25

Canada

Former

Lauren, 22

United States

Former

Margie, 24

United States Spain

Former

United States

Former

Cherene, 30

Paul, 23 Raya, 24

Former

Current

Former

Musical background

Degree

Activities in the TOPs

One month piano lessons, then cello in school Early musical experiences in China, then the United States, piano lessons at 5 years, then again at 8 years Music education in Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the United States Playing drums for 30 years, previous experiences in Mexico, Brazil

DMA, music education DMA, piano

Music education in Canada and the United States, playing clarinet primarily From Los Angeles, background in choir, piano and then horn in middle school Trombone in high school, jazz singing, then bass Music education after school at conservatory in Spain Musical family, playing clarinet, saxophone, cello and mostly flute

MM, clarinet

Choir director, administrative support, mentor training Individual instruction, accompany choirs, jazz ensemble leader, general music Individual instruction, Meet the Instruments, Sectionals LAYJE director, individual instruction, sectionals, Meet the Instruments Sectionals, in-school performances

DMA, trumpet DMA, jazz (drums)

BM, horn

Sectionals, in-school performances, administrative support

MM, bass

General music, sectionals, individual instruction, administrative support Recorders, Meet the Instruments, mentor training Sectionals, Meet the Instruments

BM, horn MM, flute

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Pseudonym and age at last participation Country

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whether one or more elements found in Laurence’s (2011) model could be identified in the discourses of current and former TOP mentors.

Findings Connections between musicking and empathizing were made evident in the interviews, particularly in the case of former and older mentors. Some younger, current mentors talked at length about teaching experiences that they gained through participation in the programme. Issues of otherness also emerged in these cases, but to a lesser extent. Because we used Laurence’s (2011) model as a conceptual lens to examine interview data, it made sense to discuss our findings as they related to her three proposed overarching themes, namely, relationships, agency and emancipation. Unsurprisingly, these themes overlap in many instances.

Relationships Mentors described in great detail how musicking allowed for the active exploration of relationships with their students, and how they actively strived to reconstruct the other’s experience in an empathic way (ibid.). Unsurprisingly, a recurrent theme in the interviews was the mentors’ perception of differences between themselves and their students, especially in regards to issues of ethnicity, race and social class, which are important markers of everyday life in the United States. Anne, a former mentor, who graduated with a music education degree four to five years earlier, offered: I thought it was great to be able to work with kids . . . in the kind of living situations that I never imagined before . . . when I taught in Washington, it was mainly to Caucasian children, middle to upper class . . . in facilities that were fully equipped with instruments and drums . . . the children here came from low socio-economic situations, and I would ask the children, just to see . . . some basic questions about home life, and I would really get some shocking answers. . . . The kids would tell me that they had, like, four sisters and brothers sleeping in the same room, or one kid told me that they lived in another family member’s garage . . . you know, just little questions like that . . . the parents were so grateful for this programme and I didn’t always see that in the other programmes . . . after our final performance, they wanted to take pictures with

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me and I changed my way of thinking . . . reminding myself how important this was to these kids.

Another mentor, Raya, a Master’s student in flute performance who worked mostly with high school students, also shared the following thoughts: It was really great to go into these schools where everyone was from very, very different backgrounds from each other, and sometimes very different backgrounds from myself. . . . You want to show them that music is cool and music is great but it’s more about connecting with them in person. . . . For me, it reinforced that if you can go in and connect on a human level, on a personal level, that’s gonna be the first step. Then, after that, just showing them what a great world music is.

Like Raya, Lauren, an undergraduate horn performance student who grew up in a more affluent section of Los Angeles, stressed the importance of connecting on a personal level to the students, as a means to challenge one’s assumptions: The outreach programme serves a lot of different communities that don’t . . . have the same kind of resources that a lot of . . . musicians have. Getting to work with them directly, and getting to know the students on a more personal level really changed the way that you think about the whole situation, and instead of coming into it saying, like ‘wow! These kids . . . don’t practice, you know, they don’t care, or the school doesn’t care,’ when you get to work with those communities directly you get to see that they actually do care, but they have a different, whole different set of circumstances coming with that.

Finally, Conrad, a mentor from Malaysia studying trumpet performance at doctoral level, described how he was able to overcome his own biases by developing a wide range of relationships, with students, the director and the community at large. At the school . . . it’s pretty much a chaotic high school, because they have gang things going on between, the Hispanic gang and, uh, black gangs and stuff. So when I got there, I wasn’t familiar with this kind of thing, and it was very scary. So I met with, the director there, he found me some kids, and they all come from a terrible background . . . so I started there, and . . . for some reason, I deal with people okay, you know, and . . . I gained their trust, and they opened up with me a lot of things, like for example, their personal life and everything. So far, we have many kids that I teach private lessons, and also sectionals, and now they go to universities. So I think this programme has helped the kids from the poor families . . . at least give them a direction to go.

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In all cases, musicking was a means to connect with the Other, to build new relationships, to reciprocate and to gain a different understanding of a community that would otherwise be nearly invisible to them (see Laurence, 2011).

Agency As a construct, agency has been defined in many ways. In her work, Laurence (2011: 253) describes agency as voluntary action and ‘the power to act’. Complementary to this view is the conception of agency as a form of selfgovernance or autonomy (Beyers et al., 2003). Non-conformity, internal locus of control, resistance to persuasion by peers or parents, self-determination and competence are some of the related characteristics that are usually described by those who subscribe to this view (e.g. Ryan and Deci, 2001; Kagitcibasi, 2005). Laurence (2011) discusses how musicking can be a means to develop human agency through conscious participation. Ideal relationships (Small, 1998) are explored with the Other, and reflect back on one’s ideal self, through what Laurence calls reiterative empathizing. Interview data suggests that mentors and students strived to know the Other, and through musicking were able to tune in to the Other in an empathic way. As an example, in her description of a memorable moment in her programme, Raya illustrates how agency develops through ideal relationships (ibid.), which in turn reflect back one’s ideal self: One of the most memorable moments and experiences for me was meeting one of the students. . . . I had started sectionals and it was the first day when I was meeting everyone. We talked a little bit and one girl was just yawning, I jokingly said ‘you’re bored already’ and she was like, ‘no, no, no I’m not bored’. I can’t remember the exact wording but she said ‘music is my passion and music keeps me alive’. She told me that she had lupus and that her cousin also had lupus and had died from lupus. Her cousin played the violin and it was her one solace and that was the thing that made her happy; even though she was reserved and stayed away from everyone, playing violin was her way of expressing. This girl was going through the same thing that her cousin had gone through and was struggling with it. Playing flute was her way . . . of finding peace. It floored me not only that she would tell me this when not even knowing me . . . I saw that I am so lucky to be here with this girl and with all of these students, because for all I know they’re all going through something that they’re not telling me and this is helping them in ways that I will never know.

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Likewise, Gerry, an international student from Mexico and mentor who later graduated with a doctorate in jazz performance, described instances of musicking as a form of empowerment, with ownership and agency being clearly identified in the actions of his students: Especially this big band that I . . . [directed] for three years and I love them dearly and they love me, and we did something very special . . . we made a record. I see how a kid flourishes and blossoms and grows in his or her part . . . from being really shy and timid and feeling not worth it, you know, to being almost selfrighteous and petulant, which I love. I feel that a middle school kid needs a little bit of that . . . to feel like a veteran, I think. Kind of being bossy with the new ones. I love that. I think it is kind of a feeling of ownership, you know? I own it, it’s mine and welcome, but there’s some sort of seniority. I love it, and I think for me, that was an ongoing, life-altering experience. Because I was lucky and grateful enough to be able to be in a situation where I could provide that for them, you know? I know that in the same way I am going to remember them for the rest of my life, they will too . . . I celebrate that and I really embrace that. I wanted to be that person.

Empathic listening and allowing a tuning-in to the Other is also evident through in the words of Cherene, a doctoral piano student originally from China, as she reflects on her role teaching middle school jazz students compared to her own background: In the beginning it was a miracle that the students showed up and brought their instruments. . . . I saw that maybe my role here is not only to function at the high level of teaching them the beauty of music. I need to take care of this other stuff first . . . this other stuff is taken care of with kids from another economic bracket, you know? So never, never take anything for a given, never, never assume from your background . . . I always had a car when I needed it, I always could get somewhere, I always had three square meals a day. I realized that for some people, it is a problem . . . when they have one car that is, like, twenty years old and it breaks down, then maybe you can’t get there on time and if you beat them down for something they can’t help, then they just stay down.

These three examples illustrate well how students from both ethnic minority groups and underserved communities developed a sense of agency through musicking. By acknowledging such experiences, mentors were also transformed. These reports are also consistent with issues of emancipation, as mentors and students developed and celebrated non-hierarchical ideal relationships.

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Emancipation Emancipation is a concept that is often linked to another important construct: empowerment. According to Inglis, while empowerment relates to one’s capacity ‘to act successfully within the existing system and structures of power’ (1997: 4), emancipation refers to the critical analysis, resistance and ability to challenge the current system and structures of power. Although Laurence (2011: 254) does not discuss these issues directly or in detail, there are hints to suggest that they constitute part of her thinking, especially in her use of terms such as ‘nonhierarchical’, ‘empowering’ and ‘unequal power relationships’. Passages regarding emancipation and enhancement of the Other were also evident in the interviews. Interviewees described how empathic relationships may be both other-enhancing and emancipatory (Laurence, 2011), for both students and mentors alike. Margie, a bassist who earned a Master’s degree in bass performance and taught general music in an afterschool programme, offered: Another student at the school, she was, oh god, she was my favourite student, and she was picked up by some guardian who was drunk. And he was obviously drunk, and it was so heartbreaking . . . then I went back to (university) and I had a quartet rehearsal and everyone was so, like, happy and joking around, and having so much fun, and I had just had this extremely emotional kind of awful, crazy thing happen . . . and I remember walking out of the rehearsal and just sitting down and crying, because I couldn’t deal with how clueless sometimes the rest of my peers are, or not clueless, but just how stark the contrast is in those things.

In this example, it is clear how the ideal relationship that emerged from musicking experiences offered Margie an opportunity to share some reference points with her students, and critically analyse power relations and systemic issues. This was also a way to bring out voices that were rarely heard (ibid.). Along the same lines, Paul, a horn student from Spain who taught recorder classes, narrated the following episode: One kid in my class was always very troublesome, he would not pay attention and he was wild . . . and seeking attention. I think that, in the end, it wasn’t about the attention of everyone; he just wanted someone to listen to him . . . so I followed a slightly different path with him. I remember taking him out of class one day and asking, you know, what do you want from this class . . . do you enjoy . . . why do you behave like this . . . and he replied that he did like class and

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he didn’t know why the behaviour. . . . Then, he told me about a lot of problems at home, and the thing is, that they will quickly insert it in the conversation, and it’s so normal for them to say, yeah, my dad blah blah blah or my mom blah blah blah and they insert it in the conversation like it’s nothing . . . that is where my whole master plan, my process, changed.

In this last passage, it is possible to see how the experiences granted mentors with opportunities to rethink their own views of their students and of teaching the Other as both a form of participation (Rogoff, 2003) and a relational act (Sæther, 2011). Gerry, the jazz mentor, summarized this well at the end of his interview: How do I view music teaching and learning? Well, I think it’s a participatory experience, you know? It’s also a question of diversity and addressing multiculturality, hybridity. Also understanding kind of systemic issues like . . . where you’re coming from. You cannot teach the same way here in South Central1 . . . or the same way in San Marino.2

Taken together, these examples not only provide evidence that musicking and empathizing may be linked, as suggested by Laurence (2011), but are also suggestive of the major role that university–community partnerships have in the lives of developing musicians.

Implications for higher music education and concluding thoughts Our study points at the potential of incorporating experiences available through university outreach programmes into the educational experiences of university music students and in teacher education programmes, in particular. Active engagement in university–community partnerships may translate into gains for students, the university and the community alike. In other words, there is an urgent need for new models of teaching and learning in the education of music teachers and performers (understood here as teachers-to-be) that are consistent with current professional exigencies, including the portfolio career, as discussed earlier (Myers, 2007, cited in Smilde, 2011). At the level of the student, several aspects can be mentioned. First, there is the intricate relationship between teaching and empathic creativity. Mentors were intrigued and moved by the juxtaposition of shared musical experiences

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with the young students in class and discovering the enormous contrast in life as lived. While mentors often started participating in the TOPs to earn a small stipend, their motivation changed over time. Mentors experienced strong bonds that were established with students individually but perhaps even more with the general qualities and characteristics of students within the neighbourhood. That is, mentors were able to capture the relational aspect of music teaching and learning (Sæther, 2010). Katy, a mentor and graduate student from Canada, was adamant that ‘being involved in the outreach programme made me realize that one of the values that I have for myself is to connect with people . . . I can’t lie to myself any more about the connections . . . or the need I feel to connect with people’. A second aspect that is worth mentioning is the need to create a dynamic environment in music teaching experiences. Although it might sound like a cliché, a key aspect of dynamic pre-service teaching experience is the provision of repeated, weekly experiences that give mentors the room to try new things, take chances, experiment and realize for themselves what they know and do not know. With this context in place, additional guidance and training can be incorporated when mentors need it and on topics that the mentors realize they need instead of the majority of training occurring before the mentors have this awareness. At the level of the university, it is important to extend training to performers, who often populate music education classes. Given the fact that many performers will hold a portfolio career that includes teaching (Smile, 2011), it is vital to grant them some hands-on teaching experience while completing their degrees. An analogy with the notion of ‘teaching the whole child’ can be useful here. Although it may sound like common ground, we reinforce the importance to creatively engage the whole person and go beyond just the part that executes music at the highest levels. As music teacher educators, we believe that it is important to aim for successful and satisfied musicians, and not just settle for ‘performers’. As regards the community, it is central for mentors and faculty alike to be attuned to the surrounding social space and environment. Experience with the TOPs has taught us that enriching experiences can be made available by supporting and contributing to what exists in the environment, rather than seeking to replace what exists within one’s own familiar ways of doing things. This creates a disposition of noticing, listening and accommodating, rather than telling and projecting. Such key elements call both mentors and students to ‘dig deep’, take chances, risk and ultimately attain great experiences and

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rewards. Furthermore, the notion that teaching and learning are transferable skills, rather than single application, needs to be deeply ingrained in the minds of mentors and educators. Lessons learned by means of participation in outreach programmes can (and in our view should) be transferable to other contexts and learning environments. We have seen this with some former TOP mentors, as they develop and participate in diverse communities throughout the country/world. Findings from our study further suggest that musicking and empathic creativity are not only key components of social learning, but also of biographical learning. This was particularly true in the interviews with former mentors, who, in their recollections, described several moments of ‘self-education’, in which they were able to use their biographical corpus of knowledge in challenging situations (Alheit and Dausien, 2002). This is not say, however, that current mentors were not affected by their experiences in the TOPs. Reflexive identity work and creative action (Hallqvist et al., 2012) emerged in all interviews. Young, current mentors, for example, often commented on issues of immediacy when they had to come up with creative solutions for unforeseen problems. Thus, participation in the different communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) that emerged from the TOPs resulted in important identity work for mentors in many aspects, including in its relationship to the development of a portfolio career and lifelong learning (Smilde, 2010). Important here was the fact that students self-selected to be in these programmes. We believe that if participation were associated with curricular exigencies, interview materials would have been considerably different (see Ilari, 2010). TOP mentors also expressed affinity and gratitude for the experiences, several indicating that these were the most impactful experiences on their perspective and career choices. As noted, shifts in personal and musician identity were apparent and summed up by several mentors. There were many compelling passages in the interview data that invite future reflection on curricula, offerings and opportunities in higher education. While we continue to explore and learn from these texts, we end this chapter with the high hopes that other institutions worldwide will explore university– community partnerships and projects. The voices of programme mentors further convinced us of the role of higher education institutions in helping students and future professionals develop skills that are not only needed to succeed in the professional world of music, but also will ultimately benefit society as a whole. In Katy’s words, ‘programmes like the Thornton

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Outreach, they opened my eyes to the greater parts of being a musician. I think it’s really helped me become more open to working with students from all different backgrounds . . . and also inspired me to do musical projects in the future.’

Notes 1 South Central is an underserved district of Los Angeles. 2 San Marino is an affluent suburb near Los Angeles.

References Alheit, P. and Dausien, B. (2002), ‘The double face of lifelong learning: Two analytical perspectives on a silent revolution’, Studies in the Education of Adults, 34(1), 3–22. Barrett, M. S. (2005), ‘Musical communication and children’s communities of musical practice’, in R. A. MacDonald, D. J. Hargreaves and D. Miell (eds), Musical Communication, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 117–42. Beyers, W., Goossens, L., Vansant, I. and Moors, E. (2003), ‘A structural model of autonomy in middle and late adolescence: Connectedness, separation, detachment, and agency’, Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 32(5), 351–65. Burnard, P. (2011), ‘Commentary: Musical creativity as practice’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 319–36. California Department of Education (2013), ‘2012–13 Accountability progress reporting (APR)’, California Department of Education Analysis, Measurement, & Accountability Reporting Division [accessed 10 October 2013]. Creswell, J. W. (2011), Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Upper Saddle River: Pearson. Cross, I., Laurence, F. and Rabinowitch, T. C. (2011), ‘Empathy and creativity in group musical practices: Towards a concept of empathic creativity’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 337–53. Green, L. (1995), ‘Research in the sociology of music education: Some introductory concepts’, Music Education Research, 1(2), 159–69. Hallqvist, A. Ellström, P. E. and Hydén, L. C. (2012), ‘The many faces of biographical learning’, Studies in the Education of Adults, 44(1), 70–84.

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Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T. and Rapson, R. L. (1993), ‘Emotional contagion’, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2(3), 96–9. Hebert, D. (2011), ‘Ethnicity and music education: Sociological dimensions’, in R. Wright (ed.), Sociology and Music Education, Farnham: Ashgate, 93–114. Ilari, B. (2010), ‘A community of practice in music teacher training: The case of Musicalizacão Infantil’, Research Studies in Music Education, 32(1), 43–60. Inglis, T. (1997), ‘Empowerment and emancipation’, Adult Education Quarterly, 48(1), 3–17, DOI: 10.1177/074171369704800102. Kagitcibasi, C. (2005), ‘Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context: Implications for self and family’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36(4), 403–22, DOI: 10.1177/0022022105275959 Laurence, F. (2009), ‘Music and empathy’, in O. Urbain (ed.), Music and Conflict Transformation, London: Tauris, 13–26. —. (2011), ‘Listening to children: Voice, agency and ownership in school musicking’, in R. Wright (ed.), Sociology and Music Education, Farnham: Ashgate, 243–62. Mans, M. (2009), ‘A functioning musical world: Living in worlds of music’, Landscapes: The Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, 8, 43, DOI: 10.1007/978–90–481–2706–1-3. Myers, D. (2007), ‘Initiative, adaptation and growth: The role of lifelong learning in the careers of professional musicians’, keynote speech delivered at Trends in the Music Profession in Europe: Lifelong Learning & Employability, The Hague: Lectorate Lifelong Learning in Music [accessed 20 October 2013]. North, A. and Hargreaves, D. (2009), The Social and Applied Psychology of Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rogoff, B. (2003), The Cultural Nature of Human Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Russell, J. (2002), ‘Sites of learning: Communities of musical practice in Fiji’, Electronic proceedings of ISME-SAMSPEL, Bergen, Norway. Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2000), ‘Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being’, American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. Sæther, E. (2010), ‘Music education and the “other”’, Finnish Journal of Music Education, 13(1), 45–60. Small, C. (1998), Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press. Smilde, R. (2011), ‘Lifelong learning for professional musicians’, in G. E. McPherson and G. F. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 289–302. Soto, A., Lum, C. H. and Campbell, P. (2009), ‘A university-school music partnership for music education majors in a culturally distinctive community’, Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(4), 338–56.

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University of Southern California (2011), ‘USC strategic vision: Matching deeds to Ambitions’ [accessed 20 October 2013]. —. (2013a), ‘About USC’ [accessed 20 October 2013]. —. (2013b), ‘Financial aid’ [accessed 29 October 2013]. Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wright, R. (ed.) (2011), Sociology and Music Education, Farnham: Ashgate.

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Activating Communal Creativities for Redesigning Higher Education Curricula: Drawing on Intercultural Experience Lindy Joubert and Violeta Schubert

Introduction According to Hentschke, ‘the current worldwide challenges’ in the music education profession ‘lie especially in the need to create systems that are cosmopolitan and interconnected but locally meaningful’ (2013: 124–5). These intersections between cosmopolitanism and locally meaningful approaches are of particular interest in this chapter. We draw on what Burnard refers to as the ‘lived meanings of musical culture’ (2012: 11) to present case studies of the locally embedded and yet intercultural transcendent aspects of culture as we have encountered through our fieldwork and engagement across a number of communities in Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe. Music, as with other forms of art, creativity and practice, we argue, is culturally and locally constituted for both individuals and collectives. But, music is also inherently transcendent, fluid, contextual, generational, gendered and readily adaptive to influence and hybridization. This is likewise the case for so-called traditional music of non-Western ethnicities and cultural groups. In this sense, music as a ‘human construction, a product of culture’ undoubtedly ‘varies from time to time and from place to place’ (ibid.: 8). In short, music is embedded in the symbolic and interactional aspects of sociality and representation that enable creative expressions that are felt and understood, embedded in the everyday and the body of behaviours, traits and ideas that make up a particular ‘culture’ and yet, are transcendent of it.

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Transcendence of ‘culture’1 and of ‘self ’2 through interaction is a critical component for music education and practice. Typically, through interaction and being compelled to explain practices, methods and processes to non-familiar ‘others’, there is an opportunity for reflection, creativity and understanding and to answer such questions as ‘why do you do that?’ From the cases presented in this chapter, it is clear that through working with one’s music, performances, practices and elevating production of culture as an economically viable option for development and for engaging with development actors have compelled greater objectification and reflexivity on the part of ‘cultural groups’. Likewise, these cases highlight the importance of interaction across cultures and how this can help to better understand cultural forms. In the ordinary, day-to-day experience of living, people do not often consider, objectify and reflect on their experiences and interaction with others – experiences that provide an opportunity for a richer store of ideas about what music, dance and the arts mean to them. That is, interaction and engagement across cultural categories and circumstances provide an opportunity for those involved to consider things beyond what they take for granted or know implicitly. We thus seek to extend the cultural relativist premise beyond a mere statement of difference to a platform for deeper understanding by contextualizing that practice and performance into a broader context of the culture within which the actors (individuals) sit. In this, we argue that, although music is universal, the idea of separating music from cultural specificities is challenging and yet vital in enhancing the expansive imaginary of music education as it is practised in the West. Through participatory observation, spending time with people, communal performances and practices, there is an opportunity for stepping outside familiar tropes of what constitutes creativities and, it is hoped, this bypasses the inherent ethnocentrism that can be embedded in Western education in which there is deployment of generalist, singular and bounded constructs of non-Western music (such as that of ‘world music’)3 and an overemphasis of the individual in musical creativity.4

Transcendence, culture and meanings of ‘world music’: Ethnographic perspectives As noted by UNESCO (2002), the ‘Western art paradigm has tended to dominate perceptions of what constitutes art’ and has demarcated ‘high’ from ‘traditional’ arts. To be sure, the notion of ‘world music’ is a Western construct

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that endeavours to incorporate the ‘other’. In this, it can be a tool for inclusion. But, it can also carry a danger of an ongoing incommensurate ‘us’ and ‘them’ dichotomy. It conjures up notions of exoticism, traditionalism and ethicism that can serve as a tool to illustrate a Westerner’s ‘cosmopolitanism’ and inclusion of difference5 but can also reinforce the boundaries between what the norms and exceptions are. For world music to be incorporated into music curricula and how that might look, most of the debates have centred around the meanings of music among Western music theorists and educators, in terms of whether it is about the ‘end-product’, the ‘creative process’ and the extent to which it speaks to the ‘universalism’ of the form and process. In incorporating world music, the issue of ‘cultural relativism’, which is a familiar trope in the discipline of anthropology, emerges as a point of contention. Generally speaking, in anthropology, the essential ideas relating to what is the same and what is inherently different across cultures has led to an enormously rich discourse of what is possible to understand and know and what lies as some kind of insideronly knowing and understanding. However, the debates over the pre-eminence of either universalism or cultural relativism are merely theoretical constructs that belie the reality of the fact that in all aspects of studying humanity there are elements of both transcendence and stasis of culture. There are indeed many aspects of culture, language, rituals and performances that are universal in that all human cultures are concerned with the fundamentals of life – marking significant moments in the lifecycle, finding modes of expression of needs and desires and on the nature of social and spiritual relations. Moreover, for many Western scholars, the idea of creativity typically assumes that it is about individuals standing apart from others, requiring a jump out of habitual behaviour and the norms and techniques of practice that go beyond repetitive and ‘known’ ways of doing. To this end, the music, dance, artisanship and craftsmanship of socalled traditional or indigenous peoples is rarely viewed in the same way that a Western ‘artist’ would be in terms of individuality and creativity. With such a starting premise, however, it is difficult to see what is shared across Western and non-Western experiences of artists, performers and craftsman. Thus, in incorporating ‘world music’ into Western music curricula, especially at tertiary level where students are trained for engagement with music in a particular way, some of the fundamental ethnocentrisms inherent in music education need to be critically examined. Further, the use of the word ‘culture’ is just as complex as that of ‘world music’. There is a complex web of meanings of ‘culture’, including the anthropological (of which there are many theories); communal and individual perceptions of

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‘our’ and ‘my’ culture as essentially a question of ‘how we do things’ and ‘who we are’ (identity); and, how it is typically employed in development. With few exceptions, what can be commonly referred to as the ‘cultural approach’ oscillates between endeavours aimed at overcoming culture and tradition as a stumbling block to development intervention and drawing on them to construct effective education, and awareness-raising campaigns of pre-set development agendas for social, economic and political empowerment of marginalized peoples and the preservation of threatened traditions. In the broader context of ‘culture-based’ approaches used in development practice, there are at least three kinds of meanings and forms of culture that become apparent: 1. Culture as Ontology6 (way of knowing) – a body of traits, behaviours, ways of seeing oneself and viewing the world, implicit knowledge about how things are, how to do things and how to relate. 2. Culture as a Tool (identity, method and/or approach) – typically inferred through discourses of culture-based approaches to community development including the notions of using culture to assert identity, especially in relation to nation-building, deploying culturally sensitive approaches to engaging with local peoples, or, as used by marginalized peoples to stake a claim of identity. But, the mere act of being culturally sensitive or being mindful of cultural relativism does not always lead to positive outcomes for marginalized members of a society. 3. Culture as Industry and/or Product – finally, there is increasing emphasis, such as by UNESCO,7 on seeking to embed culture as a driver of sustainable development, increasing emphasis on culture industries, heritage, cultural tourism, and so on which in some way all endeavour to objectify and commoditize culture as a product. This is a typical approach, for example, in the manner that culture is drawn upon across the developing world and among Indigenous communities in the developed world (e.g. Australian Indigenous cultural industries). Importantly, the challenge for any development actors is how to avoid the pitfalls of securing a homogeneous and bounded view of culture and how to link or provide avenues for sustainable development outcomes that do not lock people into a categorical identity that is bound with notions of what is ‘traditional’. One of the key challenges, therefore, is to navigate the interactions between insider and outsider in such a way that there is increased understanding from each other’s perspectives. The expressions and products of human forms require genuine engagement by outsiders who are able to participate, observe

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and engage with the everyday life of people. In order to better contextualize why things are done in a particular way one cannot simply rely on what people say because for the most part they simply ‘do’, they live their life in the everyday context of relationships, exchanges and expressions without a need for explanations of what they are doing and why they are doing it in that particular way – unless confronted by an outsider. The notion of ‘culture’ that is being drawn upon here is that of the universal element of humanity. That is, everyone has culture if we consider culture to be that mode of understanding and expression that is taken for granted as the rules of the game of values, approaches and social relationships and interactions. In short, culture presupposes a level of relating that occurs in the everyday, which is essentially about familiarity, residing in being taken for granted and implicit. It is only through interaction with outsiders or those who are not familiar with their art or craft that explanations and objectification of one’s practices, actions and belief is called for. But even so, in most cases it requires non-interrogative approaches of participatory observation because people often are not able to explain why they are doing things in that particular way and even when they do so it is usually framed in terms of authoritarian statements of the status quo, such as ‘that’s how we have always done it’ or ‘it is our tradition/culture’ and so on. Indeed, interaction with strangers and outsiders provides vital opportunities for critical reflexivity, of shifting the perspectives from which we view our behaviours, actions and beliefs. In any society, interaction with others provides a mirror for individuals in terms of how they might appear to others, how they see themselves, behave and present who they are. Interactions between actors in the context of music, dance or any form of art require a suspension of ethnocentrism and an adoption of more critical reflexivity. But what happens when such interactions do not yield a greater understanding? During a recent visit to Timor-Leste, for example, an educator volunteer from Australia casually said, ‘they don’t have any imagination’. This statement compels a range of reflections about the ongoing disjuncture between insider–outsider perceptions and the ubiquitous problem of a ‘deficit’ model of development. In this way, what does not appear visual in the first instance as ‘creativity’ and ‘imagination’ (as it is understood in Western cultural terms) is assumed to be non-existent. In reality, there is undoubtedly a rich store of creativity and imagination in any society. However, there is a need to better understand the everyday creativity and resourcefulness required by local people in problem-solving, navigating stressful conditions, conflict, trauma, lack of resources and dealing with the circumstances of family and other relationships.

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This everyday creativity and resourcefulness is neither immediately apparent nor connected to the typical understandings of what creativity means in Western discourses. However, it is the source from which ‘traditional’ music emerges. Through conversations with a shakuhachi master we learned that the Japanese flute, with its ethereal sound, presupposes knowledge, understanding of Japanese spirituality and relationship to nature – without this, the mere reproduction of pieces is meaningless. In a similar way, through rigorous practice, specific techniques of playing an instrument can be learned. However, the resultant music is not based on this technique alone but rather on ‘capturing a moment’ – a moment which is produced through environment, context, individuality and listener appreciation that provides the energy or soul of what emerges at that particular time. This cannot be reproduced easily. A Romani performer in Belgrade before the Yugoslav federation collapsed, for example, eloquently described why Cigani or gypsies were considered to be the best musicians in the Balkans, even when playing ‘traditional’ music or interpreting the dances of other ethnicities. For this performer, whose breadth of experience included performing with Louis Armstrong in Paris, Cigani music is not about technique but rather a ‘feeling’, an ‘emotional attachment’ that is spiritual, setting them apart from other people. This raises the important issue of what is typically referred to as ‘world music’ in Western musicology – how does one gain an understanding of how people integrate music, dance and performance into the deeper realms of sociality, spirituality and identity? In both the case of the shakuhachi player and the Romani performer, music is the marker of difference, which is not ‘explained’ but instead is lived through countless generations. The fluidity of movement, music and dance is admired, easily recognizable and can lead to stereotypical explanations that ‘they have “natural” rhythm’. For the Romani, it comes down to their all-encompassing lifelong love and interest in performing, listening to and creating music and dance among family and friends, during spiritual ceremonies and life events such as weddings. Added to this are the unique configurations of not only cultural but gendered identities and roles – of male expression bound with improvisation, non-practised spontaneous performances, women’s singing alongside working together – of the need to illustrate both unity and difference. Conforming to the collective and distinguishing the individual among the group and the group among the mainstream society, music, performance and dance is an integral component of asserting collective as well as individual identities, often in the face of prejudice, discrimination and isolation.

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For the Romani performer, the music, songs and dances ‘tell the story of our people’. In addition, as he states, ‘we do not need to say in words, many times we were not allowed to say who we are, what we feel, but in music, songs, dance, we can say anything, don’t even need words’. On the one hand, music, dance and performance are about boundary making and the fencing of collectives’ shared experiences, philosophies and struggles that reinforce inclusion among them and exclusion of others – a bit like the inverse racism inherent in the phrase ‘white men have no rhythm’. Thus, outsiders may be viewed as incapable of understanding their depth of emotion and connection because they do not have shared experiences and messages that are communicated and layered through generations and geographies of movement. During fieldwork in Macedonia, for example, the seemingly incommensurate ethnic differences between Slavic and Romani peoples are ever present. However, performances by Romani musicians at weddings and festival occasions can mark significant moments of temporal connectivity – connections that are time-framed, time-specific and a ritual inversion of the everyday lack of meaningful exchange between them. Both Slavs and Roma perpetuate the discourse of incommensurateness in some way. The tensions that arise in music and other expressive forms that represent living culture and proactive endeavours at preserving culture and traditions are meaningless if there is no ongoing saliency for the expression of what is experienced, felt and needed from music in the particular way that it is done. Thus, when it stops having that saliency, no amount of preservation efforts succeed. In the Balkans (as elsewhere) the influence of MTV or Western music among the younger generations, for example, is typically viewed as evidence of the reach of the globalization process and the dominance of Western popular culture and music. However, this uptake is always selective and what is adopted (for example, the ‘gangsta’ style among Romani youth) is dependent on whether it accords with what it ‘speaks’ to those who adopt it. It undoubtedly appeals to rebellion from the mainstream but also to ethnic distinction, something that is comparable with the way that ‘slavery’ experiences, hardship and discrimination are carried through into rap, for example, in relation to the male identity as street tough and holding one’s ground, which in the end marks the situationality and positionality of ethnic distinctiveness, only in a more globalized way. In a similar way, the influence of Western music can reinforce unity among members of marginalized ethnicities and as such can either supersede or infuse the ‘traditional’. Indeed, face-to-face experiences with a variety of cultural groups provides music education practice with the tools to explore the dynamism of culture and tap into the way that people both reaffirm status of marginality

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and aspire for inclusion and acceptance by mainstream societies. In short, communal creativities are a reflection and embodiment of lived experiences and speak to the search for modes of expression through creative mediums in the face of marginality and discrimination. Communal creativities, in other words, enable political, individual and collective expressions that shape and invigorate cultures.

International perspectives on arts and music education: Encompassing communal creativities Overall, music education that encompasses learning about communal creativities and world music carries an inherent potential of ‘distortion’ that inevitably arises due to interactions between people across different music cultures.8 Nonetheless, activating diverse musical creativities for teaching and learning in higher music education by getting out of the classroom is crucial. There are various ways that a better understanding of communal creativities can be incorporated into both formal and informal music curricula. In the case of higher education curriculum, this can be developed through embedded opportunities of exchange, for example, through a structured period of being present in communities (i.e. conducting fieldwork, participant observation, volunteering and developing relationships with community artists and performers), building on these relationships to foster ongoing in situ and online forums and participating in international and intercultural meetings and events. In other words, encouraging and supporting students to get out of the classroom speaks to a student-led curriculum development approach – bringing their experiences and reflecting on what they observed, participated in or experienced to the classroom, as well as sharing their music with musicians and members of other societies and communities. Their ability to then articulate and share their experiences and reflections can often stimulate the interest of others about the different forms that communal creativities take. The importance of intercultural exchanges was highlighted at the Regional Conference on Arts Education in Port Elizabeth, South Africa held in June 2001. Previously, the Dakar Forum on ‘Education for All’ in 2000 formed the base premise on which the UNESCO conference was held by capitulating the necessity for curriculum transformation if a quality education was to be provided for children, youth and adults. The overarching argument presented was that quality education could be achieved through the promotion of artistic

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creativity and that the role of the arts is fundamental to the learning process. The South African experience also highlighted the importance of activating communal creativities in order to redesign higher education curricula, pedagogy and assessment. How they did so was through performances and exchanges by various artists. This UNESCO meeting attracted musicians, artists, educators, academics and policymakers from across the African continent, from Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and the Congo. Most importantly, an array of musical performances represented the voice and talent of black African youth. These performances highlighted the fact that many of the natural gifts of music and the arts possessed by African people are being lost due to exploitation, lack of education and ever-unfolding tragedies across many parts of the continent. The meeting also saluted the numerous NGOs who presented their work, and the delegates visited a number of them who were struggling to educate in informal education settings. Post-apartheid, these dedicated educators had to struggle with freedom, as opposed to the struggle for freedom. In this, music has become the healer and the medium for the message – a message for health, personal development and constructive living. In contemporary African societies, problems relating to education, nutrition, health, psychosocial support and capacity building are much the same now as they were in 2001. What is significant, however, is the extent that music, dance and other forms of creativity are drawn upon for development. In particular, music in all forms became the enabler of hard, tough messages, of AIDS education or overcoming abuse, but simultaneously, music was the message of what it meant to be free and to deliver a beacon of hope for a better life. Musical interventions have become great success stories, emerging as powerful and effective community building strategies, capable of overcoming daunting obstacles. This is the case of the ‘Moving into Dance’ (or ‘MID’) Mophatong Performance Company from the Newtown cultural precinct in Johannesburg. MID represent an Afro-fusion style, the dance medium in an apartheid society. In their early days, post-apartheid, the company consisted of ten dancers who performed and taught in schools and community spaces. Their focus was on the rehabilitation of youth and building bridges across the societal divide. Their aim was to improve education across the curriculum, even teaching physics through dance. MID’s art form is applied instrumentally, by integrating the arts and science for a creative, holistic learning experience for African children and connecting mind, body and spirit through expressive movement. The use of music, dance and performance as ways to empower and to build bridges is also apparent in the endeavours of the Maasai communities of

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Kenya. As a nomadic community of people, the Maasai have a rich store of oral histories, myths, legends and traditions that have been passed down through the generations in their music, dance and performances. Their past, present and future becomes a musical narrative, a rich collection of oral literature praising warriors or, for example, asking their traditional god, Enkai, for rain. There is no doubt that the outside world has a fascination for Maasai culture and the ‘jumping dance’ – a Maasai warrior performance– which encapsulates for outsiders their unique identity. As with other African music, the influence of Maasai music and dance can now be seen across Africa and beyond. For example, Tanzanian hiphop musicians are now blending these traditional Maasai rhythms into their own music.9 In contrast, the music of the Sami people and, in particular, the joiku (or yoik) is not as easily understood or drawn upon by outside cultures. Nonetheless, it is an integral element of Sami identity and way of life. The yoik captures the sounds of nature, of dreams and stories and transfers imagery through sound using a unique form of scale and vocalizations. The yoik is representative of the Sami culture and their passion to endure in spite of destructive influences such as modernization and Christianity threatening their way of life and culture. The Sami parliament, for example, politically champions the protection of the Sami language, traditional knowledge and their connections to nature and traditional livelihoods. In short, the yoik is not merely an aspect of everyday life but is also a significant marker of socio-political positionality. It is for this reason that, in the design and construction of a UNESCO Observatory cultural village called ‘Samiland’, the yoik was a prominent component. The Sami are the European Union’s only indigenous people and their traditions are under a threat of extinction, but various methods have been employed to keep their culture alive. The Sami Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre and ‘Samiland’ form a ‘living’ museum of Sami culture at Levi, Kittilä in Finnish Lapland. The ‘living’ museum has been the dream of Ante Aikio and his family, and they aim to present all aspects of Sami traditional life and history. Sami music is integrated as a subtle background to the entire display of the indoor exhibition (500sq.m) and also an outdoor exhibition (10,000sq.m) where visitors can study the national costumes and everyday objects of the different Sami groups, which are described and illustrated with pictures and music, and participate in hands-on activities. However, the long-term success of such preservation and education endeavours is as yet unclear. After all, understanding the importance of reindeer herding and the power of the yoik in the face of modernization, generational divides, the loss of lands and traditional knowledge is extremely challenging. Nonetheless,

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cultural preservation and refining traditional knowledge, forms and practices are significant components of the strategies of many cultural groups, developing nations and development actors. In attending diverse sites, the challenges of preservation became most apparent. For example, much of the music of the Cook Islands can be loosely referred to as ‘Western’, a legacy of the Christian missionaries, and many of the traditional forms of music and dance have been lost because they were deemed inappropriate to Christian sensitivities. Nonetheless, traditional dance is prolific and each island has their unique versions. Traditional dances and songs are taught as part of the school curriculum and these are conducted en masse in the open air, on the school oval. Of relevance here for future music students is that to gain hands-on experience, in a lively and innovative way that continues to make ‘traditional’ music and dance, they need to be present and move beyond narrow conceptions of authenticity while also being reflexive about the role that they may play in engaging with and drawing on these traditional music forms. Students’ regard for duty and responsibility has strong ethical connotations in correctly sourcing their musical styles. The concern with loss of tradition is not new. Indeed, it is the catch-cry of many cultural and Indigenous groups, as in Papua New Guinea, where the UNESCO Observatory at the University of Melbourne enabled the teaching and coordination of student projects. In partnership, 30 architecture students from across Australia in June 2007 designed a health centre outside Lae in a remote area of the country. Earlier in 2002, through UNESCO, a meeting for 18 Pacific and Melanesian countries was also organized that further highlighted the concerns of communities with a lack of understanding of the extraordinary nature of Papua New Guinea, resulting in bringing closer the lives, rituals, festivals and cultural practices of this diverse nation of Melanesian people. The unifying language for what is reported to be over seven thousand cultural groups speaking more than eight hundred languages is known as Pidgin English. Significant unifying community activities are the ‘Sing-Sings’ and cultural shows, which celebrate their cultural diversity. ‘Sing-Sings’ are traditional celebrations of dance, feasts and song, with participants wearing elaborate costumes and fantastic feather headdresses. These images have featured regularly in documentaries and a small number of artists and photographers have recorded these flamboyant sights through painting and photography. The importance of preserving and reviving traditional customs and cultural practices is now being seen as critical for the nation and its future development. The nation-building endeavours are infused with, if not embedded in, illustrating the unity and diversity of the peoples

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of Papua New Guinea. However, contrary to the concerns of the educators, community leaders and artists, for many youth in the country there is no particular aspiration to return to the past. There is, in fact, a cross-general and cross-class antagonism about the way forward. There is no doubt that the impacts of colonization, Christianity and modernization have shaped the cultures across the country but for the most part the emphasis tends to be on nationalizing and globalizing the uniqueness of cultural forms. However, as much of Papua New Guinea is remote and communication and mobility are both difficult and, as is often the case, dangerous due to ongoing ‘rascal’ violence, the hope of turning to traditional forms of music is proving most difficult. In this context, for Papuan youth it is not tradition but rather Western or popular music that has the greatest power to influence and educate. Popular music is capable of raising awareness of the outside world that no other medium appears to match. Likewise, to the far north of Eastern Australia, beyond the tip of Cape York and south of Papua New Guinea, are the Torres Strait Islands. In 2007 an architectural project on the Island of Mua was to design an eco-tourist resort and the team of young architects and staff were treated to a series of musical experiences, dancing and singing, all of which were representative of the Torres Strait Island culture. These were organized by Betty Mabo, a woman who travelled extensively across the Torres Strait teaching young people about their traditions of music, dance, weaving, and so on. Music is an integral part of Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander traditions and is regularly performed at feasts, rituals and celebrations. All dances have come to the present over many years, passed down from generation to generation. Each group across Australia has a dance and musical form that is unique to each particular area, and because of their proximity to Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait music style is related. Fusion music is a two-way experience where Indigenous musicians have been influenced by missionaries, Christianity and colonization and where non-Indigenous musicians and music styles have absorbed many of the characteristics of Indigenous music, in the same way that African music has influenced jazz, blues, rock and roll, and so on. Dance and traditional music is an important part of Torres Strait Islander life and is typically seen as a matter of closeness to nature, as the sea and wildlife are elements typically represented in the traditional dances, mimicking land and sea animals. Daily life and other activities such as hunting and fishing are usually choreographed into the dance performances. Each region has their own particular sounds and language, but music continues to be performed traditionally as well as part of fusion music, for example, by recording artists including Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu,

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Yothu Yindi and Christine Anu. Many Australian Indigenous musicians use political messages, reflections of their environment and the myths and legends of the Dreaming Time in their music and lyrics. The fusion and amalgam of music and reflections on colonization and globalization are indeed prevalent throughout. Ccommunal creativities in East Timor, for example, reflect the particularities of the country’s history under the control of both Indonesia and Portugal, who imported music ensembles such as gamelan and styles such as fado. Lyrics of the songs can be sung in Portuguese or Tetum, the official languages of East Timor. The most widespread form of native folk music was the likurai dance, performed by women to welcome home men after war. They used a small drum and sometimes carried enemy heads in processions through villages; women use a modern version of the dance in courtship. In the modern era, Timorese music has been closely associated with the independence movement; for example, the band Dili All Stars released a song that became an anthem in the build-up to the referendum on independence in 2000, while the United Nations commissioned a song called Hakotu Ba (by Lahane) to encourage people to register to vote in the referendum. East Timorese popular musicians include Teo Batiste Ximenes, who grew up in Australia and uses folk rhythms from his homeland in his music. With many East Timorese people in emigrant communities in Australia, Portugal and elsewhere, East Timorese folk music has been brought to many places around the world. Refugee camps in Portugal mixed together East Timorese music with styles from other Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique.

Concluding remarks: Cultural production, communal creativities, the economy of ‘world music’ and higher education teaching In this chapter, what we seek to highlight is the importance of activating student understandings of communal creativities by embedding into higher education curricula a field (in situ) component. Likewise, the cases presented illustrate the importance of giving a forum and space for communal creativity, so that the creativity can form itself (as in, for example, in the UNESCO Observatory global village projects). That is, communal creativities are ever-present but they are also ever changing and reflect the complex interplay between culture and music. The structure of music, dance and performance reflects the language (communication tool) of a society and changes with contexts and generations.

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So-called traditional music and dance, for example, is not constant in the face of change or globalization and is ever changing in form, expression and meaning. It is continually challenged and changed both from within and without the society from within which it is constituted. The dynamism and modality of music reflects the different ways of positing relationships between sounds, people and the environment. In this sense, critical thinking, multidisciplinary, ‘handson’ approaches and reflexivity are important for music education because of a tendency for the definition of music to be limited, if not arrogantly Eurocentric. Furthermore, higher education in general is increasingly singular and outcome oriented with a focus on specializations and finding employment or the ‘practical’ application of learning. Being a generalist is a dying aspiration at tertiary level but even so there is an ongoing call for multidisciplinary approaches to accommodate changes that will be faced by students in the real world. Students are not prepared for one job anymore; they need to be multiskilled, flexible and creative, rather than prescriptive and/or adaptive. By engaging with the processes and meanings of communal creativities in situ there is an opportunity for music students to better understand the nature of it. There is a call by UNESCO (2002), among others, to ‘start thinking of a socioecological approach to life and living, in which the aim of education is to develop the whole child in a holistic manner’ rather than what is currently the norm in education in which the aim is ‘to “fit people out” for future employment’. Moreover, UNESCO, through its numerous regional and international activities, is seeking to promote traditional forms of music and dance into the educational settings of the broader societies of marginalized communities while, in Western music education, there is a call for inclusion of world music into existing curricula. UNESCO identifies such issues as cultural heritage, preservation and potentials for drawing on traditional forms and practices for the sustainable development of communities and promotion of different cultures. In contrast, for music educators and practitioners in the West, drawing on ‘world music’ can serve as an enrichment of their existing knowledge and practices. Where the former is about greater inclusion of the marginalized, promotion and preservation of a culture deemed at threat, for Western music educators it is more about the eclectic use of the general category of world music to enrich and enhance existing student and teacher practices and knowledge. That is, it is not about a specific music form but rather the overall general and broad category of world music that Western music educators seek to include into existing curricula. Likewise, in apparent concord over the potential of music education to develop the student ‘holistically’, the inclusion of world music suggests that the greater development

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of students goes beyond the mere development of further skills and knowledge bases, contexts and understandings for life in the twenty-first century. For UNESCO, ‘Music is a unique way of knowing. Music influences how we see the world and express our views of the world and come to know the world.’10 But, music as it is experienced and created is never atemporal in that it is always individually and collectively modified according to thoughts, feelings and contexts. As the examples above highlight, there are many conflicting, if not antagonistic, elements within any given society concerning identity, futurism and the place of tradition and culture. These tensions are reflected in music (and other forms of expression). Music as identity, product and expression can therefore be seen as a vital tool in further individual and collective development. Indeed, it is only through participant observation, fieldwork and spending time as an intern or volunteer directly with communities that this complexity of ‘traditional’ music production becomes evident.

Notes 1 There are numerous studies of culture. In anthropology, major debates about the concept of ‘culture’ have predominated throughout the history of the discipline. In particular, interpretative and symbolic aspects of culture and the authority and legitimacy of the ethnographic approach have predominated the discipline as of the works by Clifford Geertz (1973), and the critiques offered by Clifford and Marcus in Writing Culture (1986). See also Roger Keesing (1974) and David Eller (2009) for well-rounded accounts of meanings of culture in anthropology. 2 By ‘self ’ (or selfhood) we are referring to notions of individuality, personhood and embodiment of who we are, in bodily, symbolic, social and psychological form. For studies of ‘selfhood’ see Sokefeld (1999) and Van Wolputte (2004). 3 See Wu (2012) for a summary account of the ‘entrance’ of world music in music education. 4 See Csikszentmihalyi (1999). 5 See, for example, van der Lee (1998, 2011) and Schmidt (2013). 6 Modernists have used the term ‘ontology’ since the nineteenth century. However, in recent times the intersections between anthropology and philosophy and the so-called ontological turn in anthropology have been debated by a number of scholarly works (see, for example, Palecek and Risjord, 2012, or Latour, 2013). In this chapter, we refer to culture as ontology in the primary sense of capturing ‘being’ and ‘knowing’ (Herdt, 1994); contingency and socio-material practices rather than neutral and universal (see Ratner, 2013).

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7 See, for example, UNESCO, Thematic Think Piece ‘Culture: A driver and enabler of sustainable development’, May 2012, www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/ MULTIMEDIA/HQ/post2015/pdf/Think_Piece_Culture.pdf. 8 We draw here on to Tenzer’s ideas relating to ‘local analytic knowledge’, which, he says, is ‘often implicit, passive knowledge not formalized through writing or even oral means’ (2006: 11). 9 All of our amazing experiences were captured in a set of six documentaries created by a film company who accompanied us on our last trip. They are available for view at . 10 This quote is directly from the UNESCO website .

References Burnard, P. (2012), ‘Rethinking “musical creativity” and the notion of multiple creativities in music’, in O. Odena (ed.), Musical Creativity: Insights for Music Education Research, Farnham: Ashgate, 5–27. Clifford, J. and Marcus, G. (eds) (1986), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, Berkeley: University of California Press. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999), ‘Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity’, in R. J. Sternberg (ed.), Handbook of Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 313–25. de Laet, M. (2012), ‘Anthropology as social epistemology?’ Social Epistemology, 26(3–4), 419–33. Eller, J. D. (2009), Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives, New York: Routledge. Geertz, C. (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, New York: Basic Books, Inc. Hentschke, L. (2013), ‘Global policies and local needs of music education in Brazil’, Arts Education Policy Review, 114(3), 119–25. Herdt, G. (ed.) (1994), Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, New York: Zone Books. Keesing, R. M. (1974), ‘Theories of culture’, in R. Borofsky (ed.), Assessing Cultural Anthropology, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994 edition, 301–10. Latour, B. (2013), ‘The ontological turn in French philosophical anthropology’, An Executive Session of the AAA Annual Meeting, Chicago, 23 November 2013, Another Way to Compose the Common World. Palecek, M. and Risjord, M. (2012), ‘Relativism and the ontological turn within anthropology’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 43(1), 3–23. Ratner, H. (2013), ‘Anthropology as multi-natural ontology? A response to Marianne de Laet’s “Anthropology as social epistemology”’, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 2(6), 5–11.

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Schmidt, P. (2013), ‘Cosmopolitanism and policy: A pedagogical framework for global issues in music education’, Arts Education Policy Review, 114(3), 103–11. Sokefeld, M. (1999), ‘Debating self, identity, and culture in anthropology’, Current Anthropology, 40(4), 417–47. Tenzer, M. (2006), ‘Introduction: Analysis, categorizations, and theory of musics of the world’, in M. Tenzer (ed.), Analytical Studies in World Music, New York: Oxford University Press, 3–38. UNESCO (2001), Cultural Heritage, Creativity and Education for All in Africa, Document based on the Conclusions of the Regional Conference on Arts Education, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 24–30 June 2001. —. (2002), Arts Education in the Pacific Region: Heritage and Creativity, Music in Pacific Education. A Report Prepared during the UNESCO Meeting of Experts, Nadi, Fiji, 25–29 November 2002, UNESCO Culture Sector Publication, Paris. —. (2012), Culture: A Driver and an Enabler of Sustainable Development, Thematic Think Piece, May 2012, New York. van Der Lee, P. (1998), ‘Sitars and bossas: World music influences’, Popular Music, 17(1), 45–70. Van Wolputte, S. (2004), ‘Hang on to your self: Of bodies, embodiment, and selves’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 251–69. Wu, S. (2012), ‘Reflecting on the implications, problems and possibilities raised by the entrance of “world musics” in music education’, British Journal of Music Education, 29(3), 303–16.

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Being a Composer in an Age of Uncertainties, Risks and Diffuse Creativity: Learning, Career and Creativities António Ângelo Vasconcelos

Introduction The concept of the artist, a socio-cultural construct, is characterized by an ambiguity with differentiated outlines that stem from the sociohistorical, political, social and cultural transformations associated with artistic production (UNESCO, 1997; Nicolas-Le Strat, 1998). Although the professional identity of the artist will resist confinement by ‘any hard juridical definition’ (Moulin, 1997: 2491), artists ‘reject all univocal criteria of professionality’ (ibid.: 255). This is a professional sector constituted by a ‘community of individualities’ (Conde, 1988) where there is strong interpeer competition and where each individual is socially and politically committed to the personal project of not interrupting the search, recycling and surpassing of self-imposed thresholds. Considering that art ‘is neither work nor playful activity’ but ‘an abnormal hybrid of the two’ (Freidson, 1994: 134), the composite nature of artistic work occurs through challenges and inventions, but also considers solutions that have been previously tried, in a context of multiplicity of styles, in which the artist oscillates (Becker, 1984; Lautman, 1994). In a work organization model that is simultaneously divided, individualized and unequal, the ephemeral relations, diversification and intermittence of the environments and of work projects demand a high capacity of adaptation from the artist. Each work experience is different, each work and/or show is constituted by a set of singularities, and the collaborative networks are modifiable (Menger, 1983, 1994, 2003, 2005).

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On the other hand, our educational and artistic contemporaneity is characterized by a large group of factors that range from individualization and differentiation to pluralism; globalization of ideas and procedures; multiplicity of practices, often distanced from their historical traditions; the multicentredness of cultural, artistic and educational life, the latter also experienced in other settings than those of schools or academia (Koskoff, 2001; Vasconcelos, 2013). In this context, and without discussing the ‘geopolitics of contemporary art music’ (Vargas, 2011), in which there are artistic centres and peripheries that interfere with creative processes and the diffusion of creative works, as well as with career development, this chapter is based on existing studies of creativities (Burnard, 2012a, 2013) in order to investigate practices of compositional creativity, how they create what is not known; how they see and operationalize education for creativity and a creative career. Approaching the artistic singularities (Le Coq, 2002) of composers who are also teachers at higher education institutions in Portugal and a particular kind of creativity – individual creativity – (Burnard, 2012b), the study begins with the question: how are creative practices conceptualized and exercised by contemporary composers and how do these creativities contribute to creative education and careers in an era characterized by uncertainties and ambiguities? The aim is to understand and problematize the ways that the creative practices and singular creativities of Western art music composers contribute to a more creative education, while trying to identify a set of indicators that might fuel educational efforts and creative careers. From this study we can draw a set of five implications which may contribute to the development and activation of compositional creativity: (1) mobilization and manipulation of a post-bureaucratic thinking and the debureaucratization of mind contributing to handle ambiguity, uncertainty, risk and incomplete knowledge that feed back into the work situated between intuition, imagination and rationality; (2) the importance of differentiated (technical, aesthetic and other) knowledge, which contribute to decision-making and choices in the creative act, even if ‘intuitive’ may be more lucid; (3) the centrality of the student-composer in the whole process of teaching and learning as a proactive agent of their training where the composer-teacher plays an important role as advisor and instigator of perplexities and reflexivities; (4) the fostering of multisituated, multimodal and multireferential contexts in the activation and development of compositional practices in a creative tension between tradition and innovation; and (5) creating extended differentiated interdependencies, both in individual terms and in terms of school organization, through which one can understand and manage the creative career given the complexities of the contemporary art worlds.

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This chapter presents a preliminary exploration of multiple compositional creativities that seem to be emerging in higher music education in Portugal.

Creativities, teaching and learning: Complex worlds in border territories Creativity may be characterized as a complex process involving the processing of differentiated information and knowledge – ideas, actions, senses, structures and practices – present in a given moment in a certain conceptual, social and cultural space, from which multiple possibilities of significant articulations may result (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999; Sternberg, 2004; McPherson and Welch, 2012; Odena, 2012; Thomas and Chan, 2013). The complexities present in such a process and the mobilization and manipulation of knowledge are framed by the context of the work in progress (even if complex technological devices are used). The creation of the not yet known, of the not yet in existence, also involves emotional intelligence, as the composer needs to feel the challenge, the desire to reconcile the unknown with the existing system of codes and conventions in the scope of their frames of reference and personal and social worlds. Generally, the creative process begins with the aim of solving a given problem, either internal or external in regard to the creator, or suggested by the state of affairs in his dominium, in a dynamic between creation of the new and reconfiguration or discovery (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). However, ‘when we speak of imagination, we also place ourselves in the field of dispute – dispute of borders between here and there, inside and outside’ in a geometry that is both plural and ‘amazing (that amazes, that surprises)’ (Tavares, 2013: 32–3), open to both chance and the unknown, a ‘distended rationality’ (Jiménez, 2005: 162) resting on multiple options. Individual creativity, for its part, ‘allies itself with an ideology of self-contained individualism and assumes the high-art model of creativity as the impetus and endeavour of individual grounded in “self-responsibility”’ (Burnard, 2012b: 15). This ‘ideology of self-contained individualism’, ‘self-responsibility’ and ‘individual disposition’ might indicate that the singular author is a prisoner of his ideas and imagination. However, the composition of art music ‘represents a practice based on genre mastery and artistic organisation’ (Burnard, 2013: 77), in which the central ideas of creation ‘may be jotted down in solitude, but they are developed and expanded in a cultural milieu even when a composer works alone’ (Smith, 2013: 139). Alongside this ‘milieu’, the personae of the creative subject and existing modifications in the social and cultural contexts are contributing factors that

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induce the composer to develop, mobilize and lithely move among different types of creativities, depending on the kind of institutional and/or private commissions of the technologies involved. However, in most cases, the work becomes a collective process of creation based on dialogue and close cooperation with other creators, performers, technicians or audiences (Kim, 2006; Burnard, 2013; Ferreira, 2013). In this context, in a first approximation to this problem, compositional creativities can be conceptualized as a complex and meaningful engagement matrix (Brown and Dillon, 2012) involving simultaneously personal (cognitive and emotive, for example), cultural, social, scientific, technological and artistic dimensions in a dialectic and hybrid action of bricolage that is multipolar and multireferential (in individual and/or collective terms) between ‘the known and the unknown’, between accommodation, confrontation or resistance towards certain ideas, models and ways of seeing the world. In summary, creating what is not yet known, what does not yet exist, is a diverse process set in a confrontation between pre-existing reference frameworks and the unknown in which the composer is interpolated (1) to move in areas of ambiguity and instability, across borders and zones of contact and (2) to mobilize and challenge existing codes and conventions that exist in the communities of artistic, technological, social and cultural practices of plural tastes. As Burnard noted: The complexity and demanding nature of the myriad of forms of multiple mediated musical creativities that arise in musical spaces are deeply influenced by: complex societal factors; different communities of taste; the political economy of music; the way that musical creativities impact on the performance space itself; the open sourcing of recorded sound; the dialectic through which new musical sounds influence the development of taste; the digital technologies that influence the mobility and flexibility of music-making practices; the globalization of music industry; and local marked forces. This all suggests a broadening and deepening of the relationship between creativities and practice. (2013: 79)

Training for compositional creativities Musical composition is a process that involves and mobilizes different competences, such as those involved in ‘product intention, experimentation, sketching/trial performance, revising, editing, premieres and repeated

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performances’ (Kaschub, 2009). The multifaceted act of composing ‘not only develops compositional skills, but . . . also develops all areas of musical learning’ (Carvalho, 2012). Thus, the education for creativity unfolds in a complex context involving several competences that is ‘more than delivering compositional technique’, where the teacher ‘directs and guides students towards successful goals, enabling them to decide for themselves what works most effectively in the particular musical situation . . . structures the student’s learning, converting the multiskilled composing process into a series of manageable steps’ (Berkley, 2001: 127) and involves modalities of work that ‘could foster creativity when composing’ (Burnard and Younker, 2002: 245). This implies that the teachers: (1) understand fully the creative process, (2) proceed sensitively, particularly in the earlier stages, of the creative process, (3) engage students in acts of reflection on and recollections of the pathways that characterize their own creative process, (4) consider the impact of compositional tasks on students and (5) be equipped to design tasks according to students’ needs’ (ibid.: 259). In this process we have to consider ‘a wide range of personality traits’ including ‘independence of judgment, self-confidence, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientation, tolerance for ambiguity, openness to experience, risk taking’ (Baer and Kaufman, 2005: 18). Consequently, training needs to enable and encourage individual and collective creativity and include a broad and interdependent set of strategic encounters that comprise a creative coalition of individual knowledge, ideas, organizational structures and actions (Burnard, 2012c). This ‘interactive and strategic encounter’ has three types of implications. The first presupposes viewing the student-composer as a subject that builds their own discourse and authorial condition by facing epistemological, empirical, artistic and cultural conflicts in the search for a sustained critical positioning, which allows the development of a personal and artistic thought that converges with and/or diverges from existing aesthetic and technical models. The central axis for such a development lies in the promotion of conditions that encourage the experimentation of particular ways of conferring or finding meaning in personal or collective experiences, amplifying the student’s sensibility, perception, reflection and imagination. The second is that the ‘community of practices’ are plural and diversified, comprising open fields of possibilities for the creation of bridges between different worlds and encouraging the ‘experimentation of ideas through improvisation, collaborative composition and discussion’, open to territories ‘of collaborative approaches that connect people, disciplines and genres’ in

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a learning environment ‘that connects tradition and innovation’ (Gregory, 2005: 20–1). This means envisaging education for musical creativity as a social practice existing in a social context, in various networks of interdependencies. The third implication concerns the multifaceted nature of the creative process, which often implies advances, setbacks and changes of direction and involves: 1. ‘promoting the imagination’: this can be approached from different perspectives using diverse models, both musical and extra-musical, and signifies ‘the initial combustion engine of something, the moment of apparent immobility when, inside […] ideas are formed: some fighting the others’ (Tavares, 2013: 384); 2. ‘exploration and experimentation’, where in differentiated ways the ideas, processes, objects and techniques are pursued and accommodated; 3. ‘moving from that which is imagined to making what is imagined’ by creating ‘new things’, bringing new or reconfigured ideas into the world, multiplying ‘the possibilities of truth, the analogies, the explanations, the relations’ (ibid.: 385); 4. ‘moving from that which is imagined to making what is imagined’ (ibid.), which implies a confrontation with other points of view, in a complex relation between modes and conditions of perception. The training for compositional creativities is part of a complex, polyhedral and interdependent process set between knowledge, action, senses (social, human, cultural and organizational), trials, ambiguities, risks, differentiation, discipline, order–disorder, concerns of structures and reflexivities, border territories between different worlds, enablers of the emergence of new or reconfigured itineraries, works and artistic and musical interpolations.

Border territories When we think of ‘creativities, training and learning’ we consider a multifaceted, multipolar and multisituated territory with a large set of ambiguities, uncertainties and risks inscribed in multiform polyphonies. These polyphonies cover several kinds of questions: technical and aesthetical (related to different styles, artistic typologies and differentiated backgrounds); geographical (relating to different parts of the world); socio-historical (encompassing different times, ethnicities and contexts); and artistic–educational (involving differentiated ways of thinking and doing). Each of these polyphonies has its

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own values, hierarchies, codes, conventions, uses, functions, ways of seeing and doing (Nettl, 2001; Santos, 2010). Intersections can be understood as ‘places where reality distances itself from the science of predictability’ that ‘shuffles expectations, bringing everything back to the beginning, opening possibilities’ (Tavares, 2013: 523), a ‘be between’ and ‘be in the margins’ of different worlds. Being ‘between’ and ‘in the margins’ means to occupy ‘a creative place’ where a ‘different meaning for the world can be created’ (Hooks, 1990: 153) ‘through the experience of new journeys and itineraries, living across borders and contact areas’ (Nóvoa, 2002). Intersections can be found in interpersonal and interauthorial networks that mobilize concepts from different cultural, artistic and scientific geographies. Intersections can be seen as a hybrid zone of intermediation of knowledge and the conviviality of different cultures. The hybrid zone can be established in a border territory (Cronon et al., 1993; Friedman, 2001) in which the context of ‘dialogical imagination’ (Beck, 2002) and ‘differently ignorant practices become differently wise practices’ (Santos, 2002: 250). Living in a border territory can thus be characterized: 1. by the selective and instrumental use of traditions – the novelty of situations subverts plans and predictions – one chooses from the past what one wants to remember, forget or modify; 2. by the invention of new forms of sociability and creativity – one lives with the sensation of participating in the creation of a new world; 3. by weak hierarchies – given the separation from the several central authorities; 4. by the plurality of powers and juridical orders – distant from a central order, whereby multiple forms of authority coexist; 5. by the fluidity of social, artistic and cultural relations – given the fact that the border, as a space, is not clearly delimited and, because of that, innovation and instability are the two faces of social, artistic and cultural relations within it; 6. by the promiscuity between strangers and intimate ones, between tradition and innovation – because living in the border implies a total predisposition to expect the unexpected, which means paying attention to everyone and to their ways of thinking and doing, recognizing in the differences the opportunities for mutual enrichment (Santos, 2000: 322–4). Having presented this theoretical and conceptual framework, which resulted in a dialogic process between the initial theoretical framework and interpellations of empirical work, in the next two sections I will briefly describe

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the methodology used in the study and present and discuss ways of seeing and doing in relation to the composers’ creative processes, and insights of the training process and artistic career. This second section aims to present the most relevant dimensions of thought and action of the composers involved in the study, and it is therefore relevant to understanding how to activate and process compositional creativities and how these processes are mobilized to create formative practices and proactive modes of ‘work of searching work’ in the context of uncertainties, risks and diffuse creativity (Nicolas-Le Strat, 1998).

Methodology This study is framed by the interpretative paradigm, in an interdependence between the object and the subject of the investigation and their characteristics in the scope of qualitative research (Fielding and Fielding, 1986; Bogdan and Biklen, 1994; Guba and Lincoln, 1994; Afonso, 2005). It is aware of initial ideological conditions so as to create contexts of epistemological scrutiny that allow a departure from commonsensical views, to doubt the transparency of the senses, to listen to and confront the plurality of voices and to intersect different subjectivities. These premises were materialized in the dialogical ‘shuttle principle’ (Correia, 1998), that is, moving back and forth between description and explanation, induction and deduction: a process during which I tried to mobilize different types of concepts from differentiated theoretical and ideological contexts, directing my efforts towards the understanding of the characteristics of both subject and action while attending, at the same time, to the ‘most local of the local details and the most global of the global structures’ (Geertz, 1986: 88).

Data collection The data for this study was collected through three different sources:

Published interviews The interviews published in book form, in newspapers and on the internet encompass two chronological periods and three different forms of

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media: (1) Selected interviews from a book published in 1988: A Invenção dos Sons: Uma Panorâmica da Composiçãoem Portugal Hoje by Sérgio Azevedo [The Invention of Sounds – A Panoramic View of Composition in Portugal Today] comprising 52 interviews with Portuguese composers from different generations and compositional aesthetics; (2) Eight interviews published between 1998 and 2008 in various Portuguese newspapers and (3) Online interviews published at the MIC website (Portuguese Music Research and Information Centre ). Of the 53 interviews available, 17 were selected, having been published between 2003 and 2005. The selection of interviews obeyed the intersection of two criteria: (1) composers that were, or had been, teachers at higher education institutions and (2) composers who discussed (a) their creative processes; (b) their work as teachers; (c) career development or (d) the dissemination of their work.

Semistructured interviews Four interviews were conducted with composers who teach at higher musical education institutions in Portugal with courses in composition. The interviewees constitute neither a representative group of those institutions nor of the existing community of composers, but rather represent a way of seeing and doing (Lequesne, 1999). Their selection was based on four criteria: (1) situational (belonging to different institutions); (2) generational (belonging to different generations); (3) professional (performing different activities as musicians) and (4) aesthetic–artistic (representing different artistic and technical perspectives and works performed nationally/internationally). Each interview followed a script that was organized around three main axes: (1) ‘creative practices’, where I tried to understand the type or types of creativity involved, as well as their dominant processes; (2) ‘creativities and education’, where I tried to discover how composers conceptualize and operationalize their formative work for the development of artistic singularities, as well as the ways their educational practices foster proactive attitudes and (3) ‘career and creative work’, where I tried to understand the factors influencing creative work and careers. The interviews were conducted at the composers’ teaching institutions (Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espetáculo do Instituto Politécnico do Porto; Escola Superior de Música do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa; Universidade de Aveiro; Universidade de Évora) and their length varied between approximately 45 and 57 minutes.

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Blogosphere and Facebook Additional documental research was conducted online, a vast, multicentred and dynamic field, and two criteria guided the selection of webpages: (1) pages of composers who simultaneously teach at higher education institutions; (2) Facebook pages of organized groups associated with composition.

Data analysis and treatment The procedures used in data treatment and analysis were guided by the development of the theoretical framework and the recommendations present in specialized literature (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Content analysis was the chosen technique, given that the dominant characteristic of the materials on which the analysis was centred was the textual form of both indirect discursive registers and the direct registers produced during the interviews (L’Écuyer, 1988). Semantically, data was analysed as: (1) register units understood as a ‘minimum segment of content that is taken into account by analysis’ (Ghiglione and Matalon, 1992: 193) and (2) themes: the text was ‘analyzed according to criteria relating to the theory that serves as a guide to reading’, thus enabling the ‘discovery of clusters of meaning’ that help the researcher ‘to study the reasons that underlie the opinions, attitudes, values, paths, etc. [of those whose views are analysed]’ (Bardin, 1995: 105–6). Throughout this process four categories and thirteen subcategories were created which were analysed using NVivo9 software. Taking into account the temporal availabilities for this study and the collected empirical material, the presentation and discussion of the data focuses on published interviews and the interviews with composers from the different schools of higher education. Where interviewed composers are quoted in the text their comments are followed by their initials and the year, for example, Eugénio Amorim (EA 2014), Christopher Bochmann (CB 2014), Sara Carvalho (SC 2014), Sérgio Azevedo (SA 2014).

Composers’ ways of seeing and doing Here I present the data showing how composers think, see and operationalize their creative work; how these aspects are mobilized in the training of young composers; and the dominant perceptions regarding creative careers.

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How to write what does not yet exist: Processes and creative modalities Considering that each composer has his or her ‘own language’ (SA 2014) and that composing is seen as a ‘private craft’ (Vargas, 2002: 7), creative processes are situated in a context of diversities and interdependences between different types of procedures, circumstances and situations. In fact, ‘something is not created out of nothing’ (SA 2014), but is created in the framework of certain social, cultural and aesthetic contexts, through processes rooted in the mobilization of knowledge and techniques from different areas and aesthetic geographies, although, in a certain moment, the composer may not be fully aware of how this information is mobilized: ‘information and knowledge are essential. I acquire and then use them, although I can’t be sure of exactly how’ (EA 2014). What unleashes the creative process ‘may be a moment of inspiration, or the desire to confront an old obsession, which may have a poetical or a markedly theoretical character’, although the dominant aspect is ‘their combination’ (Madureira, 1998: 516), a ‘blend of intuitive and exploratory elements’ (Dias, 2003). When the idea ‘does not appear’, other artistic domains may be mobilized, such as literature, painting or the work of other composers (CB 2014). However, it is clear that that there is no fixed model but mixed processes that are not ‘exclusively intuitive or deductive’, thus allowing ‘the blending of these two attitudes’ in the search for a ‘point of equilibrium’ (Madureira, 1998: 516– 17). In fact, as there is no method to ‘guarantee the quality of the piece’, because ‘music is a living thing’, in a permanent state of ‘invention–reinvention’, one composes ‘with everything’ available (Vargas, 1998: 280), with an open attitude and paying attention to ‘the accidental’ and to chance (Vargas, 2002: 7). The idea of considering the ‘accidental’ and of ‘trusting chance’, ‘instinct’ and ‘intuition’ implies the attempt to reconcile two worlds: the ‘search for an ideal form’ while keeping one’s ‘feet on the mystery’ (Rosa, 2003). As for the mobilization of techniques, in some cases it ‘almost always comes afterwards, to justify’ artistic options or face insecurity (EA 2014); in others, it becomes ‘absolutely essential’, although ‘a musical work of value is not brought about solely by technique – it must have some idea, some brilliance, some inspiration, some element beyond technique’ in an interdependence between ‘intuition’ and ‘technique’ that mutually reinforces them (CB 2014). On the other hand, there is a certain concern about the inscription of the work in the ‘past’, in the sense that everything created ‘depends on history and the historical moment’ where the composer is situated, as well as on ‘the

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knowledge one has of that history’. The pertinent aspect of rooting the work in history is the transformation and recreation of tradition: ‘during each rethinking’, ‘new readings’ appear, ‘new interpretations of what constitutes our heritage’ (CB 2014). In this context, the exercise of a creative activity, with ‘different kinds of knowledge incompleteness’, technical and aesthetical necessities, and social and professional constraints, stimulates the mobilization by the creators – or at least their awareness at different moments and with different types of artistic– musical creation – of ‘collaborative and dialogical creativities’ that influence, sometimes decisively, the individual work. Although a more profound study, with a larger scope, is considered necessary, the data collected suggests the importance of this kind of collaborative work, not only with performers but also with creators from other artistic domains, in a game of interdependencies between what is known and what is not, in search for ‘a path that may be common for both sides’ (SC 2014). On the other hand, when the composer presents ‘the piece to the musician, it is still incomplete . . . open to the suggestions that he may make’, thus ultimately becoming both his and the performer’s (Vargas, 2003). This implies ‘working with the performer’ not as a mere executant ‘but as someone . . . who has a word to say about the music’, in an ‘interactive process’ that, in some cases, may develop into ‘a collective project of musical creation’ (Guedes, 2005). Another dimension of this type of ‘dialogic creativity’ is related to the mobilization of social, cultural and sound worlds outside ‘high culture’. The use of songs from oral tradition and urban cultures, for example, present different kinds of challenges to composers to connect and reconnect different contexts of reference that are embodied in a work situated between cultures of origin: it brings ‘another story, another knowledge, another previous base’ (CB 2014). In summary, writing what does not yet exist may be characterized as ‘a complex process . . . during which things, forces emerge that somehow have to be faced. This open attitude towards the flow of things, inherent to the creative process . . . does not exclude the historical conscience of the so-called materials (diverse as it may be among composers), but rather moves outside the creative process’ (Vargas, 2003). In this way of seeing the creative act, and the creativity behind it, some concepts are highlighted that seem relevant: process complexity, openness to the future, historical consciousness, materials, differentiation, individuality, unpredictability, restlessness, challenge, risk, discipline, order, disorder, experimentation.

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The composer and educational practices: The construction of an artistic individuality Teaching for creativity means ‘trying to create a context in which the student himself will progressively acquire the best tools for his unique aesthetic attitude’ (CB 2014). Here, ‘it is essential to help create the singularity’ that will allow the student to understand and develop his/her ‘voice’, ‘musical personality’ and ‘music’ (EA 2014). In this complex and multipolar process the task of the composer-teacher, as ‘supervisor’ and ‘facilitator’, is the activation of procedures during which ‘help is limited’, given that training implies ‘reflection, study, research’ and ‘confronting what others have done’. However, there are strategies that help ‘control what to do and what not to do’, to ‘deal with uncertainties’. The teacher will then ‘help a little’, considering that maybe the only thing that one ‘can teach in higher education’ is how to bring ‘things’ out of the ‘chest of knowledge and affections’ that everyone carries (EA 2014). ‘Bringing out’ involves not only the previous acquisition of knowledge, techniques and curiosity for the artistic, cultural and social worlds but also the awareness that ‘a composer may find more than one way of doing something’, and this implies options, choosing and making decisions ‘regarding the various hypothesis that may be brought out into the open’ (Lapa, 2004). ‘Problematization’, ‘disquiet’, ‘perplexity’, ‘reflexivity’, and ‘instability’ are thus potentiated. Problematization ‘in the sense that each piece should be expressed as a problem’, prompting ‘a kind of reflection about the idea of the piece’ during which the attitude of the teacher ‘is not active in the sense of transmitting techniques . . . but rather causes disquiet and even perplexities’, there emerging ‘a great doubt about what one wants to do’ (Vargas, 2002: 7). This instability also rests on the idea of fostering an attitude that may prevent young composers from accommodating themselves to ‘a given moment or a given position, no matter how good it may be’ (Pires, 2004). Other strategies – political, artistic–educational and career-oriented – may be synthesized in three main dimensions. The first, ‘adaptability to change’, rests on the principle of rotation: students, in some cases, are ‘required to work with at least two teachers with different techniques and backgrounds’ (EA 2014). In other cases, students are not compelled but may choose to change teachers (SC 2014). The second dimension, ‘dialogical interdependence with diversity’, is consubstantiated in the requirement to ‘enrol in classes with different instruments’. The relation of interdependence that is thus created is also important for the performers, as they come to ‘understand that this is a

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world that they will have to know’ (EA 2014). ‘Managing and organizing the unpredictability of reality’ is another dimension, related to the organization of regular public presentations of works and the experience of the unpredictable nature of audiences and of the conception, production and management of public performances, which implies dealing with different ‘realities of the real’ and with diverse conceptual and interpretative models. These strategies have contributed, on the one hand, to ‘the diversity of approaches and ways of looking at creations and creativity itself, as when the music a composer writes for the stage is seen as belonging not only to him but also to other participants’; and on the other, to the creation and growth of collaborative networks that make the development of creative careers possible: ‘a network of friends and acquaintances; and one writes for them, for the friends of the friends’, which brings about the ‘perception that this is not contemporary music – it is music’. In this way, students ‘become much more prepared for real life’, developing ‘fighting mechanisms, ways of fighting for themselves, of contacting other musicians, of advancing proposals unrelated to school’ (EA 2014). These types of dynamics are encouraged as educational modalities that, in different ways, may foster proactivity in the search for work. However, the neoliberal mentality, the exacerbation of competition in entrepreneurship, is criticized: ‘if you want to be successful in certain situations, you have to write according to certain norms . . . in a certain way’ (EA 2014). This ‘excessive competition’ may lead to a ‘destructive creativity’ and to a ‘creative freedom captive’ of certain market logics and powers (CB 2014).

Composer’s perceptions of creative careers: Policy and politics Given the different types of complexities in existence and the characteristics of the artistic–musical professions in the area of ‘contemporary art music’, as well as the influence of neoliberal world-views, composers emphasize the importance of versatility and of multi-activity as relevant aspects of artistic professionalization, although the proliferation of activities and the demands of performing different tasks are seen as obstacles to creation (Azevedo, 2000; Pires, 2004). The impossibility of making a living out of creative work – ‘it is difficult everywhere, not only in Portugal’ – is due to a great extent, to ‘a state that does not support the arts, or does so in a very limited way’, and to a civil society not predisposed to contribute to this field – given, to a certain degree, the massification of consumption of certain types of music. These contexts, however, force ‘people to find alternatives and to keep looking for different

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incentives’, presenting applications for projects and maintaining a network of friends ‘that get to know their work and ask them to write pieces’ (SC 2014). If the dominant model, resting as it does on market logics, can have such an effect, it can also make the development of creative careers more difficult, as ‘no one wants to spend money investing in shows without knowing if the public will buy the tickets necessary to make them profitable’. A vicious circle is thus created, because ‘if there are no concerts, there are no audiences’ (Bochmann, 1998: 563). Market logics also favour the canonization of a certain repertoire: ‘it is better to go and see Maria João Pires play Mozart for the umpteenth time than to listen to other kinds of work’, making composers ‘compete with the whole of music history’ (Vargas, 1998: 288). As for the systemic dimensions of educational policies, in the present European context they are centred on what is considered the fundamental and instrumental aspects of knowledge, favoured by a certain model of economic development. ‘The narrowing of learning’, however, ‘may lead to the limitation of creativity’ (EA 2014). As long as this model is dominant, the task of ‘forming creative audiences’ will be very difficult, making it necessary for creativity to be fostered both in general learning and in the scope of more specialized training programs (SC 2014). These constraints notwithstanding, the option for creative careers remains unchanged, given: (1) the degree of satisfaction and personal fulfilment (SC 2014); (2) the multifaceted character of the creative subject and the fact that he or she is ‘several things at the same time’, which finds echo in artistic practice; (3) the ‘degree of liberty’ and the possibility of writing what one wants (CB 2014) and (4) the challenging nature of creative careers: ‘I thought [being a performer] was not enough; I needed a challenging experience and making music allowed me that’ (Rosa, 2003).

Concluding thoughts and implications for teaching and learning compositional creativities in higher music education This chapter was dedicated to a specific kind of creativity – individual creativity – in the domain of composition of contemporary art music, analysing the construction of the singularities of the creators in an age of uncertainties, risks and dispersed creativities. In this chapter, I have discussed how, composers, as teachers, basing themselves in their individual creative processes, activate and promote the development of students’ creativities, as well as the factors

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that influence their educational work and the development of creative careers. Among the results of the empirical, analytical and interpretative work conducted, one might highlight: (1) the plurality and heterodoxies present in both creative processes and individual creativity; (2) a multisited, multimodal and multireferential training for creativity; and (3) the relation between ‘friendship policies’ and ‘musical policies’ in the development of careers in the context of a the market of symbolic goods (Bourdieu, 1995).

Pluralities and heterodoxies If, in a particular historical moment, a group of aesthetic and technical orthodoxies asserted themselves (Vargas, 2008, 2011), what becomes evident today is the existence of plural and heterodox models. The diversity of processes – even if apparently contradictory – is consistent with the use of multiple references to develop the singularity of a creative pathway and the search of a voice in contemporary artistic–musical practice. This singularity is situated at the intersection of multiple factors existing in a continuum – often fragmented and contradictory – between the individual and his or her context: a multifaceted framework allying the existence of a personal imperative of non-repetition and its integration and inscription among peers, differentiated audiences and the quest for visibility. Although further research would be necessary, the multifaceted character of the creative subject – in different moments, with different kinds of work – and of the creative career seems to mobilize ‘hybrid creativities’ (Barrett, 2006; Bochmann, 2009; Burnard, 2012b; Ferreira, 2013). However, what the study highlights is what might be termed ‘dialogical creativity’: the work of the composer is carried out in articulation, and, more particularly, in dialogue with the other (the performer, the musical theatre group, the movie director) and/or with other cultures (music from cultures of oral tradition, urban music) confronting different technical, aesthetical and cultural worlds that come together in the creation of a world that is now different for both composer and the other actors or cultures involved (Cardona, 2010).

Multisited, multimodal and multireferential training Musical creativities, as a complex field: ‘comprise (i) both the relational structures of concepts, with methods for relating these to the empirical world, and actors positioned within specific social and historical contexts;

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(ii) manifest multiples forms of authorship and mediating modalities and (iii) are social constructions of musical production and consumption as they operate across and between genres’ (Burnard, 2012a: 15–16). The fertile combination of identities and dialogues with different worlds and technical, aesthetical, performative and social perspectives is always a multifunctional and multimodal combination of roots and transgressions, of conservation and change, of a certain solitude and defensive isolation and a dialogical positioning between the individual, the singular and the collective. In this game of complexities, an education for creativity that contributes to the construction of singularities and individual autonomy (Barrett and Gromko, 2007) and makes possible the creation of new aesthetics, techniques, codes and conventions has to be situated in a ‘border territory’ among: (1) different educational and artistic subjectivities, attending to the diversity of formal and informal spaces with dissimilar senses and references depending on the community of belonging (Vasconcelos, 2013); (2) the educational, the musical and cultural worlds, in a network of interdependences of variable geometries, both national and international; (3) different kinds of knowledge, techniques, conventions and individuals in a dynamics between the ‘territory of upbringing’ and the ‘territory of the individual’; (4) fruition and artistic–musical production, where training and work are confronted and enter into a dialogue with audiences and differentiated modes of communicability and intervention and (5) tradition and innovation, in a dialectics between the known and the unknown, between habits, heritage and innovation (Koskoff, 2001).

The interdependences of friendship policies and musical policies Considering some of the dysfunctions of the ‘musical market’ and the competitive character of an artistic and cultural world where neoliberal thought prevails (Boltanski and Chiapello, 1999) and where, paradoxically, alongside the massification of ideas, forms and artistic–cultural models, difference and originality continue to be pursued (Vargas, 2011), the actors try, in different ways, to potentiate career development by proactively searching for work. Together with more traditional modalities of music commissioning, what stands out is the network of friends with whom ‘friendship policies’ are established, in a broad set of interdependences that allow the compositions to have a social and cultural existence. In this process, the way the training institutions conceptualize, organize and operationalize their educational work constitutes a relevant political dimension in the context of the creation and management

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of mental and organizational architectures that may increase the possibilities of pursuing a creative career. This type of work and career, on the other hand, is framed by a systemic perspective that manifests itself at two different levels. One is related to the absence of public policies for education and culture in certain European neoliberal models (Beckman, 2001; Wilson, 2002), present in: (1) curricular concentration on what is considered the fundamental areas of knowledge in the scope of general education; (2) functional education, in as much as training is considered to be an instrument of efficiency in the development of useful skills for the work market and (3) the difficulties of developing creative education strategies in schools. The other is situated at the level of public cultural policies, which may serve as a countermeasure to the hegemonic hierarchies and logics of the markets, promoting diversity in artistic creation and diffusion. In summary, it can be considered that, in a paradoxical age, the singularities of both creative work and creative education, of a ‘policy of voice’ that manages to deal with the existing risks, challenges, ambiguities, diversities and uncertainties, constitute an indefinite work of freedom. The challenge is to live in an incomplete, discontinuous and multiform world, in a dynamic process of daily, contingent search for meaning, at the always conflictual point of encounter of permanence and change, in which one of the primordial roles of artistic and educational attitudes is to create and propose to our imaginary universes that complicate our lives, that pose questions (Raemdonck, 2002: 62). Revisited, reread and reconstructed universes in the cosmopolitan assertion of conviviality between strangers, as acts of resistance, are a form of creating other possible worlds and other cultural legacies that may contribute to the enrichment of singular and collective worlds, avoiding ethnocentric and elitist closures, as a way of creating freedom and a more educated society.

Note 1 Translations of all non-English texts are by the author.

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Part Four

Engaging Technologies

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Technology as a Vehicle (Tool and Practice) for Developing Diverse Creativities Andrew King

Introduction Burnard’s seminal work, Musical Creativities in Practice, has begun to change the way creativity is viewed in music (2012). In this work Burnard rejects the view of a single concept of creativity that encompasses all aspects of music and instead proposes ‘a multiplicity of musical creativities deriving from complexity of the social world in which the musician is located’ (ibid.: 225). Burnard draws on the work of key practitioners to identify different types of creativity, sometimes informed by technology, and how new creativities and intersections between areas are being formed. The view and use of technology as a tool in developing diverse creativities has been developing for some time. This has had a profound effect not only on the industrial landscape but also the curricula within higher education. Many of the technological developments associated with music making prior to digital developments in the 1980s related to modifications of existing tools (King, 2012). For example, the introduction of valves into the brass family of instruments is viewed as one such way performance practice has changed. Initial pioneering work in the area of sound recording was driven towards the capture of sound and then focused on the subsequent fidelity of the audio. Rumsey highlights the initial marketing of earlier reproductive technologies such as the phonograph and gramophone, which made spurious claims about the quality of the experience on offer: ‘people were quoted [on advertisements] swearing that it was impossible to tell the difference between the crackly, distorted reproduction of a singer and the original performance’ (2008: 218).

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What can be seen in both the artefact for consumption and the means by which this was captured was a strong desire to produce more realistic versions of live performance. How the listener consumes music has changed. It is not now always the case that consumers position themselves in the ideal listening spot midway between the left and right stereo monitors, forming a triangle between themselves and the stereo offering. Although there have been developments in surround sound listening (Rumsey, 2001) as well as stereo, there are question marks over how this is used in the home environment, particularly concerning the setup. For the general public, cinemas would appear to offer the most considered approach to consuming spatial audio beyond a stereo pair of monitors, and perhaps this (and issues concerning access to the latest films) has played a part in maintaining some form of presence in the community despite DVD and online streaming services. Bergh and DeNora (2009) highlight some of the approaches to listening and the multitude of modes now possible. They present a brief historical view of playback possibilities and draw attention to contemporary situations such as using iPod devices in flash mob performances. What is also of interest is the distinction between the casual and the connoisseur music consumer that Bergh and DeNora cite as a possible dichotomy within the listening public. Many view the advent of digital technology in the music studio as the game changer in terms of how people consume and produce music. Respected sound engineers and producers such as Ken Scott (who produced Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust) would also argue that the shift from valve- to transistor-based recording technologies was equally as profound and controversial as the change to digital recording from an industry perspective.1 The ‘warmth’ associated with valve and analogue reproduction methods is still in demand, and although only small quantities of vinyl records are currently produced, the fact that they exist at all demonstrates there is still a market for these products. The tactile nature of these audio artefacts has some followers in performance areas within DJ culture and listeners who at the least may enjoy the ceremonial side of listening to and performing music. However, from the standpoint of enabling new and diverse creativities it is perhaps the view of digital technologies as offering fresh opportunities that has revolutionized music making and consumption. This chapter begins by setting the context for which music and technology exists within higher education institutions and draws on data from the United Kingdom. It then discusses some of the socio-cultural and educational issues as a further supplement to the foundation set out in the first section. The question of the music studio and what is meant by this term in the twenty-first century

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is considered before moving on to discussing the sonic picture as a way into discussing the creative aspects of music production. This is followed by a penultimate section that sets out three potential diverse creativities that involve technology in the music studio context: (1) creativity, technology and (live) studio performance; (2) creativity and technology as instrument; and (3) technology, creativity and a diversified creative approach. Some of these sections draw upon material from an interview undertaken by the author with the renowned music composer and producer Craig Leon.2

Music, technology and the curriculum The use of technology has become widespread in music education in the past 20 years. Boehm (2007) demonstrates that in higher education the type of course on offer can vary widely and would, on face value, appear to be interdisciplinary in nature. Boehm cites taxonomies by both Moore (1990) and Pope (1994) that attempt to define the relevant categories for a course of this type. Similarities can be drawn with multimedia degree courses that predate these developments, which can (for example) draw upon areas such as computer programming, graphic design and human–computer interaction (HCI) as the underpinning structure of the design of the curriculum. Degree courses in technology have been developed from both art- and science-based departments that in some institutions have led to a direct collaboration between these areas. However, the emphasis upon the technical or creative aspects can vary widely depending upon the approach. The presence of music and technology in the curriculum has the potential to be one of the most innovative areas in higher education, which not only requires a scientific knowledge of the technical apparatus but also needs to embrace the creative aspects of music making. Other curricula such as graphic design and multimedia can also expose the learner to both artistic and scientific elements, but these are perhaps not as pronounced as in creative music technology. Dewey’s ideas (1997) concerning experiential learning can also be fully explored through a range of interactions alongside learners’ active engagement with music through technology within practical work in the curriculum. There is a lack of a clear understanding of creativity in the music studio that needs to be addressed. While the process of music production within industry has in places seen a reduction in the number of dedicated roles (such as sound engineer, balance engineer, tape operator) into a single multiskilled individual,

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there is still potential to explore the activity that exists between artist(s) and producer within the music studio. More cross-cutting analysis of Group Processes set out by Brown (1988) exist and in-depth studies of particular phenomena such as Group Creativity (Sawyer, 2003) help to guide the educator.

Socio-cultural and educational issues Material tools (distinct from psychological tools as discussed by Vygotsky, 1978) are an important part of the technological modern music curriculum. In the context of a music studio the breadth of hardware- and software-based technologies for the development of musical creativity has become a substantial part of the curriculum. An examination of undergraduate programmes at English universities such as Bath Spa, De Montfort (in Leicester), Hertfordshire, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds Metropolitan, Salford, Sheffield, Surrey and York (this list is not definitive) reveals that studio production (whether described as, for example, Digital Audio Recording, Music Technology in Action, Studio Recording or Studio Techniques) has become a key component within the design of the curriculum. Prensky (2001) put forward the idea of a ‘Digital Native’; a learner who has been immersed in ICT throughout their lives (as opposed to a ‘Digital Immigrant’, who has had to adapt to new technologies) and suggested that this type of student needs educators to adopt and develop different approaches to learning through new technology. Whether this argument is either partially validated or fully accepted it perhaps does not represent the entire picture. A critical review of the evidence by Bennett et al. (2008) would seem to suggest that there is little empirical evidence to support these claims. Although it is clear from empirical studies that there is wide use of technologies such as email, word processing and web browsing among those described as ‘Digital Natives’, there is currently insufficient evidence to support a radical departure from current educational practice. Prensky (2011) has developed his position to suggest a new term: digital wisdom. This idea is put forward by Prensky in order to suggest that the debate needs to move on from whether technology is used in education to how it is used. Prensky suggests that this will be achieved by a bottom-up evaluation of education that assesses the needs of students as a way of informing pedagogical development through technology. Many higher education institutions have music studios that go beyond a computer simulating other devices. Although it would be typical to find a

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computer in such an environment, it is sometimes the case that this would be alongside other technical apparatus such as mixing desks (or control surfaces), signal processors, signal generators and musical synthesizers. Therefore, it is clear that such machinery goes beyond what could be considered the skills inherent in the digital native and presents the educator with a need to instil these skills during the programme of study and make possible divergent creative practices. Bennett (2012) conducted in-depth interviews with industry practitioners concerning contemporary music production. The study teased out views of vintage technologies in the studio and explored ways in which some studios were creating environments that combined technology from the analogue and digital domains of sound recording practice. Théberge, in his work Any Sound You Can Imagine, cited a significant impact on the way technology has influenced music: ‘The use of synthesisers and other digital musical instruments has had a profound effect on musicians and their conceptualization of musical practice’ (1997: 186). Whether this impact is more pronounced in certain genres of music rather than uniform across the spectrum of works is a point worthy of debate. However, what does seem to be clear is that the advancement in recording technologies allowed new approaches in post-production, which led to producers developing a particular ‘sound’: ‘by the early 1960s the notion of a “sound” was part of the vocabulary of popular culture’ (ibid.: 192). Théberge goes on to cite three common examples of particular stylistic ‘sounds’ attributed to individual and studios: ‘Spector Sound’ (commonly known as the Wall of Sound), ‘Nashville Sound’ and ‘Motown Sound’. What this therefore suggests is that the technology (in this instance) had gone beyond mere realization and the ‘capture’ of performance and had moved into the realms of creativity. Technology has enabled sonic modification in order to produce (in some cases) musical caricature (by exaggerating certain features of the recording) of particular genres, which then goes beyond the high fidelity pursuits of many recording engineers, the latter being the driving force in early recording technologies. The uses of even the earliest forms of technology seem to have been more profound than the initial intention of the medium (Katz, 2004). There appears to be a more radical socio-cultural shift happening in the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Social networking cites for music including Myspace (50 million users, down from its 2006 peak of 100 million) and SoundCloud (5 million users) have approximately 55 million people registered as artists on their respective sites.3 Many of these performers and groups are unsigned artists who have explored the advances and availability

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of home recording technologies and are using these sites as tools for music publishing. It would seem foolish for all music educators to ignore this sociocultural phenomenon yet there remains little discussion regarding technology in relation to the use of distinctive creativities in a recording studio context. From the perspective of higher education it would seem that different views of diverse creativities need to be developed and explored through the curriculum.

Perspectives on the music studio The tool that drives musical creativity from a technology perspective has radically changed since the earlier analogue recording era. Théberge (2012) cites data from both Canada and the United States between 1997 and 2007 that charts the rise in the number of commercially registered facilities operating as some form of music studio while also noting the decline in the proportion of the larger scale commercial facilities.4 Some view digital technology as the main disruptive innovation that has attributed to this decline in the ‘temples of sound’ and more generally how music is consumed that brought the music industry into difficult times (Christensen, 1997). However, according to a report in the UK newspaper The Telegraph by Frances Moore the decline in revenues had almost stabilized in 2012 as record companies had increased their online offering and services. In an earlier work, Théberge (1997) highlighted the rise of the home studio and discussed innovations such as MIDI and affordable digital multitrack devices such as the Alesis ADAT. Prior to this, high-quality home or project facilities were beyond the reach of many musicians and were firmly in the domain of record companies or artists who developed or owned commercial facilities. It is perhaps the development of digital software that has brought about the acceleration of the availability and access to music recording technologies that enable learners to freely create works by recording, mixing and/or sampling. Slater and Martin (2012) debate this issue of the diversification of the music studio through the development of technology. It is noted that increasing numbers of people are able to engage with music making through miniaturized and mobile technologies. These affordances present themselves through a range of technologies such as laptop computing, and, more recently, tablet touch screen computing such as the iPad. Slater and Martin’s article focuses upon three creative scenarios that involve musicians working: (1) on a remix project; (2) on an orchestral recording; and (3) by a producer working on the train. Slater and Martin go on to suggest a model for understanding the context, mechanism and

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actions within this concept of musico-technological creativity. Attention is also drawn to the fact that sometimes musical creativity from a project perspective occurs in several locations before it is drawn together into the final product. Bennett (2010) introduced the term anti-production to highlight the divergent production methods that emerged in the music industry in the 1980s and 1990s that changed the way creativity could be realized through technology. What is also discussed is the shift in the scope of the record producer as someone who tries to capture realism in terms of both the fidelity and performance of the artists to the auteur. Bennett uses examples drawn from Moorefield (2005) that discuss the creative roles of producers such as Phil Spector and Frank Zappa, who used the studio as an instrument. This view of the studio as a creative tool rather than only for the capture of audio realism was also put forward in a 1979 essay by Brian Eno (2013) called The Studio as Compositional Tool, in which he briefly charted, from a historical perspective, the changes in the music industry as technology develops. Eno attributed this to the increased options of the recording apparatus, which allowed additional sonic material to be added to a recording after the event; something rarely carried out in the first half of the twentieth century. What is also noted is that recording technology formed a bridge between live music performance that existed in time and the capture of a performance that moves the material into space. It is these technological developments that afforded musicians the ability to work empirically with music. This suggests that this was the beginning of how technology could be used, both as a serious compositional device and as an enabler of a more creative approach to working with the recorded sound through mixing.

Sonic picture One area that deserves attention is the spatial elements of creative practice for those engaged with using technology in musical works. Since the advent of stereo recording the emphasis has shifted from the depth of the sound image and the vertical placement of musical instruments to include the horizontal plane. A useful analogy can be drawn from the visual arts in which the painter uses the canvas to produce works that are realized from left to right, up and down as well as using fore-, mid- and background areas of the canvas. This analogy is far too simplistic in terms of its understanding of the creative process from this perspective, but it is nevertheless useful to consider the way sound is placed from a spatial sense for the student of music.

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Moore (2012) has developed a useful way of conceptualizing the textural space that sound recording can occupy. Through developing a visual transcription method known as the Soundbox it is possible to analyse the placement of instruments within a spatial stereo field that account for the three axis identified earlier. This is a useful tool for educators in helping learners to understand the spatial aspects of studio creativity (regardless of the context) because it makes them aware of the possibilities. Moylan (2007) also viewed the creative potential of understanding the mixing of music and has developed a framework for analysing many of the aspects of a recording such as environment, timbre, spatial elements, instrumentation and so forth. However, this is quite a complex approach that requires a detailed understanding of the concepts involved before embarking upon an analysis of a recorded song. Other studies have investigated from a historical context the placement of sound by spatial means that examines the transition from mono to stereo recordings. Zagorski-Thomas (2010) drew upon key recorded works from the 1960s and 1970s and highlighted the staging techniques used by record producers. This text discusses how the techniques of stereo sound placement unfolded and the different approaches used in both rock and dance music of the era. What is of particular interest is the diversified creative approach to this phenomenon that realizes the discrete function of each of the different genres. Rock producers tended to bring the stadium experience to the bedroom of the listeners of the music by recreating the environment artificially through creative use of studio tools such as reverberation and staging.5 This was in part due to the frustration of the limited technological capabilities of live sound reinforcement during that period which meant the fans’ concert perspective was not necessarily the way the artists wanted to put forward their works to the general public. Dance music producers recognized the acoustic properties of the listening environment for which most of this type of music was played: the dancehall. Therefore, record producers would carefully sculpt sound during the mixing process in order to acknowledge the acoustic ambience of the room that would be added during playback. This demonstrates a diversification in production methods that acknowledges the environment in which the music was to be consumed. This was particularly pertinent for dance music since the rhythm section can be masked by a reverberant environment. Applying excessive amounts of reverberation within the studio to a dance music track could cause issues with clarity when the ambience of the natural acoustic of the dancehall was naturally blended with the track during playback.

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Further developments that have grown out of the experimentation of the spatial field have included quadrophonic sound, surround sound and Ambisonics. Quadrophonic was largely conceived in the 1970s and is seldom used as a tool in the modern-day studio. Surround sound formats such as 5.1 have become common in many commercial studios and cinemas as well as some home environments. Similar to quadrophonic sound, Ambisonics is rooted in 1970s technological development. However, it still has a place in higher education as a research area and is particularly prevalent in sound art. Ambisonics recognizes the three-dimensional space in which sound exists and attempts to use this field. There are overviews of this work (e.g. see Furness, 1990) and research is ongoing in the use of three-dimensional sound field techniques.

Technology as a tool to enable diverse musical creativities Burnard (2012) identifies six different attributes regarding the practice of musical creativity that could all be informed by technology, and in particular the music studio: originals bands; singer–songwriters; DJ cultures; composed music; live improvised music; and interactive audio design. It is possible to consider this list from the perspective of technology as enabling new synergies, although admittedly apart from interactive audio design the concepts behind these creativities were possible before the advent of digital technologies. For example, ensembles were recorded in the music studio during most of the twentieth century, singer–songwriters recorded to analogue tape, DJs used (and still do in some cases) vinyl records, and improvised music takes place within many forms of jazz. However, while the principles may remain partly in place, the practice of creativity has diversified through the use of technology, and perhaps more importantly, so has the ability to access and publish these forms of musical expression. Renowned music producer and composer Craig Leon (Figure 11.1) suggests that: We have the ability to do things that we had no idea could even exist and were just fantasy in the old days of analogue recording. The digital domain has opened us up into a whole new world of recording. A lot of people think there are negative aspects to digital recording and there are some but I think the positives far outweigh it [Craig Leon, interview, November 2013].

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Figure 11.1 Producer and composer Craig Leon working in Abbey Road Studio 2. Copyright Craig Leon, reproduced here with permission

Using the music studio in its various guises (discussed earlier) and the development of technological tools, particularly from a software perspective, has created new possibilities for musical creativity that are not beyond the scope of learners to engage with. From a higher education viewpoint it is possible to delineate these practices into three main areas: technology for the capture of live performance; technology as compositional tool; and a third way that combines both the live elements of performance capture and the studio as compositional device. These will each in turn now be examined.

Creativities, technology and live (studio) performance Recordings of certain genres of music such as classical, jazz and rock still use technology in a way that attempts to capture the live performance of an ensemble. Sometimes this is achieved in isolation, where the various instruments are recorded separately and then blended together during the post-production stage. Although typical in multitrack recording within the analogue days of studio recording during the 1960s and 1970s, this technique is still used in many

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studios that use audio software such as Pro Tools in place of the analogue tape machine. From the perspective of classical music the initial approach that is still used in the recording of many film scores is to capture the ensemble (often an orchestra) while playing together on the studio floor. How technology has developed this approach from an historical perspective has included the ability to capture multiple perspectives of the sound of the orchestra by using arrays of microphones placed at different intervals around the recording space and individual microphone(s) on each orchestral instrument: If you’re doing an orchestra at Abbey Road [studios] they will put a spot [microphone] on everything and they will give you so many choices that it is unbelievable, so you will have a track count of 130 for an orchestra. Still that comes down to me using the best five or six [microphone positions] mics out of the whole mess but I do have the spots if I need them [Craig Leon, interview, November 2013].

Clearly the affordances of digital technology are allowing the composer/ producer (in this example) a number of options when the final recording is blended together for reproduction. The way that technology has enabled this creativity to be captured has also changed over time. Producer and composer Craig Leon identifies this in his own work: I did one track [in 2002], it was a film track with Luciano Pavarotti where he basically sang the entire track a cappella, he was doing it as an overdub from his house . . . they would record the basic track and then he would overdub and in this case he didn’t like the arrangement. So, he sang the track a cappella and said ‘I know you can record the orchestra with a click track and sync to me’, which we did [Craig Leon, interview, November 2013].

An important consideration here is that even the older, more established artists such as Pavarotti were aware of the techniques involved that would have differed from earlier recordings they had made. The ability to capture their own vocal recording from a geographically different location (in this instance, Italy) to the orchestra (in London) in what would have been little more than a small project studio with a high specification shows how technology can change the working practice of even established artists producing works for wide commercial release. Although the affordances of digital technology are seen as something that potentially could slow down the post-production stage of studio recording (see King, in press), they can be harnessed by music producers to help facilitate the

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quick resolution of studio works. Craig Leon highlights this issue in two works created decades apart that used different approaches: [Between] Rodney Crowell [in 1980] to Méav in 2013 they are very similar albums,6 very wooden acoustic albums with very good live players and minimal use of effects . . . Méav’s album because of the digital technology that was employed at the end result, we did as much analogue [recording] as we possibly could, it actually made for a more uniform sound . . . it created a good sound picture throughout the whole thing. It was done a lot more live than the 1980s project which was done in bits and pieces . . . the basics of the album [2013] were actually done in two days compared to the 1980 [Rodney Crowell] album that took two weeks [Craig Leon, interview, November 2013].

Craig Leon identifies that the digital technology in this instance not only allows the capture of a similar project in a quicker timescale but also refers to the overall sound picture of the work from a creative perspective. It would seem that the affordances of digital technology enabled the sonic picture of the album to be more easily realized through the use of digital audio software. This is something that Leon further elaborates upon with regard to film music production: I think digital technology makes a lot of things easier, editing for one thing is much easier, very precise tuning is possible and this is abused in a lot of ways. If you don’t abuse, it can be used to solve intonation problems with instruments . . . when I am mixing something in digital . . . for film it is actually easier for me to get a more uniform sound because I can mix the whole album in one EDL [edit decision list], you know in one timeline, and I can go back and forwards and reference much quicker than doing individual songs and titles [Craig Leon, interview, November 2013].

Therefore, it would seem that when used appropriately the ability of digital technology to support the fine tuning of a musical performance can be of benefit to the music producer. What is also being alluded to here is the popularity of using ‘Auto-Tune’ (a piece of software that measures and alters vocal pitch) in popular music vocals as a default approach to studio-based creativity. While from the perspective of some artists and producers this is frowned upon, it is nevertheless an accepted technique that is often used in record production. Live performance capture is still very much a creative endeavour undertaken in the music studio although it is no longer the singular purpose of the recording environment. Digital technologies have afforded the musician and producer

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the opportunity to edit a performance using a multitude of tools at a level of precision not seen before the digital age. This change has affected not only new artists but also established artists used to working in the older analogue medium. However, this only forms part of the story of how the studio is used creatively, as we will examine in the next sections.

Creativities and technology as instrument The studio as a compositional device is rooted largely in studio evolutions in the 1940s and 1950s that emerged from two European broadcast networks: Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (RTF) in Paris and Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) in Cologne. It is from these developments that it is possible to see the beginnings of the use of the studio as a creative musical tool. Although polarized in their approaches to musical creativity, many of the tools and techniques of the technology that underpinned the art music that came from these studios had an effect on both compositional practice in some higher education settings and commercial music making. Pierre Schafer is one of the founding fathers of the practice of musique concrète. This evolved from the RTF studio in Paris. In its most basic form musique concrète used natural sound sources and then electronic means (a term sometimes referred to as spectro-morphology; see Smalley, 1986) to radically alter the original acoustic sound. This differed from the work that was undertaken almost in parallel at the NWDR studio in Cologne that was given the term Elektronische Musik and included Karlheinz Stockhausen within its composers. The approach here differed in that the technology was used to create music based upon synthetically created electronic sounds rather than acoustic sounds. A far more detailed survey and comprehensive understanding of these methods can be found in the work of Manning (2013). It is possible to see from a creative perspective how these innovations have developed and affected, whether directly or indirectly, curricula at higher education level and the music industry more generally. The terms electroacoustic and acousmatic music are more widely used identifiers (among others) for different forms of compositional creativity with technology. Landy (2007) introduces the term Sound Art, which would seem to encapsulate most of the different types of music from within this genre. The practice and approaches can differ, and, is so often the case with this art form, the distinction between

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Figure 11.2 Sound installation, St Elisabeth-Kirche, Berlin (2010)

the labels given to these forms of musical creativities are often blurred between different areas. Essentially, they take the form of pieces created for live diffusion in which the sounds are pre-recorded and the composer uses a mixing console or other device to create a live mix of the sound through a speaker array (see Figure 11.2). Alternatively, there is a live element added to the pre-existing recorded material that is performed during a live setting. This type of compositional process, with the view of the studio as compositional device, also exists in more mainstream musical offerings. Artists and bands such as The Orb, 808 State, Kraftwerk, Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre draw heavily upon studio-based compositional processes that are arguably rooted in works by avant-garde pioneers who have made it into the mainstream such as Brian Eno. Oldfield and Jarre are particularly good examples of musicians working almost exclusively within the confines of their studio using synthetic and modified acoustic sounds that would not have been possible without technology development. Tubular Bells (1973) by Oldfield is an example of the progressive rock genre that utilizes studio techniques of the time to their fullest extent. It also seems to apply traditional techniques of compositional structure and melodic development throughout the work.

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Technology, creativities and a diversified creative approach There are many examples of music for tape and instrument that have been composed by musicians for live performance. One of the more mainstream examples is the three-movement piece for string quartet and tape written by Steve Reich titled Different Trains (1988). Reich used recordings of speech sound as a basis for the melodies in this work that is played back alongside the performance by the string quartet in situ. The speech recordings were initially transferred to an electronic keyboard and are examples of how contemporary classical music utilizes techniques (sampling) more typically used in the mainstream popular music of the time. The term Plunderphonia (e.g. see Cutler, 2013: 138) has been used to describe how some musicians have used existing recorded material and repurposed this for new musical works. The technique is controversial because of issues surrounding copyright for recorded works. Cutler (2013) discusses this phenomenon from both a historical and a practice-based perspective while also noting the issues concerning ownership both of the original material and the subsequent repurposing of these audio sound bites. Cutler draws upon the visual arts to cite examples of existing materials recycled in both Cubist and Dada works using montage and importing unmodified objects into artistic spaces respectively as a way of justifying the approach. The notion of sampling through electronic means and the power affordances that technology can apply to the reuse of this material is evident in popular and art music of the twentieth century.7 Toop (1995) expanded this notion to include the term electro-quotation and differentiates this from the term Plunderphonics. Toop suggested that electro-quotation is the process of sampling another piece of music and reusing this so it is in a familiar guise. A common example would be James Brown’s 1970 song ‘Funky Drummer’, a sound loop from which has been much used in electronic music in various genres. Toop then suggested that Plunderphonics represents the creative process involved in using technology to manipulate the initial sound source into something unrecognizable; akin to some of the acousmatic music that grew out of the musique concrète style discussed earlier. The creative processes that have developed are evident in much of mainstream music. The American musician Beck Hansen (Beck) used not only a fusion between different musical styles in his creative work (such as folk, soul and hip-hop music) but also employed technology through sampling and editing existing pre-recorded material. Beck’s fifth studio album Odelay (1996) is one

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of his more celebrated works that uses sampled music alongside other recorded materials (such as the vocals) and is a good example of this type of genre. The British musician and record producer Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) is another pioneer of dance music that is directly informed by the technology as a vehicle to its creation. Initially a bass guitar player with The Housemartins,8 Cook went through various transitions before his reincarnation as Fatboy Slim. Some of his career output has been attributed to the musical style Big Beat, which uses heavily compressed breakbeats alongside synthesized sounds and, on occasion, vocal lines. The laptop orchestra is found within many higher education contexts, and perhaps one of the better known is the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk), established in 2005. In essence the performers take laptops to the stage and this allows for real-time performance by human players that use the device as an instrument in live performance. Professor Ge Wang, one of the original founders of PLOrk, has since moved to Stanford University where SLOrk has been established (Stanford Laptop Orchestra). The techniques involved include using live coding of audio data in the context of musical performance. Live coding involves manipulating data, often through audio software such as Supercollider, in real-time to give an improvised performance of a musical work using electronic means. This type of live performance with laptops represents some of the most cutting-edge research occurring in the higher education domain. In summary, this section has examined how technology has helped to develop a set of diverse creativities in the music studio and has also discussed some of the contexts in which it is now being used. The ability to plunder or sample music in a similar way to how visual artists use techniques such as montage has become commonplace in musical creativities. In addition, how new creativities such as live coding have evolved has also been highlighted while I have drawn attention to how these forms exist in both commercial and educational contexts.

Concluding thoughts The opportunities that have arisen by the democratization of sound production through technology are evident in modern music making today. As Burnard (2012) states, it is not possible to have a single model of creativity for a supergenre known as music. It would also seem to be the case that even when considering the music studio from a technological perspective that a diversification of creativities exist that would make even a single unifying theory of musical creativity in this context difficult to realize. What is apparent, though, is that

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there is the opportunity for these diverse creativities to coexist, and in many cases, cohabit the same space or create new fusions of creativity. Bennett (2010) has identified the development of studio techniques and put forward the term ‘anti-production’ to describe the sentiment held by some of the older industry experts who prefer using a production workflow developed in their analogue roots (see King, forthcoming). However, what is clear is that technology has allowed this diversification of creativities within the studio, and that the techniques once seen as going against the grain of the initial purpose of sound recording studios are very much a part of modern music making. The shift away from the ‘temples of sound’ into other discrete locations such as the home and higher education environment have allowed learners new ways to realize creative works without the need for large amounts of commercial sponsorship. It is clear that the larger commercial facilities are still needed but it is also not surprising to see their numbers dwindle as tools have become available through digital technology. From the perspective of an educator working in higher education all of the distinctive creativities outlined here are relevant to our curricula. The potential to expose learners to a range of diverse creativities through technology has a number of benefits. The motivation of learners to want to engage with these types of creative music courses involving technology is evident in the range and availability of courses. In addition, a considerable number of music departments in higher education have access to some form of sound recording/studio facilities and many are of a high specification. What is also important for educators to realize is that other forms of musical creativity informed by technology, which can be taken beyond the confines of the older model of studio production, are possible. These could provide meaningful engagement with music through technology without the associated expense and environmental constraints.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank the renowned producer and composer Craig Leon for giving up his time to talk about music production.

Notes 1 Scott, informal conversation with the author, 2014. 2 .

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3 According to figures provided by the companies in July 2011. 4 Olympic Studios (London, UK) and Sound City (California, USA) are just two examples of now closed large-scale commercial facilities that were responsible for recording artists such as the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix (Olympic), and Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Nirvana (Sound City). Olympic still operates as a ‘pop-up studio’ under the direction of Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey but on a much smaller scale. 5 The term staging sometimes refers to placing the instrumentalists across the stereo field as you would expect to find them in a live or concert setting. Artificial reverberation could then be added to simulate the acoustic of a large venue. 6 Rodney Crowell is a Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter in the country music genre. Craig Leon is referring here to the 1980 album he produced and titled But What Will the Neighbours Think published by Warner Bros. Méav is an Irish folk music singer/songwriter who has sold over 6 million albums. Craig Leon is referring here to the 2013 album titled The Calling, which he produced and was published by Warner Music Group. 7 It should be noted here that what is being discussed is the use of technology in reusing existing material either in whole or in part. The precept of sampling can be seen in works such as Brahms First Symphony with the obvious use of the ‘Ode to Joy’ theme in the finale taken from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The use is blatant and some musicologists may argue that this was some sort of homage to the earlier oeuvre and its creator. Bloom (1973) talks about the creative process and the potential to be hindered by the past in literary art in The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry. 8 The Housemartins were an English indie band formed in Hull, Yorkshire in the 1980s. They had a platinum-selling album in the United Kingdom titled London 0 Hull 4 before they split in 1988.

References Bennett, S. (2010), ‘Examining the emergence and subsequent proliferation of antiproduction amongst the popular music producing elite’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Surrey. —. (2012), ‘Endless analogue: Situating vintage technologies in the contemporary recording and production workplace’, The Journal on the Art of Record Production, 7. Bennett, S., Maton, K. and Kervin, K. (2008), ‘The “digital natives” debate: A critical review of the evidence’, The British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–86.

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Bergh, A. and DeNora, T. (2009), ‘From wind-up to iPod: Techno-cultures of listening’, in N. Cook, E. Clarke, D. Leech-Wilkinson and J. Rink (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music, New York: Cambridge University Press, 102–16. Boehm, C. (2007), ‘The discipline that never was: Current developments in music technology in higher education in Britain’, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 1(1), 7–21. Brown, R. (2000), Group Processes, Oxford: Blackwell. Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Christensen, C. (1997), The Innovator’s Dilemma, Harvard: Harvard Business Review. Cutler, C. (2013), ‘Plunderphonia’, in C. Cox and D. Warner (eds), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, New York: Bloomsbury, 138–56. Dewey, J. (1997), Experience and Education, New York: Touchstone. Eno, B. (2013), ‘The studio as compositional tool’, in C. Cox and D. Warner (eds), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, New York: Bloomsbury, 127–31. Firth, S. and Zagorski-Thomas, S. (2012), The Art of Record Production, Farnham: Ashgate. Furness, R. K. (1990), ‘Ambisonics – an overview’, in The Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the Audio Engineering Society, 8–24. Katz, M. (2004), Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, Berkeley: University of California Press. King, A. (2012), ‘The student prince: Music-making with technology’, in G. McPherson and G. Welch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Education, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, 476–91. —. (forthcoming), ‘Studio pedagogy: Perspectives from rock producers’, in A. King and E. Himonides (eds), Music, Technology and Education: Critical Perspectives, Farnham: Ashgate. Landy, L. (2007), Understanding the Art of Sound Organization, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Manning, P. (2013), Electronic and Computer Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Moore, A.F. (2012), Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song, Farnham: Ashgate. Moorefield, V. (2005), The Composer as Producer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music, Cambridge: MIT Press. Moylan, W. (2007), Understanding and Crafting the Mix, Oxford: Focal Press. Prensky, M. (2001), ‘Digital natives, digital immigrants’, On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6, MCB Press. —. (2012), From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom, Los Angeles: Corwin Press. Rumsey, F. (2001), Spatial Audio, Oxford: Focal Press. —. (2008), ‘Faithful to his master’s voice? Questions of fidelity and infidelity in music recording’, in M. Doğantan-Dack (ed.), Recorded Music: Philosophical and Critical Reflections, Middlesex: Middlesex University Press, 213–31. Sawyer, K. R. (2003), Group Creativity, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Slater, M. and Martin, A. (2012), ‘A conceptual foundation for understanding musico-technological creativity’, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 5(1), 59–76. Théberge, P. (2007), Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology, Hanover: Wesleyan University Press. —. (2012), ‘The end of the world as we know it: The changing role of the studio in the age of the internet’, in S. Frith and S. Zagorski-Thomas (eds), The Art of Record Production, Farnham: Ashgate, 77–90. Toop, D. (1995), Ocean of Sound, London: Serpent’s Tail. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978), Mind in Society, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Activating Digital Creativities in Higher Music Education Leah Kardos

Introduction Technology has become entwined with creative practice in the twenty-first century, increasingly democratizing access to diverse creativities, dramatically transforming practices and how we think about, value and consume media. Digital audio has been present in mainstream media consumption for over 30 years and has been a part of music making, instrument building, recording, production and post-production practices since then. With the rise and popularity of connected mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones, digital technologies have been emancipated from dedicated wired-in environments, freeing practices in the process and opening up opportunities for new creativities to occur in diverse spaces. Digital music creativities are practices that make or use digital media in creative musical contexts. These creativities are diverse, often taking place across a range of disciplines that share similar interfaces and literacies (coding, web, design, production, performance, working with visual media). Engagement takes place along a continuum of practices, ranging from socializing in online communities all the way to full-scale music production and working in teams on collaborative projects. Working in this realm, digital creators are both the authors and producers of new work; they compose, code, edit, curate and perform – Julian Sefton-Green (2013) refers to these intermingled practices as ‘different hybrid creative processes that are particular and discrete to digital creativity’. These practices exist in an evolving and renormalizing landscape: any person with access to the internet and a mode of input now has access to unlimited

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technologies with increased efficiency, broader collaborative opportunities and a genuine means to reach a potential global audience of millions. ‘Know-how’ and ‘know-what’ is being supplemented with know-where: the understanding of where to find knowledge (Siemens, 2005), giving rise to new kinds of learning, not always adequately catered for in our assessment methods. In equipping tomorrow’s creative music professionals for art-making and industry, higher education programmes should be promoting fluency in digital literacies, quality of execution and enabling learners to develop the skills necessary to make technology bend to their ideas. This chapter explores some of these new music literacies that have emerged from creative practices using digital tools. I will survey the digital cultural landscape for the spaces that creative musicians inhabit and take a look at contemporary practices that are increasingly characterized by a fluidity of approach and execution, blurring the lines between creative music disciplines, styles, genres and scenes. I will also consider how creativity challenges technology, and how technology in turn inspires diverse creativities. Looking at the value of online communities, social networking and the utilization of cloud technologies for career building, I will consider how these informal online spaces can be locations for learning. Embracing the fact that mobile devices are here to stay, we will examine the potential of touchscreen technologies to facilitate new kinds of digital creativity and ways of thinking about and interacting with the materials of music and sound. It is accepted that technology should be viewed as a medium for pedagogical development (Abbey, 2005; Cummins, 2007; Salavuo, 2008), and with this idea in mind I will share and reflect from my own creative practice as a composer, producer and educator, drawing on examples from current practices in art-making, research and industry to suggest ways in which higher music education programmes can better satisfy the educational needs of tomorrow’s professionals. In particular, I will point to examples that take advantage of the opportunities made available through advancing technology and the internet (with particular reference to social networks, online communities and cloud-based applications) and how they can be used to activate digital creativities.

New literacies in the digital cultural landscape The internet, since its widespread adoption in personal computing in the mid-1990s, has dramatically transformed the cultural landscape we live in.

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Dr Alan Kirby has labelled our current cultural paradigm as digimodernism: a digital age where society has become electronically dependent on being connected to the net for everything from communication to commerce, media consumption, education and a redefining of what it means to be part of a community; where the computerization of these tasks, interactions and experiences and unlimited access to media and knowledge has a deep impact on texts and the arts (Kirby, 2009). A generation of digital natives, for whom the internet has always existed as an everyday utility, are progressing through higher education systems right now, leading demand for the digitization of flexible and dynamic learning resources, the provision of MOOCs,1 the adoption of ePortfolios and the publication and sharing of creative practice research on the World Wide Web. More than a technology of convenience, computerization and our connectedness to the internet (and to each other by way of social networking) has changed how we see the world, how we form and maintain relationships and networks, how we talk to each other, how we share knowledge, how we create and consume media and art, and how we teach (Draper, 2008; McCormack and d’Inverno, 2012). For creative industries these changes have had a monumental and transforming effect on commercial and contemporary arts practices. Music creativities, by which I refer to the practices of music composition, performance, production and sonic arts, are similar to other creative art forms such as photography, architecture and film editing, whose materials have become increasingly digitized. This evolution has seen a shift in professional practice, particularly in music production and sound design, from the exclusive use of dedicated analogue equipment and site-specific technical practices towards the use of less expensive software applications and interfaces. In the broader industry view, digital literacies are also expected in other areas: composers are increasingly expected to operate notation software and supply digitally typeset scores; creative freelancers need to know how to self-publish, network and promote their services using social networking and online tools; and performers need to be confident in commercial and contemporary performance practices that integrate digital interfaces and devices. To equip the creative music professionals of tomorrow for success in art-making and industry, higher music education curricula must embrace and promote fluency in these new music literacies.2 In a continual state of development, the technology tools that creative musicians rely on evolve at the pace of innovation, usually with the aims of becoming more powerful and easier to use with each successive version. Music

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technology applications seek to streamline workflow and automate process – what might have previously taken hours using analogue methods may only take a single mouse click today. The result is a line of increasingly more powerful and intuitively designed applications, each version often more affordable and readily accessible than the last.3 Today, when you buy an iMac, it comes with fullfeatured recording and sequencing software GarageBand pre-installed. Apple’s flagship Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software Logic Pro, Avid’s industry standard Pro Tools and popular music notation software Sibelius have never been more affordable, and if you cannot afford those there are web applications such as Noteflight, AudioTool and Indaba’s Mantis, all of which are widening participation in these practices to anyone who has access to a computer and the internet. Greater access and participation in digital music creativities and the interchangeability of new music literacies between what once were clearly delineated creative music disciplines (composer, producer, sound designer, performer, etc.) have had an observable impact on commercial and contemporary practice. It is not uncommon to see composers also identifying as producers and sound designers – as if the materials of music (melody, harmony, rhythm), sound (texture, timbre) and space (position of elements in the listening environment) coexist on the same painter’s palette, which of course they absolutely do.4 Performers of contemporary art and experimental music might relish in designing their own digital effects or engaging in live coding using applications such as Fluxus or Max/MSP. Throughout 2013 the commercial music charts were populated by artists who not only perform and write, but also produce their own material in the studio: Daft Punk, Kanye West, Janelle Monae, Pharrell Williams, Labrinth and Bruno Mars, just to name a few. The ease of use that technology tools provide music makers with is also having an impact on the styles and aesthetic features of music. Ever since the early remix cultures were established, with dub reggae studio experimentation in Jamaica in the late 1960s, and hip-hop in America in the late 1970s (when studio producers and turntable operators/DJs were for the first time recognized as ‘artists’), the functions of technology have been a driving force in the development of styles and scenes. Regardless of formal musical training or qualifications, practitioners exploring the limits of technology have influenced the aesthetics of specific music scenes and subgenres. The features of DAW, sound design and synthesis softwares drive the continual development of dance and electronic music genres. Sampling, tempo and pitch matching softwares have transformed mashup and hip-hop production practices, making it easy

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to construct music collages from samples and loops and inspiring some artists to explore the communicative potential of deliberate misuse of these tools. An example of the latter can be seen in the work of experimental multigenre music producer Flying Lotus, with his deliberately mismatched and misaligned rhythm loops and unquantized beats. In Kanye West’s single Bound 2 (2013), the artist composes an instrumental bed for a rap vocal, combining reappropriated sample loops that are in different keys and styles. There are whole music scenes built around the sound world of ‘mistakes’ and technological errors, as seen in the cases of glitch, lo-fi and noise music. We are witnessing a blurring of the lines that once separated the specialisms associated with music creativities (such as composition, performance, improvisation, production, sound design, arrangement, etc.) and increasingly observing in contemporary and commercial creative practices a disregard of the notional boundaries between high and low art, popular, experimental and contemporary styles, genres and formats. Concurrently, with trends in digital distribution and an increased presence of creative musicians inhabiting the online social space, creative musicians in increasing numbers are claiming to be genre indifferent,5 not prescribing to or professing alignment with a single defining musical tradition. There are high-profile examples that exemplify the idea of the ‘genre indifferent’ creative practitioner: Jonny Greenwood is active as a composer of film scores (There Will Be Blood, The Master) and concert works in addition to being the guitarist and one of the primary songwriters in Radiohead, a rock band that has enjoyed mainstream and critical success for the past two decades. Bryce Dessner is a composer, curator, founder of the MusicNOW Festival and guitarist for indie rock band The National. Nico Muhly is a composer of contemporary classical opera and concert music who also creates film soundtracks (The Reader, Kill Your Darlings), collaborates with bands (Grizzly Bear, Antony and the Johnsons) and performs as keyboardist in Philip Glass’s band. If you browse the online networks that creative musicians inhabit, you will find many that are resistant to categorization – I am one of them. In Kirby’s digimodernist paradigm, changes in media consumption, due to greater access, have resulted in a broadening of influences and tastes – evolving authorship and blurring textual boundaries (Kirby, 2009; Bonfiglioli, 2013). No sound or style is out of bounds; creative musicians are free to follow their enthusiasms and choose the scenes in which they wish to operate in, not just those related to their immediate environment or geographical/cultural context. Shared literacies and competencies across disciplines allow practitioners not only the freedom to engage in diverse forms of expression, but also to have autonomy and control over their products and works.

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Social music networks Social music networks exist on the internet to connect people who make and consume music. For networking among listeners/fans there are media streaming discovery services like Last.fm6 and Spotify,7 which allow users to track and publish what they listen to as the dynamic software makes suggestions for further music discovery based on trends and commonalities between members’ listening habits. For music makers, ways of sharing, self-publishing and collaborating can be facilitated through social music networks such as SoundCloud8 and Indaba,9 which act as repositories for new creative works. The use of such networks for creation between members has led to a form of internet-based music creativity known as ‘Computer Supported Collaborative Music’ (Barbosa, 2003; Blaine, 2003; Seddon, 2006; Burnard, 2012). In the SoundCloud social space, members can follow, ‘like’ and post comments on each other’s creative works and use the service to share and download audio files for consumption or collaboration. SoundCloud is currently such a popular and ubiquitous music service that the number of tracked plays holds currency as a statistic, and is sometimes seen quoted in press releases and music-related news stories. Testament to the increasing cultural value of the SoundCloud play statistics, a quick Google search will reveal many opportunistic parties offering to increase play statistics for a fee. Indaba offers a similar networked community, but with a stronger focus on remix culture, providing structured opportunities in the form of regular contests and the ability to facilitate creativity and collaboration with a web-based DAW application called Mantis; a ‘Music Studio in the Cloud’ (Anderson, 2010). With Mantis, members can contribute music content to shared projects and work on multitrack recordings collaboratively from anywhere in the world. Similar computer-supported collaborative music networks, such as ccMixter10 and ACIDplanet11 promote remix and mashup culture: the creation of derivative works through the combining or editing of existing materials. In these online communities members can access a digital resource of shared samples, instrumental loops and a cappella tracks licensed under Creative Commons12 for download and reuse in new creative works. Following in Indaba’s footsteps, there are now cloud-based music technology applications and online DAWs that have been specially developed for educational contexts. A good example of this is Soundation4Education:13 a sequencer and audio recording programme that comes complete with resources

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for set learning activities and freestyle music creativity. Soundation4Education is accessible to educational institutions with paid subscriptions to Music First, a portal for music educators that offers a wide range of dynamic digital resources for classroom music teaching in both traditional and digital music literacies. Cloud-based applications such as these offer an affordable alternative to purchasing high performance computers and professional software licenses. As these kinds of tools continue to pop up on the digital landscape, the barriers to digital music creativities that were financial, technical or related to access are being broken down. Anyone who is old enough to remember what the world was like before the internet came along will be able to appreciate, as I do, how magical it seems to be able to collaborate and make music in real time with somebody on the other side of the planet. Not only is this now a technological reality, it is also becoming the norm for professionals working in collaborative contexts. These online spaces where music making and real-time collaborative creativities occur are effective learning environments for developing digital creativities and literacies: the learner can author, produce, collaborate on and edit music productions without being limited by a lack of access to expensive equipment, specialized environments or resources. Social music networks often provide a way to publish and share creative works with members of a community. Some offer opportunities for wider exposure to new audiences. Remix competitions, where a diverse range of established artists (examples such as Yo-Yo Ma, Snoop Lion and Steve Reich14) offer up their musical materials for collaboration and reappropriation, can provide a democratic platform for getting one’s work noticed. Elsewhere on the internet, specialist communities built around specific aspects of creative music practice serve as congregational spaces on the web where people can go to seek help and find information, build professional and personal connections, offer feedback, engage in conversation and debate, and most importantly, seek and share knowledge. For any corner of the industry that people might inhabit there is bound to be a community, or at least a dedicated Facebook group,15 that serves them. Online music communities serve their members by collecting and publishing shared knowledge and resources, offering advice and technical help, a social space to converse and a means to organize events. Learners that are active in online music communities and social music networks are actively developing collaborative and entrepreneurial creativities through the creation, curating and sharing of knowledge in addition to building a valuable personal network within established specialist creative communities.

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Social networks Beyond the specialist music communities, mainstream social networking sites also allow creative musicians to become aware of each other’s work, access new networks and connect with new audiences. Many musicians have profiles on Facebook, SoundCloud and YouTube, social networks that are particularly useful for displaying/sharing creative work, expertise and creating networking relationships based on shared interests. Twitter is a social application particularly suited to discovering and connecting: its lightweight conversational style is especially conducive to discovery, collaboration and the cross-pollinating of similar networks, exposing ideas and links to new, interested parties (Honey and Herring, 2009). Speaking from a personal perspective, Twitter is the social network that has been most valuable to my career to date: connections and relationships made through Twitter have led to fruitful collaborative partnerships for composition, recording projects and performances, the discovery of new music and art that has influenced my creative practice, and has also been instrumental in gaining an awareness of my contemporaries in the scenes and fields I operate in. I have made friends with practitioners all over the world, which has in turn led to artistic and professional opportunities that have furthered my career and would not have come about had I not proactively engaged with the social network. Music Hack Day16 is an international event where programmers, interface designers, industry professionals, artists and musicians gather to conceptualize, build and demo new music instruments, software, hardware interfaces, mobile and web apps, and music-related art. The organization uses Twitter as a rallying call to attract participants. Beginning in 2009 with a single event in London, Music Hack Day now takes place in cities all over the world, in partnership with tech companies, arts organizations and established social networks. These events have been successful in driving collaborative interdisciplinary practices to the forefront of innovation. In 2013, the first Classical Music Hack Day17 was held in Vienna with the express aim of perfecting the ‘interaction of technology, creativity, and music’ – an idea I very much like the sound of. Social networks also facilitate collaborative fan creativities that can shape the outcome of music making, performance and promotion. Crowdsourcing, ‘the process by which the power of the crowd can be used to perform tasks previously only performed by a few experts’ (Gomes et al., 2012), enables artists to allow their audience to assist in decision-making: the composition of the music, track ordering and artwork of commercial releases, promotional videos, concert set lists, publicity, even fundraising. In music contexts, the crowdsourcing model

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has enabled new collaborative creative processes where people from all over the world, who might not be experts or professionals but rather consumers, can contribute to the act and process of music production (ibid.). For some creative professionals this is an effective method of audience engagement. Established artists and ensembles (such as singer–songwriter Amanda Palmer, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, violinist Hilary Hahn) are leading the way by maintaining a range of fan-interactive social networks (with current trends pointing to Twitter, Facebook groups and pages, SoundCloud, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr). As these practices become the norm, they filter down into businessrelated curricula, particularly in areas associated with marketing, promotion and cultural entrepreneurial research.

Connected mobile devices: A new frontier for creative practice Touchscreen tablet and smartphone technology has been one of the most quickly adopted digital technologies in recent history. With widening access to Wi-Fi connectivity, these devices represent instant access to the wealth of the internet, along with a raft of specialist applications and tools variously designed to assist productivity, facilitate art, music and media creativities, connect to social and gaming networks, and more. By the end of 2013, over 1 million apps were available to download from Apple’s App Store, with more than 65,000 of those specially designed for educational contexts. It has already been observed that handheld devices particularly suit learning scenarios informed by collaborative, contextual and constructionist learning theories (Patten et al., 2006). For music makers, mobile app technology is a new frontier for creative practices. At a basic level, touchscreens make great controllers. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity allows these devices to quickly and easily connect to other technology, the tactile interface acting as a dynamic control to manipulate computerized sound sources in real time (a good example of this is TouchOSC18). Instrument technology firms such as Korg and Moog have released interactive ‘app’ versions of their signature interfaces and instruments, enabling live synthesis and sound design. Big name technology hardware companies like Focusrite, Apogee and Line 6 have released interfaces for tablet computers, granting full multitrack recording functionality, while Apple are giving away the ‘Logic Remote’ app for iPad, which allows for extensive remote control of their DAW. The Fall (2011) by the band Gorillaz was entirely recorded and mixed using an iPad, released the same year that Björk created the very first ‘iPad album’ Biophilia (2011), a

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collection of interactive music apps designed to allow the user to reconstruct and dynamically manipulate compositions in innovative visualizations and designs suggesting connections between music, art, cosmology, natural science and technology. Another innovation from Biophilia is the commissioning and use of bespoke iPad-controlled acoustic instruments, for which the Gravity Pendulum Harp, Sharpsichord, Gamaleste and Musical Tesla Coils were invented.19 And then there are so many generative composition apps, music visualization tools, notation softwares, apps to aid performance from electronic score readers to live looping, sampling, sound design and coding – a realm virtually exploding with the potential to enhance and transform the acts of music making. These developments have far-reaching consequences for creative practices, industry and the future of tech. In the near future many of these apps will be replaced by newer, more efficient counterparts; tomorrow someone might design an app that will open up creative possibilities not dreamt of yet. Music app development is a cross-disciplinary exchange between creative practice research, interactive design and computer sciences; it stands to reason that the best higher education music courses should be hosting similar collaborative initiatives across area disciplines and with industry engagement. New technological literacies are starting to be introduced into primary and secondary educational curricula in the form of iPad integration in the classroom from an early age and coding and app building using MIT’s Scratch programming language and other applications and tools such as Hotscotch, Kodable and Objective-C (Dredge, 2014). If the arrival of the last generation of digital natives (commonly referred to as ‘Generation Y’ or ‘Millennials’) and their intuitive fluency with technology and adapted learning styles forced educators and academics to rethink their approaches to pedagogy, what will the impact be when the new generations of code-literate software-designing creatives begin enrolling on our music degree courses?

Activating digital creativities in higher music education contexts Understanding the overall context of music practices as they currently exist in industry, art-making and creative practice research is vital when developing the conditions and pedagogical basis for learning, as is acknowledging the online space as an extension of the learning environment (Salavuo, 2008: 2). If these aspects are ignored by higher music education curricula, schools will be

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producing graduates who are not prepared for the realities of industry, while identifying themselves as being irrelevant for students and the ways in which they naturally learn, communicate and perceive the world of work (Attwell, 2006). Marcy Perkins Driscoll defined learning as ‘a persisting change in human performance or performance potential’, observing that it must come from a ‘learner’s experience and interaction with the world’ (Driscoll, 2005). We know that social networked technologies provide ways of making one’s activities and expertise visible to others, thus facilitating an ‘interaction with the world’ that is vital to the learning process. In the context of higher music education, making one’s creative practice and musicianship visible online could be a basis for ‘growth as musician, and a starting point for life-long learning’ (Salavuo, 2008: 11). In the foreword to the second edition of Re-thinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age, Diana Laurillard observes that ‘our digital native students may be able to use technologies, but that does not mean that they can learn from them . . . learners need teachers . . . to guide the learner’s journey to a particular and productive end’ (Beetham and Sharpe, 2013). Our role is to design the learning experience, weaving together multiple aims and outcomes: the development of necessary skills through participation in projects that reflect what we know to be contemporary practices in art-making and industry. We teach music creativities in order to encourage within our learners deep appreciation and excellence in their subject area; we hope that the outcomes of learning will include awareness and growing confidence in an emergent creative voice, and possession of the relevant knowledge on which to build a successful and rewarding career (and framework for lifelong learning). For this reason it is important that educators in creative music contexts are active music creators. We will always be teaching skills and encouraging excellence of technique; cultural and industry-led demands require us to locate and contextualize those skills and techniques within real-world practices. If such learning experiences can be designed, facilitated and properly assessed, the results will be improved employability, musicianship, technical excellence, entrepreneurship and creative confidence.

Making and reflecting – creative practice research Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail, there’s only make. Sister Corita Kent (Rules and Hints for Students and Teachers) (Kent and Stewart, 1992)

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This is the fun part; never before have the materials of music been so pliable, touchable and easy to access. In creative practice, research learning occurs through the processes of making, touching, doing, working, editing, experimenting, collaborating (insert almost any verb here) and reflecting. The outcome is the creation and sharing of ‘personally situated knowledge’ (Barrett and Bolt, 2007: 2), generating experience and expertise, and, very important to any artist, a deeper understanding of self. The news that learning comes from making things is not a revelation. What is relevant here is a genuine link to contemporary practices. Collaboration and cross-cultural exchanges over the internet are important lines of enquiry for creative practice research, as is the ongoing exploration of new digital creativities and the potential for innovation offered by technology tools. Where can new forms of expression be found? In what contexts can original ideas be communicated, using the languages and literacies unique to our age? When learning (experience, modality, environment) integrates real-world practices and scenarios, a self-directed learner can sense the ‘ownership of his or her learning’ (Salavuo, 2008) and authenticity in his/her developing arts practices. Creative practice research naturally extends to the creation of connections with communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), many of these existing online in social spaces. In our assessment of creativity we should not only be looking for the presence of skill and technique, but also for evidence of the learners being the originators, constructors and sharers of new knowledge within such communities of practice.

Fluency and execution Technical expertise in specific technology applications is of little use when the said technology inevitably becomes redundant, unless the learner has been taught strategies on how to adapt his or her skillset to change. It is often the case that by the time I have managed to order the latest Avid training manuals, and prepare resources concerning a newly released touchscreen app, the material is out of date because the software has been upgraded, redesigned or superseded by something better. A flexible and adaptable skillset relies on ‘fluency’: the ability to produce a response, or multiple responses, to an open question or task quickly and easily (Guilford, 1987). Maarten Michielse (2013) suggests that fluency is vital for digital music creativities, as they relate to ‘the ability to respond to, and produce ideas for a wide variety of musical source materials, quickly and easily’. Here, Michielse specifically refers to remix practices, but the

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idea can be expanded to include all industry-led creative music practices where excellence, adaptability and working quickly are essential traits for employment. We can encourage fluency in digital practices/literacies by guiding our learners to engage with a diverse range of digital audio tools and observing how they adapt their knowledge. We can apply the architecture of familiar applications to the coding and design of new software, which allows us to learn to design for (and, in turn, to recognize) known functionalities in new/unknown interfaces. We can set up creative briefs that require exploration, experimentation and collaboration. The trick is to enable the learner to keep adapting their skills – if they can handle us shifting the context, there’s a better chance they will survive the evolution of the technologies their creativities currently rely on. For music educators specializing in technology fields there is yet another source of anxiety: the tech is getting easier. Our tech-native students can easily teach themselves how to operate the software that is industry standard; the fluencies they are developing through creative practice and experimentations with context ensure they will be able to work it out; we are training them that way. But if it’s true that they already possess the access and literacies to operate the technology already, why do they enrol on our music tech programmes? What they seek is the secret of execution: a highly developed ability to listen critically; a flexible, futureproof skillset that allows for maximum control of musical and sonic materials in a range of contexts; the ability to engage in fluidity of approach; to develop personally situated entrepreneurial creativities and navigate routes to employment and future artistic engagement.

Building a body of work and an online presence It is now entirely possible (and, in many cases, expected) for a creative musician’s body of work to exist online. Creative professionals frequently use online spaces to house their portfolios, showreels, demo tapes, publications, CVs and whatever else is needed to attract clients, employers and foster audience engagement. Self-published ePortfolios are a useful tool for creative educational contexts, as they allow for dynamic updating and continuous refinement and establish the learner’s presence online as an author of content, distributing expertise among the members of linked networks and communities (Downes, 2005; Siemens, 2005; Attwell, 2006). The reality of a career in creative music is often the life of a freelancer, or a freelance-hybrid portfolio career where personally situated expertise leads to

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opportunities in other sectors (such as education, journalism, media, events, computer science, etc.). As such, our music programmes should be helping learners to develop career-relevant skills of entrepreneurship. As I reflect on my own undergraduate student experience, this is the one area that I felt completely clueless about upon graduating, that could have really helped me get started in my career a lot sooner. Students will need vital information about how to set up a business and handle tax, employ people, write invoices and grant applications, understand marketing, PR and cross-platform media and arts, networking, working with clients, working in teams, leadership and professionalism. Like all things in the information age, there now exists a plethora of digital tools, online services, networks and communities to help freelancers manage the administration of their careers. This is an important area of curriculum for any creative music programme that aims to prepare music makers for careers in industry and art-making (and not just academia).

Personal reflections and conclusion Digital creativities are exciting because they can transform our perceptions and processes – from the way we visualize and interact with the materials of sound and music to the way we learn, share, teach and represent ourselves to the world as artists and professionals. It is a field of music creativity that is ripe for exploration by practice-led enquiry towards the discovery of tomorrow’s innovative creative practices and new forms of expression. Digital creativities provide a framework that promotes the development of new literacies, competencies and performance practices. Everyone who can connect to the internet can freely access digital tools for music creativity – no longer are we limited by expensive equipment and specialized environments. If Gorillaz can produce a commercially successful pop record on an iPad while riding on a tour bus, then so can we. In my own creative practice, Kirby’s digimodernist paradigm feels true to my experience and I can see the influence of it in my work, which is increasingly reliant on digital technologies. Much of my practice-led inquiry is dedicated to exploring the ways in which technology can help me communicate more effectively through music and sound. Naturally, my personal artistic perspectives and experiences filter into my teaching, flavouring my resources and delivery with my own enthusiasms. Likewise, the knowledge that my students discover through the outcomes of their creative practice comes back to influence me: we grow together.

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Notes 1 Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are short courses that are delivered online. In September 2013, a consortium of British universities launched the United Kingdom’s MOOC platform, Futurelearn, led by the Open University (OU). 2 The proliferation and use of technology and digital applications have given rise to new ‘music literacies’ (Durant, 1990; Hugill, 2012), which suggest that knowledge of information technology and digital creative tools, if not required, are at least advantageous skills for creative musicians working in contemporary new music scenes to possess. 3 Driven by competition and the rise in popularity of home recording, professional DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) have been getting cheaper. A dramatic example of this can be seen in the pricing of Apple’s Logic Pro series over the years: Logic Pro 7 (2004) was £699; Logic Pro 8 (2007) £319; Logic Pro 9 (2009) slightly more at £399; Logic X (2013), sold exclusively via Apple’s App Store is the cheapest version at £140. 4 In 1979, Brian Eno delivered a lecture at the New Music America festival in New York titled The Studio as Compositional Tool. In the talk, Eno elaborated on how recording and mixing technologies allow for new forms of creativity, in particular the communicative use of sonic and spatial dimensions, and the role of memory in the musical experience of relistening (Eno, 2004). One can observe the realities of Eno’s ideas in action through the wide use of digital tools in music making today, along with the tacit literacies that allow music makers to intuitively appropriate the power of both musical and sonic materials. 5 A term used often by New York-based artists (Bang on a Can All-Stars) and composers (Judd Greenstein, Sarah Kirkland Snider) to describe the eclectic and inclusive nature of their output. 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . 11 . 12 Creative Commons is an organization that provides a variety of free, open-source licenses which can be applied to a number of mediums, including original music and media works intended to be shared and consumed via the internet: . 13 . 14 These artists are mentioned because they recently offered up materials for remix competitions on Indaba: .

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15 Perhaps I don’t need to provide a footnote to explain what a Facebook group is, but I do so in an effort to ‘futureproof ’ my argument, in the knowledge that social networks will come in and out of fashion and inevitably new social networking services will come along and supersede those that are used widely today. Facebook groups are user-defined places for small-group communication and for people to share their common interests. At the time of writing, these groups are important congregational spaces for enthusiasts and practitioners to converse. 16 . 17 . 18 . 19 For insights from the artist about Biophilia’s technology and instruments, see Robson’s interview with Björk for New Scientist, 2011.

References Abbey, N. (2012), ‘Developing 21st century teaching and learning: Dialogic literacy’, New Horizons for Learning [accessed 21 November 2013]. Anderson, M. (2010), ‘A music studio in the cloud [Software]’, IEEE Spectrum, 47(11), 26. Attwell, G. (2010), ‘Social software, personal learning environments and lifelong competence development’ [accessed 12 December 2013]. Barbosa, Á. (2003), ‘Displaced soundscapes: A survey of network systems for music and sonic art creation’, Leonardo Music Journal, 13, 53–9. Barrett, E. and Bolt, B. (eds) (2007), Practice as Research: Context, Method, Knowledge, London: IB Tauris. Beetham, H. and Sharpe, R. (eds) (2013), Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing for 21st Century Learning, London: Routledge. Björk (2011), Biophilia, London: One Little Indian. Blaine, T. and Fels, S. (2003), ‘Contexts of collaborative musical experiences’, Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, National University of Singapore. Bonfiglioli, C. (2013), ‘Book review: Alan Kirby, digimodernism: How new technologies dismantle the postmodern and reconfigure our culture’, Discourse & Communication, 7(2), 248–51. Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Cummins, J., Brown, K. and Sayers, D. (2007), Literacy, Technology, and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing Times, Boston: Pearson. Downes, S. (2005), ‘Feature: E-learning 2.0’ [accessed 8 February 2014]. Draper, P. (2008), ‘Music two-point-zero: Music, technology and digital independence’, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 1(2–3), 137–52. Dredge, S. (2014), ‘Tablets in schools: Coding, creativity and the importance of teachers’ [accessed 10 February 2014]. Driscoll, M. P. (2004), Psychology of Learning for Instruction, Boston: Pearson. Durant, A. (1990), ‘A new day for music? Digital technology in contemporary musicmaking’, in P. Hayward (ed.), Culture, Technology and Creativity in the Late Twentieth Century, London: Arts Council and Libbey Press, 175–96. Eno, B. (2004), ‘The studio as a compositional tool’, in C. Cox and D. Warner (eds), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, New York: Continuum, 127–30. Gomes, C., Schneider, D., Moraes, K. et al. (2012), ‘Crowdsourcing for music: Survey and taxonomy’, Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2012 IEEE International Conference, 832–9. Guilford, J. P. (1987), ‘Creativity research: Past, present and future’, in S. G. Isaksen (ed.), Frontiers of Creativity Research: Beyond the Basics, Buffalo, NY: Bearly, 33–65. Gorillaz (2011), The Fall, EMI, Parlophone. Honey, C. and Herring, S. C. (2009), ‘Beyond microblogging: Conversation and collaboration via Twitter’, System Sciences, HICSS’09, Forty-second Hawaii International Conference on IEEE, 2009. Hugill, A. (2012), The Digital Musician, New York: Routledge. Kent, C. and Stewart, J. (1992), Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit, London: Bantam. Kirby, A. (2009), Digimodernism: How New Technologies Dismantle the Postmodern and Reconfigure our Culture, London: Continuum. McCormack, J. and d’Inverno, M. (2012), Computers and Creativity, Berlin: Springer. Michielse, M. (2013), ‘Musical chameleons: Fluency and flexibility in online remix contests’, M/C Journal 16(4), 7. MusicFirst – Cloud-based tools for music educators [accessed 11 February 2014]. Music Hack Day [accessed 11 February 2014]. Patten, B., Sánchez, I. A. and Tangney, B. (2006), ‘Designing collaborative, constructionist and contextual applications for handheld devices’, Computers & Education, 46(3), 294–308. Robson, D. (2011), ‘Björk: I was always a bit of a nerd’, New Scientist, 211(2830), 36–8. Salavuo, M. (2008), ‘Social media as an opportunity for pedagogical change in music education’, Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 1(2–3), 2–3.

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Seddon, F. A. (2006), ‘Collaborative computer-mediated music composition in cyberspace’, British Journal of Music Education, 23(3), 273. Sefton-Green, J. (2013), ‘Is there such a thing as digital creativity?’ Digital Media and Learning Central [accessed 22 March 2014]. Siemens, G. (2005), ‘Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age’, International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 3–10. Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. West, Kanye (2013), ‘Bound 2’, Yeezus, Roc-A-Fella Records. Whelan, A. and Freund, K. (2013), ‘Remix: Practice, context, culture’, M/C Journal, 16(4), 1–4.

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Creative Teaching with Performing Arts Students: Developing Career Creativities through the Use of ePortfolios for Career Awareness and Resilience Jennifer Rowley, Dawn Bennett and Peter Dunbar-Hall

Introduction Multiple creativities are required for the successful development of a musician. Tertiary music study, however, often replicates the knowledge-based teaching and learning that students have experienced in their secondary education. Replication of this learning experience at the tertiary level comes at the cost of higher levels of cognition such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation: higherorder thinking skills vital to the creation of critical and reflective thinkers who are capable of developing their creative potential (Brooks and Rowley, 2013). This is particularly problematic given that skills of higher-order thinking are necessary for the development of career-ready professionals who can demonstrate that they are valuable contributors to culture and community in a vast range of industry specializations. In this chapter, we position our work with an overview of the literature pertaining to identity and higher education, and then discuss graduate employability and the characteristics and economic circumstances of creative workers. This is followed by consideration of digital identity and the potential for engaging technologies such as an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) in students’ development of career awareness and career creativities. Having foregrounded our collaborative work we then describe our approach and theoretical frame before discussing key findings and experiences. We conclude with recommendations and implications for future development of

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ePortfolio technologies as tools for enhancing student learning. Our central focus is the ePortfolio, which can be thought of as a ‘digitized collection of artifacts, including demonstrations and resources, and accomplishments’ (Lorenzo and Ittelson, 2005: 3). ePortfolio is one of many terms used for these digital collections of students’ work, which are sometimes called ifolios or webfolios. In this chapter, we have used the term ‘ePortfolio’ to cover all other names. Students’ identity formation emerges through the gathering, reflection and assessment of one’s own work, and we focus here on the potential of an ePortfolio as the site where this gathering, reflection and assessment occurs.

Identity and higher education Theories of identity discussed by Henkel (2005) agree that identities are shaped and reinforced by strong, stable communities and their inherent social processes. For university students, professional identity formation incorporates not only a body of discipline-specific knowledge, but it also includes the history, social practices, skills and discourses of that discipline (Reid et al., 2008). Moreover, professional formation occurs ‘within the communities of practice of higher education and working life’ (ibid.: 733). Students bring to these communities their ‘presage’ thinking (Biggs, 1989), which refers to the prior experience and knowledge of their discipline in addition to elements such as their personal beliefs and values, age and cultural background. The multiplicity of influences can be seen in the findings of Reid et al.’s (2011) ‘Journeymen Project’, which investigated processes shaping identities of students and novice professionals. Reid et al. (2011) theorized that students’ presage views of their future professions, and their learning experiences while preparing for those professions, influence the development of their professional identities. In line with Biggs (1989), and bringing to the fore the notion that identity is socially constructed, Reid et al. (2011) conclude that identity formation is influenced by students’ social interactions and context, and that it may be simultaneously singular, multiple, or ‘multi-membership’ (Wenger, 1998). The use of the term ‘multi-membership’ refers to the process by which students may engage in more than one social interaction to form their identity – this would include the current practice of adolescents and young adults who engage in a range of technologies (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, Google Docs).

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There is growing recognition that complexities of identity formation are central to graduate employability, which is emerging as a critical concern across higher education in multiple countries (Reid et al., 2011). This may be due to the growing number of graduates who move across boundaries of separate employers, clients and task orientations to manoeuvre traditional, online and digital environments, and to locate external sources of validation, mentorship, information and networks. The implications of this are keenly felt within higher education learning and teaching (Knight and Yorke, 2004). For students to develop, recognize and present their knowledge, skills and attributes in an effective manner, they need to have explored the labour market in relation to their own possible selves and futures. ePortfolios have emerged as a useful tool for collating and reflecting on a range of artefacts that have the potential to bring together the exploration of self (process), the presentation of multiple personae and an enhanced résumé (product) and more authentic forms of assessment alongside enhanced learning opportunities (pedagogy) (von Konsky and Oliver, 2012). For students in the creative arts disciplines, the complex nature of work and career suggests that the above factors are crucial for success; thus we see both the process and product of ePortfolios as technologies that are able to assist in the development of personal and career identity.

Graduate employability and the creative workforce The personal and professional identity uncertainty experienced by many graduates as they attempt to move into the world of work is particularly troublesome for graduates whose courses are not associated with traditional and/or accredited vocational career paths (Buckham, 1998; Nyström, 2009). These include graduates from music and writing programmes such as those that have formed the basis of our research. These graduates face distinctive challenges to their employability and career building, including structural labour market barriers and intense competition for entry-level jobs; highly individual self-initiated and self-managed portfolio career patterns; and nontraditional informal, networked ways of obtaining or creating work through reputation building. Wenger (1998) has long asserted that that students’ transition to work is influenced by the ways in which the sense of profession is communicated through their educational programmes. Despite this, the 2009 Australian

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Universities Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) found that more than half of 35,000 undergraduate respondents had never talked about their career plans with teaching staff (ACER, 2010; Radloff and Coates). Wood and Reid (2005) have identified distinct issues of concern in the transition from student to professional. These include insufficient connection between university learning and employment tasks; inadequate training about relevant job markets and employment opportunities; and students’ under preparedness to seek employment, deal with colleagues and managers, and communicate on different levels. Given that ‘students find relevance for learning through obvious applicability of their knowledge’ (Reid et al., 2008: 739), it is unsurprising that graduates interviewed as part of Wood and Reid’s study (2005) suggested that transition to the workforce might be eased through clearer connections and links between subjects and areas of knowledge; a curriculum that incorporates group tasks and interaction; and the inclusion of real-world situations as part of learning and training. Identity emerges through the gathering, reflection and assessment of one’s work and self or selves (Rowley and Bennett, 2013), and this links with the competencies portrayed in an ePortfolio (Janssen et al., 2012). McAlpine (2005: 382) proposes that the narrative aspect of an ePortfolio as a ‘story’ of self allows for a self-constructed identity to be told, ‘weaving an individual’s learning and feedback to provide a reflection of who they are and what they have learned’ (ibid.: 384). Graves and Epstein (2011) agree that the narrative of an ePortfolio holds potential for students to identify their strengths, enhance their professional development and, thereby, formulate professional identity. As identities become increasingly represented, negotiated and reflected using digital tools, they become the artefact of what Roberts (2006) refers to as ‘personal identity technologies’. Agreeing that the reflective stance of ePortfolio as part of the documentation of an intellectual journey also aids in the development of professional identity (Zecker, 2012), Maxwell et al. (2007) extend the concept of developing professional identity to incorporate career transitioning. Specifically, they argue that ePortfolio technologies might help to resolve a central identity problem through the process of storying ‘what we have been’ with ‘what we want to become’ (ibid.: 18). This is particularly important for creative workers, who may experience multiple entry attempts alongside a variety of work both within and outside their creative discipline (Ball, 2003). The creative application and development of an ePortfolio, therefore, as a pedagogic innovation in creative learning and teaching in higher education, lies in strategies acquired by students

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to select authentic evidence to document achievements and skills as graduates who are aware of career creativities. The process of developing an ePortfolio involves students in problem-solving, decision-making, reflection, organization and critical thinking. This not only engages students in technology, but also provides an understanding of career creativities as they engage through the ePortfolio creation in a learning ‘story’ that accurately represents skills learnt and competencies developed during tertiary study. This chapter, therefore, documents the pedagogic and technological undertaking of ePortfolio development for creative and performing arts students. It explores how students perceive themselves and their choice of evidence to showcase their development, thus highlighting aspects of creative identity versus professional career identity. As such it reveals how these different identities are engaged during the processes of ePortfolio construction and, subsequently, when an ePortfolio is utilized to represent a student’s career creativities.

Engaging technologies to enhance students’ creative learning This chapter reports on a study into how higher education educators devised creative teaching and learning strategies to develop students’ career creativities. The study involved the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Western Sydney, Queensland Conservatorium and Curtin University. With a focus on developing an electronic portfolio (eP), the study involved students in classical and contemporary music, music education, music technology, creative writing and professional writing (Blom et al., 2013). The combination of music and writing provided points of comparison to identify issues specific to music, and those that might apply more generally. Here we describe both the teaching processes and the student learning capabilities, which are evidenced by examples of student learning. In particular, we report findings from each of the following research themes: 1. How students engaged with technologies to develop the persona/e they portrayed in their portfolios; 2. How students imaged themselves through engagement in the technologies; 3. Whether and how students developed career creativities through the engagement of ePortfolio technologies; and 4. How students referenced themselves as future professionals and creative workers when engaging with the technologies.

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The sample reported here comprised undergraduate students in music (n=186) and writing (n=34) at two of the universities. The study adopted a qualitative approach and was informed by the theoretical framework of possible selves (Marcus and Nurius, 1986) in which people are understood to be influenced by their awareness of ‘possible future selves’ that are perceived as desirable and/or achievable. The research literature informed the development of the survey and interview instruments, which were trialled and refined before being adopted for use across the four research sites. Two formative instruments were central to the initial research design; Marcia’s Identity Status Interview (1966) and the Possible Selves Questionnaire constructed by Markus and Nurius for their work on possible selves (1986). Students were invited to participate as part of their enrolled courses. Data collection at each location involved regular reflections, surveys and focus group discussions. Each instrument drew from the set of common themes and questions illustrated in Table 13.1, prioritizing in each case the questions most pertinent to research phase and cohort.

Table 13.1 Topic questions with a focus on identity development and career creativities How students selected the persona/e they portrayed in their portfolios What do you think an ePortfolio should contain, and why? How has the ePortfolio contributed to your thinking about your professional identity? What might be the relationship between an ePortfolio and your own creative expression? How students imaged themselves How would you describe your professional identity? To what extent and in what ways did you utilize your ePortfolio as a form of representation? Whether and how students had begun to think about their work and life futures How relevant is an ePortfolio to your future career? What role did the supporting workshops and activities have on your interaction with the ePortfolio? How students referenced themselves as future professionals and creative workers How would you describe your professional identity? How has your university course and ePortfolio contributed to your understanding of yourself as a future professional?

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Given the impact of ePortfolios on higher education teaching and learning, this project aimed to enhance the development of strategies for tertiary creative and performing artists to document the skills acquired, and outcomes achieved, as fledgling creative workers (Rowley and Bennett, 2013). Shown in Table 13.2, our project included a range of types, formats, uses and expectations of ePortfolio technologies. At the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, only the Music Education students had begun using ePortfolio before the project described in this chapter. This was the result of an internal grant targeted at introducing ePortfolio into the four-year, undergraduate professional Music Education degree programme from 2009–11. The ePortfolios acted as capstone objects, were intended for use in job applications, and were designed to address professional teacher accreditation (Rowley and Dunbar-Hall, 2010, 2012). Their implementation had previously been analysed for their advantages to student learning and self-reflection, their implications for curriculum design, and their relationships to assessment and graduate teacher accreditation. Curtin University implemented the ePortfolio into a third-year capstone unit during a six-week professional placement. Learning about the contractual nature of work as a writer, the students observed that their ePortfolios were less likely to go to an employer than to a potential client. Students amassed material that demonstrated multiple skills and they structured their evidence so that particular skills could be exposed. Curtin students retain access to their ePortfolios after graduation and planned to utilize ePortfolio as a ‘personal archive’ to assemble materials over time as they progress in their careers. Initially, the writing students at Curtin University completed a questionnaire while the music students from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music attended focus group interviews. Recognizing that the anonymity of a questionnaire ‘encourages greater honesty’ (Cohen et al., 2001: 128), each survey for the writing students included closed questions, open questions and repeated items for the purpose of triangulation. Each survey was divided into two sections. Section one comprised questions relating to ePortfolio use in seeking work. The second section addressed the development of an ePortfolio and asked about professional identity. Students from both cohorts were also asked to reflect on the process of ePortfolio development using guided reflections and music students (n=58) attended a focus group interview. Textual data was transcribed, coded and analysed for emergent themes.

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Table 13.2 Data collection items, student cohort, technologies and chronology Sydney Conservatorium of Music

University of Western Sydney

Technologies Institutional eP platform and an online blog 2011

Free, web-based platforms

Commercial eP software and Vox pops Music education

Commercial eP software

2012

Undergraduate (UG) music

2013

Curtin University

Second-year theatre and third-year writing Survey Self-reflections on life and career Professional placement linked to eP Third-year writing Focus group interviews Online blog during professional placement and eP development Archived student ePortfolios

Survey Focus group interview UG music Focus group interview

UG musicology and composition Survey Focus group interviews UG musicology and composition Focus group interviews Vox Pops

Third-year music Survey relating to professional practice Second-year music performance Survey Archived student ePortfolios Second-year music performance Archived student ePortfolios

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Queensland Conservatorium of Music

Year

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Findings and discussion ePortfolio technologies emerged as an effective way for music and writing students to document and reflect on their creative and professional development over time. Moreover, the selection and presentation of their evidence or ‘artefacts’ prompted students to think creatively about their professional personae and their desired future careers. In this section we discuss each of the four research themes described in Table 13.1, describing both teaching processes and student learning capabilities. In each case we provide examples of student learning alongside our own thinking and learning. The introduction of ePortfolios through a variety of processes and assessment tasks required each educator to design different and creative approaches to enable and encourage students’ learning. The innovatively designed pedagogy has developed career creativities in students by requiring engagement in future-oriented learning that is rarely positioned as central to their studies. The following student comment confirms the impact of ePortfolios on learning. [I]n terms of submitting a CV, I was able to put in video files of performances, or mp3 files of compositions, whereas on a normal file on a computer that would be considerably more difficult [Gloria, interview 2012].

How students selected the persona/e they portrayed in their portfolios When asked, ‘what should go into an ePortfolio and why?’ students responded that they should put themselves forward first as a creative worker – for example, a musician or a composer – and should include examples of their work such as a composition, a performance, a short story or a teaching experience. This was so that their holistic expertise could be shown – not just as a creative worker but also as a communicator: The scope to include perhaps videos or recordings of yourself if you’re a musician or for any profession really, I can see that being useful . . . the scope to include things like personal hobbies and things like that, things which I hadn’t even thought were necessary to be honest . . . it’s a good opportunity to include some more personal information about yourself and for perhaps employers to get a better idea of the sort of person you are outside a work environment [Chad, interview 2012].

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We assert that ePortfolios should not just be a showcase of who students are; they should also showcase abilities and skills developed over the course of their studies and prior to that time. Students who include artefacts that show a past, present and future demonstrate reflective thinking. They have engaged in the ePortfolio process by developing a personal learning space which houses a personal archive to which they can refer over time: I would have hopefully recordings and videos of performances I’ve done. . . . Both as a soloist and as ensemble things, anything I’ve been involved in to show a variety of things that I’ve done . . . being able to do a lot of things means you’re much more musical, so I would have videos, recordings, possibly even . . . for instance, I was in musicals, so reviews [Eric, interview 2012].

The ePortfolio reflects an individual’s skill and personality, and as an electronic resource it allows students to be seen in both a technology environment and a creative environment: The advantage of something more electronic like the ePortfolio is if . . . you’re applying for one job which is quite different and there’s a lot of information in your CV that is redundant, you can choose to . . . minimize that or . . . you can select a tick box to not include that when you send it through, or something like that, but not necessarily delete it from the file. For instance a couple of weeks ago I applied for a job as an arts administrator so obviously all my experience in that area goes right at the top, that’s the sort stuff you want really in bold. But a couple of months ago I applied for a teaching position, music teaching position, so obviously you need to include that and a lot of the arts administration stuff isn’t relevant so I . . . got rid of it [Chad, interview 2012].

The role of higher education in preparing students for an unknown future is continually debated, particularly in light of the rapid development of new technologies and their effect on the world of work (Reid et al., 2008). As can be seen in the following two quotes, the development of professional identity should not be seen as an isolated phenomenon that takes place at either university or in the workplace, but rather as a ‘dynamic relationship between different life spheres’ (Reid et al., 2011). Info about one’s self, samples of your work, contact details etc., pictures so people know what you look like, info about what you do . . . you can upload all your final files and keep track of all your comps so you don’t forget stuff [Clare, interview, 2012]. [O]bviously the big thing would be recordings of myself, video and just audio recordings of my own playing. I guess photographs would be good and maybe

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like a small bio just to say where I’ve studied, who I’ve studied with, what kind of music I’m interested in and obviously that would come out in the videos as well [Harriet, interview 2012].

ePortfolio technologies encourage the selection of evidence that highlights aspects of artistic identity and professional career identity. As teachers of the ePortfolio process we should never see two ePortfolios that look the same. This requires an understanding of what aspect of one’s skills and experience are to be highlighted. This in turn requires a keen understanding, by the student, of who the potential employer or client might be and what he/she might be seeking.

How students imaged themselves When asked to what extent and in what ways they used their ePortfolio as a form of representation, the most frequent student response was that ePortfolios are useful in having clear guidelines for CV design, construction and dissemination: So if you decide that you want something from the performance aspect to be shown to people when you’re presenting yourself as a music education person, you can easily just change the settings for that particular video or recording or whatever it is [Dean, interview 2012]. To show that you have got interests that extend beyond just the university stuff you’ve been studying or just the work you’ve been doing, you’ve got another dimension and perhaps if an employer was looking for someone . . . maybe like for design in magazines and stuff like that, that could be an advantage [Rita, interview 2012].

Evidence used in their ePortfolios required students to consider how they wished to be presented to a prospective employer or client. This moved their thinking and encouraged images such as band members in casual poses among interesting surroundings; a conductor with a baton in his or her hand; and presentation of oneself as an entrepreneur or concert organizer, and as a teacher. [B]ecause music is about teaching . . . I would focus on teaching students. What’s my mission, what’s my goal, and what do I want to achieve? So for example, for a student you have to look after their needs [Winsome, interview 2012]. . . . demonstrations that you can work technology . . . so [the employer] can see that you’re capable of things [Mika, interview 2012].

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How students began to think about their work and life futures Students revealed they were thinking about how they might use the artefacts in the ePortfolio in the future, and how it reflected their emerging professional selves: There might have been questions like . . . what’s your ideal job, that sort of thing, where do you see yourself in five or ten years something like that . . . you also might be asked in a typical interview so it’s good to sort of cut out the middle man aspect of it [Mika, interview 2012].

When asked what their primary career goal was, the majority of students said they intended to work as writers, performers or music teachers. When asked about taking their practice into the community, students noted that the process of developing their ePortfolio helped them to clarify goals and gain information or insight into the requirements of work and career: If we all eventually . . . step out for full-time work or go into other fields and maybe go into copyrighting or editing ourselves as like a business, you need to be able to have that portfolio to fall back on to basically prove that you can charge people for your service, otherwise why are they going to use you? [Taylor, interview 2012].

Some students felt that taking their creative practice into the wider community made no contribution to their thinking on life after graduation; however, most found it useful in relation to employment goals and opportunities: [W]hen you’re applying and there’s 500 people, things like that can really make the difference between getting shortlisted, so when they can actually see you’ve worked here and here’s some actual published media releases, they can actually log on, have a look at it and say, that’s really decent, that’s very professional, okay let’s shortlist her, because it’s hard to sort of convey that in a résumé and application because everyone’s talking themselves up [Tia, interview 2012].

How students referenced themselves as future professionals and creative workers The ePortfolio process raises students’ career awareness. This in turn prompts them to position their theory and practice as part of a process of ‘learning to be’ a professional. Students are encouraged to engage in the learning on a personal level, moving through the cycle of learning to act, reflect and improve.

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As such, the ePortfolio should be seen as a learning tool that allows students to synthesize and interpret their learning in a holistic way. The process of creating their portfolios challenged students to adopt future-oriented thinking in order to develop and explore the career creativities of awareness, identity salience and resilience. This required them to think more, or differently, about self, career and identity.

Reconstructing identities in higher education As a result of this project, students have increased their ability to plan, implement and assess their learning reflectively, and to understand documentation relevant to creative careers. While many students had frustrations with ePortfolio platforms, they gained an understanding of the potential of ePortfolio in relation to presenting themselves after graduation. They also learned the benefits of reviewing material placed into an ePortfolio, reflecting on how they would appear to a potential employer both visually and in written documents. A study by Ward and Moser (2008) revealed a lack of awareness about ePortfolios, with only 16 per cent of employers reporting they had used it in the recruitment process. Seventy-five per cent, however, said they would use it if they could do so easily. Why, therefore, are employers not using ePortfolios? Employers are reported to look at potential employees’ profiles through social media such as Facebook as it is easily accessible and they can see it without the candidate presenting it to them (Ward and Moser, 2008). While this can be a positive or negative image, the ePortfolio can be designed specifically as a positive representation of the candidate. The creative application and development of ePortfolio as a pedagogic innovation in higher education learning and teaching is in the strategies acquired by students to select authentic evidence that documents their achievements and skills. The process of creating an ePortfolio involves students exploring their known ICT skills and, at times, extending these beyond their expectations; it relies to a degree on the fact that, as Burnard (2012: 249) writes: ‘technology is deeply embedded in the contemporary lexicon of young people’s musical lives . . . (and) many young people are already highend, or consumption-based, users and consumers of music technology, mass media and production technologies. They are often motivated by out-of-school experiences of digital musical cultures.’ The development process also relies on students’ ability to collect, reflect and select material that is appropriate

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by exercising management of their knowledge in a way that contributes to linking pedagogy and technology. The pedagogic undertaking shows how artists perceive themselves and their choice of evidence selected to showcase development that highlights aspects of artistic identity versus career identity. This process involves reflection, organization and critical thinking by students in how to develop a portfolio that accurately represents the skills learnt and competencies developed during, but not limited to, tertiary study.

Pedagogical implications for staff: Activating career creativities The development of an ePortfolio encouraged teachers to design and redesign tasks, and improve the practice of good teaching. Students’ ePortfolios demonstrated how they have interpreted the tool individually, and how they were motivated to continue collecting and reflecting because of the personal learning space it provided them. Moving away from traditional teaching and learning to a more project-based approach allows students to have choices and input. This student-engaged, inquiry-based approach to teaching allows for students to negotiate individual interest areas and encourages a more flexible approach to teaching and learning. Above all other considerations, ePortfolio work encourages learning that utilizes a raft of student-centred situations, which Burnard (2012: 243) lists as desirable for successful pedagogy. These include ‘exploring, producing, designing, implementing, taking decisions, solving problems, making choices alone or doing things together’.

Conclusion Universities address employability skills through a system of graduate attributes which reflect broad aspirational, social, ethical or humanitarian characteristics. However, community and employment stakeholders are demanding more from graduates than they have in the past, with the result that graduates need a skillset far broader than the knowledge of their discipline (Oliver et al., 2007). The pathway into graduate employment is not always straightforward, and the university’s task is to help students articulate their capabilities as a first step to employability (Holmes, 2001, 2006).

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This chapter reported the experiences of academics and students at two higher education institutions in Australia where ePortfolios have been implemented into creative and performing arts degree programmes. The results suggest that ePortfolios can enable students to demonstrate creative capabilities such as performance, composition, and ensemble direction. The results also illustrate that students have increased their ability to plan, implement and assess their learning reflectively, and have gained a further understanding of the documentation relevant to creative careers and creative thinking. As a result, students have developed greater belief in their discipline-specific skills, generic attributes and technological expertise. They have also developed the ability to address the requirements of employer groups and professional bodies, and to identity where further development is needed. Career creativities and creative skills are recognized as key attributes for students and graduates. Our study found that the development of ePortfolios assisted higher education students and staff to learn about, share and discuss the processes and techniques of teaching and learning creatively, with a view to building capacity for a future career. Moreover, we saw students begin to construct their academic learning in order to develop career creativities by activating a process of identity formation. Did the study provide significant insights into our understanding of the intersection between creative teaching and learning? Student reflections provide evidence that we developed greater understanding, in them and in ourselves, of the importance of explicitly addressing multiple career creativities. Moreover, we recognize that an ePortfolio means something different to each person, and that a portfolio is socially constructed: ‘its content and the behaviours associated with it are likely to be shaped by what makes sense in the moment’ (Oyserman and Destin, 2010: 1005). The study drew attention to the need for students to develop salient identities as a core component of their learning, and it raised the possibility of employing a future-oriented approach to achieve this. An important legacy of the students’ engagement in ePortfolio technologies is that they opened a dialogue with educators and peers to critique the technological tools and their benefits to creative learning and teaching. This allowed us to incrementally improve our practices by breaking conventions, not following set structures, and engaging in collaborating and participation. The study highlighted the efficacy of engaging ePortfolio technologies to encourage students’ exploration of career preview thinking and career

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creativities. Through this we promoted the development of identity salience: ‘the probability that an identity will be invoked across a variety of situations, or alternatively across persons in a given situation’ (Stryker and Burke, 2000: 286). The idea of finding work is secondary to investigating self and being able to reflect back on development over the years of the degree programme. The hidden curriculum in this case prompts students to challenge their (sometimes diffuse) identities and support them through this process of talking about their hopes, aspirations, fears, skills and competencies as emerging professionals. It is an outcome of the project that the investigation of career creativities promoted understanding of the relevance of identity, understanding of self and the ability to write into or ‘story’ that self. These aspects were key observations among the students. Reid et al. (2008: 729) remind us that ‘in a world where the role of universities is continually debated, and where the world of work through the rapid development of new technology is also changing, the question is raised of how education prepares students for unknown future demands’. The development of career creativities, including career resilience, career awareness, career preview and identity salience, should not be seen as an isolated phenomenon that takes place at either university or in the workplace; rather it is a ‘dynamic relationship between different life spheres’ (Reid et al., 2011). We contend that these connections need to be made explicitly, embedded across programmes, and supported throughout the degree programme. Only this way will students develop what one music student called the ‘spell-checked version’ of self.

References ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) (2010), Doing More for Learning: Enhancing Engagement and Outcomes: Australasian Survey of Student Engagement. Australian Student Engagement Report. Melbourne: ACER, [accessed 10 December 2013]. Ball, L. (2003), Future Directions in Employability Research in the Creative Industries, Report for the Learning and Teaching Support Network, Brighton: LTSN. Biggs, J. B. (1989), ‘Approaches to the enhancement of tertiary teaching’, Higher Education Research and Development, 8(1), 7–25. Blom, D., Rowley, J., Bennett, D., Hitchcock, M. and Dunbar-Hall, P. (2013), ‘Two-way impact: Institutional e-learning policy/educator practices in creative arts through

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ePortfolio creation’, in M. Ciussi and M. Augier (eds), Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on e-Learning, SKEMA Business School Sophia Antipolis, France, 30–31 October 2013. Reading, UK: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, 33–40. Brooks, W. and Rowley, J. (2013), ‘Music students’ perspectives on learning with technology’, XIX National Conference of the Australian Society for Music Education, Canberra, September 2013, 38–41. Buckham, L. (1998), ‘“Perhaps we’re thinking there isn’t a career out there for us”: A study of undergraduates’ attitudes to their future prospects’, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 26(3), 417–33. Burnard, P. (2012), Musical Creativities in Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2001), Research Methods in Education, 5th edn, London: Routledge Falmer. Graves, N. and Epstein, M. (2011), ‘Eportfolio: A tool for constructing a narrative professional identity’, Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), 342–6. Henkel, M. (2005), ‘Academic identity and autonomy in a changing policy environment’, Higher Education, 49(1–2), 155–76. Holmes, L. (2001), ‘Reconsidering graduate employability: The “graduate identity” approach’, Quality in Higher Education, 7(2), 111–19. —. (2006, May), ‘Reconsidering graduate employability: Beyond possessiveinstrumentalism’, in 7th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe, University of Tilburg. Janssen, J., Berlanga, A. and Sloep, P. (2012), ‘Implications of identity negotiation research for the design of the TRAILER e-Portfolio,’ [accessed 18 October 2013]. Knight, P. and Yorke, M. (2004), Learning, Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education, London: Routledge Falmer. Lorenzo, G. and Ittelson, J. (2005), An Overview of ePortfolios, Washington: Educause. McAlpine, M. (2005), ‘E-portfolios and digital identity: Some issues for discussion’, E-Learning and Digital Media, 2(4), 378–87. Marcia, J. (1966), ‘Development and validation of ego-identity status’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1(1), 551–8. Markus, H. and Nurius, P. (1986), ‘Possible selves’, American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–69. Maxwell, K., Angehrn, A. and Sereno, B. (2007), ‘Increasing user value through professional identity profiles, profile-based connection agents and games’, in Proceedings of the 5th International ePortfolio Conference, 16–19 October 2007, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Champlost, France: European Institute for E-Learning, 355–65 [accessed 27 April 2014].

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Nyström, S. (2009), ‘The dynamics of professional identity formation: Graduates’ transitions from higher education to working life’, Vocations and Learning, 2(1), 1–18. Oliver, M. B., Jones, M. S., Ferns, M. S. and Tucker, M. B. (2007), ‘Mapping curricula: Ensuring work-ready graduates by mapping course learning outcomes and higher order thinking skills’, in A Conference for University Teachers, 103–9, [accessed 20 September 2013]. Oyserman, D. and Destin, M. (2010), ‘Identity-based motivation: Implications for intervention’, The Counseling Psychologist, 38(7), 1001–43. Radloff, A. and Coates, H. (2010), ‘Doing more for learning: Enhancing engagement and outcomes: Australasian Survey of Student Engagement: Australasian Student Engagement Report’, Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Reid, A., Dahlgren, L. O., Petocz, P. and Dahlgren, M. A. (2008), ‘Identity and engagement for professional formation’, Studies in Higher Education, 33(6), 729–42. Reid, A., Dahlgren, M. A. and Dahlgren, L. O. (2011), ‘Professional identity: How is professional identity developed?’ in From Expert Student to Novice Professional, Netherlands: Springer, 85–101. Roberts, G. (2006), ‘MyWORLD e-Portfolios: Activity and identity’, Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching, 1(4), [accessed 10 July 2013]. Rowley, J. and Bennett, D. (2013),‘Technology, identity and the creative artist’, Proceedings of the 30th annual ASCILITE – The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education – Conference, Sydney, 1–5December, 775–80. Rowley, J. and Dunbar-Hall, P. (2010), ‘Integrating ePortfolios for music teachers: A creative and pedagogic undertaking’, Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2010, 213–15. —. (2012), ‘Curriculum mapping and ePortfolios: Embedding new technology in music teacher preparation’, Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, 22–31. Stryker, S. and Burke, P. J. (2000), ‘The past, present, and future of an identity theory’, Social Psychology Quarterly, 63(4), 284–97. von Konsky, B. and Oliver, B. (2012), ‘The iPortfolio: Measuring uptake and effective use of an institutional electronic portfolio in higher education’, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 28(1), 67–90. Ward C. and Moser C. (2008), ‘E-portfolios as a hiring tool: Do employers really care?’ Educause Quarterly, 31(4), 13–14. Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity, New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Wood, L. N. and Reid, A. (2005), ‘Graduates’ initial experiences of work’, AARE, Sydney, [accessed 2 November 2013]. Zecker, L. B. (2012), ‘Integrative knowledge ePortfolio: Building teachers’ professional Identity’, in S. Ravet (ed.), Proceedings of ePic Conference, London, 9–11 July, 26–27, [accessed 12 July 2013].

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Conclusion: Musical Creativities and Entrepreneurship in Higher Music Education: Activating New Possibilities Elizabeth Haddon and Pamela Burnard

The pluralistic musical creativities detailed in this volume build on previous literature (Bennett, 2007; Bennett and Hannan, 2008; Gaunt and Papageorgi, 2010) evidencing the need to consider the development of a skillset enabling music students to engage creatively in portfolio careers (Mallon, 1998). While the expectations of music students have been recognized as potentially unrealistic in terms of the availability of performance opportunities in the real world (Gembris, 2004; Winterson and Russ, 2009; Bartleet et al., 2012), music students are now being encouraged to prepare for subsequent work in a range of musical environments, requiring ‘career management and adaptability, familiarity and facility with an ever-increasingly wide range of musical languages, ability to compose, arrange, teach and lead’ (Gaunt, 2005: 322). In this conceptualization, the focus on entrepreneurship (Bennett, 2008; Palmer, 2013) reflects the concerns of educators to create an awareness of changing norms in professional practice and equip students with skills to facilitate working within these variables once they have left higher education. The creativities from which music originates are evident in the interplay of myriad social and technological practices developed in the global sectors of the creative and cultural industries. The increased connectivity of professional musicians, producers and consumers has deconstructed the music industry and the music licensing sector, with new business models and career trajectories being managed successfully by innovative entrepreneurial musicians. There is now overwhelming evidence of the changing conceptions and diversity of creativities being navigated in the professional lives of musicians that become powerful modalities of action in communities. For new graduates, who at this time are already working as professional musicians (whether

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their ambitions are to be a video game sound designer, a singer–songwriter, an acousmatic composer, a DJ, a livecoder, or to combine multiple modes of professional engagement), developing comprehensive practices of diverse creativities is an imperative. In the field of new music production, the peculiar, ever-expanding web world is the medium through which musical culture increasingly organizes itself. These new musical networks challenge the individualist conception of creativity and demand a much broader collective and plural definition. One of the key concerns is how we come to train professional musicians and how to teach the creativities that are valued in preparing musicians to enter diverse careers in music. The idea that mass consumerism engages us in passively listening to and appreciating music is something sold to us by record companies. The idea of exceptionally charismatic performers is sold to us by distributors who sell concert tickets. Yet audiences are active and crucial components in decisions about what sort of space the music will be performed in, and what sort of people might be expected to form an audience. Through the examples offered in this volume we propose that individuals who have experienced practical and emotional investment in and exploration of multiple creativities will be excited by engagement in active, dynamic and creative modes of music making and will therefore be more likely to succeed in meaningful employment within a globally connected context of practitioners. We have plenty of evidence for challenging the singular and individualist discourses which define musical creativity in terms of the Western canonization of musical creativity, with its limited definition of high-art orthodoxies. A broader reconceptualizing of musical creativities is now championed through a multiplicity of contemporary practices. For example, for people involved in the dance club scene, the forms of collective association which are built around musical tastes and stylistic preference, exhibited at counter or subcultural music scenes, offer clear examples of the very acts of consumer autonomy and creativities that open up and reconfigure the potential multiplicity of creativities in music. The distinctive types of creativities discussed and illustrated in this volume appear straightforwardly observable; each extends the relevance and impact of specialized skills as sites of practice in higher education. These efforts are conducted as part of university initiatives that recognize certain qualities of entrepreneurialism as being entwined with and inspiring new practices and propositions. The challenge to all those who teach in the higher music education sector is to develop entrepreneurialism as a leading-edge contemporary music

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practice and optimal engagement. Following a discussion of entrepreneurialism which moves to consider entrepreneurial work within higher music education, this chapter draws out some constructs of entrepreneurialism before concluding by discussing leadership creativities as a catalyst for institutional change.

Entrepreneurialism An entrepreneur has been defined as ‘a person who organizes and manages, any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk’ (Dictionary.com, n.d.). An entrepreneur working in music is ‘someone who uses creativity, innovation and bold leadership to channel his or her passion for music into a new business that challenges the status quo and has value in the public marketplace’ (Radbill, 2013: 8). These definitions encompass first a directive, managerial focus with an emphasis on risk, and, secondly, a perspective encompassing creativities, passion and a greater sense of value assertion. Attributes for business entrepreneurs include commitment and determination; leadership; opportunity obsession; tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty; creativity, self-reliance, ability to adapt; and motivation to excel (Timmons, 1994: 249–56). However, as Byers et al. have noted, these also apply to solo individual pursuits, and, therefore, their conceptualization of the entrepreneur has a more social orientation, highlighting the need for ‘knowledge about leading a group, being a constructive team member, dynamics of healthy vs. destructive groups, and designing – or repairing – groups so that they function well’ (Byers et al., 1999: 1.5). These attributes clearly map onto activities such as collaborative performance, group composition, community music work and other kinds of interactive and creative musical learning experiences. Key attributes for the music entrepreneur include ‘great ideas, bold thinking, an appetite for upending the status quo, an inspiration-centred approach to innovation, economic value, a growth mindset, and the ability to learn from failure’ (Radbill, 2013: 12). Radbill also notes that these are applicable to both the individual who aspires to be self-employed and those who are employed: ‘creativity, innovation, opportunity and a “why not . . .?” attitude are the hallmarks of entrepreneurship’ (ibid.: xiii). While some individuals have ascribed their success in portfolio careers to luck (see, for example, Creech et al., 2008), the ability to capitalize on the situation nevertheless requires entrepreneurial

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abilities (Rutter, 2011: 2), which includes awareness of the structure of the music industry, the role of key groups and individuals within that domain, and the likelihood of opportunities presenting themselves (ibid.). Therefore, one imperative of higher education should be to develop entrepreneurial thinking in music students. This is explored in the following sections, which examine some recent studies in curriculum development alongside examples from material presented earlier in this volume.

Entrepreneurialism in higher music education Higher education music departments are increasingly acknowledging the need to move away from limitations of ‘budget and time constraints along with attitudes rooted in nineteenth century realities about classical music’ (Wheeler, 2008), which have previously restricted forward thinking in terms of career preparation for students. Much of the pioneering work in this area follows calls for an institutional consideration of the need ‘to develop a curriculum that encompasses the requirements of the music industry’ (Bennett, 2007: 180) and this agenda is operationalized through programmes designed to expand students’ conceptualization of both professional and self-awareness. However, significant obstacles have impeded the pace at which this agenda can develop: as with creativity, conceptualizations of entrepreneurship as an innate skill may mitigate against it gaining a place within the curriculum; educators’ outmoded perceptions of entrepreneurship and ‘lack of engagement and vision’ may hinder institutional consideration (Beckman, 2011: 25), and, furthermore, curriculum development and change can be slow and difficult to effect (Carey and Lebler, 2012). Concerns over graduate employability appear to have coincided with the exploration of ‘real-life’ learning practices and their application within institutions (Green, 2002; Lebler, 2007, 2008); this has highlighted the need for higher education music courses to have vocational relevance (Jørgensen, 2009). While the QAA distinguished between enterprise education and entrepreneurship education, this division is not directly apparent in the articulation of courses and training in the music research literature. QAA stated that: Enterprise education is defined as the process of equipping students (or graduates) with an enhanced capacity to generate ideas and the skills to make them happen. Entrepreneurship education equips students with the additional knowledge, attributes and capabilities required to apply these abilities in the

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context of setting up a new venture or business. All of this is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial effectiveness, that is, the ability to function effectively as an entrepreneur or in an entrepreneurial capacity, for example within small businesses or as part of portfolio careers, where multiple job opportunities, part time work and personal ventures combine. (QAA, 2012: 2)

In higher music education the concept of entrepreneurship can include knowledge of small business operationalization, legal and social responsibilities, marketing and promotion (Smith, 2007), but the main focus has been on transferable skills: independent and collaborative learning and reflective practices (Lebler, 2007; Wistreich, 2008) and skills which may enable more stable employment such as pedagogy (Miller and Baker, 2007; Smith, 2007). In America, where entrepreneurship has become more widely included in music degree courses, training may include ‘overviews of the music industry, case studies of music ventures, social entrepreneurial projects (projects to benefit communities), feasibility studies, business plan creation, group projects’ and ‘traditional career development coursework such as: creating promotion and marketing materials, interviews with alumni/music entrepreneurs, case studies in audience development, fundraising, grant writing; and developing and delivering project presentations’ (Beeching, 2012: 41). Although institutions are moving away from providing supplementary careers sessions which conservatoire students may perceive as optional extras depriving them of practice time (Gembris and Langner, 2006) and instead are building entrepreneurship into course design, data on implementation and evaluation of innovative programmes remains sparse. Lebler (2007) and Wistreich (2008) both focused on embedding realworld practices into the curriculum through creating environments in which students experienced learning popular music within a ‘master-less studio’ (Lebler, 2007: 211), utilizing self-directed and self-monitored learning within a community of practice in which peer feedback is used to contribute to the development of evaluative skills. While Lebler’s course deploys teachers as co-creators and co-assessors of student learning rather than as ‘instructor[s] and final arbiter[s] of the learning process’ (ibid.: 213), in Wistreich’s module, teachers were redundant – the emphasis on collective performance placed the initiative for development at student level while providing staff-led support in the form of workshops developing ensemble skills and performance sessions. Again, reflective writing was used to assess student development as well as the final performance ‘product’: a group performance. These initiatives are also present in the work of Dylan Smith at the London Institute for Contemporary Music.

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In addition to using similar approaches within a ‘pedagogy of employability’ (Gregory, cited in Dylan Smith, 2013: 193), students explore projects involving external collaboration and the management of live performance. Collaboration with external peers and professionals from interdisciplinary domains is also highlighted in the RCM module on Film Music Collaborations (RCM, 1999), and the RCM course on Music Business Studies also requires the preparation of self-promotional material. Wiggins (1999) details the extent to which his modules at Dartington College of Arts (United Kingdom) prepared students for employability through producing work responding to consideration of issues of context and consumer, placing the student as both musical and social agent and requiring reflective assessment of the musical processes and output and the formative research, planning and project management. Consideration of some of the available material relating to these and other projects delineating specific implementation of entrepreneurial concepts within higher music education reveals that the main foci to date have been as follows: 1. Creating student awareness of the realities and practicalities of the music business (Wistreich, 2008), including specifics such as working with contracts, agreeing and working with a brief and project objectives, organizing and managing resources and budgets, working to deadline, strategic decision-making, employment of appropriate project management skills, documentation, evaluation and communication of working processes and products (RCM, 1999; Wiggins, 1999). 2. Creating student awareness of navigating the expanding boundaries and permeable real-world practices (such as opportunities to formulate broad spectrum practices of diverse creativities, for entrepreneurship across multidisciplinary and cultural domains, collaborative learning, improvisation, to act with purpose and potency in leadership roles, extending the relevance and impact of entrepreneurial action, both with internal and external peers) (Lebler, 2007; Wistreich, 2008; Burnard, 2012; Dylan Smith, 2013). 3. Creating an understanding of how to operate in a ‘transcultural society’ (Gregory, 2005) in which professional learning communities promote originating ideas and navigate ‘the crossing or elimination of genre demarcations’ (Wistreich, 2008). 4. Creating understanding that risk-taking increases learning and leads to the development and sustaining of existing and new skills as part of, not separate from, the enhancement of diverse creativities in our daily work (Wistreich, 2008).

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5. Developing adaptability, for example, the ability to acknowledge and handle mistakes and deal with unforeseen circumstances (Wiggins, 1999) and to experience adaption as the development of ‘safe failure’ and ‘appropriate coping mechanisms’ (Lebler, 2007: 218). 6. Developing relational trust (self-trust and trust) in collaborators (Dylan Smith, 2013) and ability to participate in a collaborative culture characterized by reciprocity and ‘inclusion’ (Wistreich, 2008). 7. Developing conversation skills successfully which employ dialogue and awareness of active listening practices which in turn develop communication and reflective engagement (Lebler, 2007; Wistreich, 2008) may make ‘non subject-specific skills’ apparent to students (Pearce, 1999: 58) and therefore enable the articulation of transferable skills that promote and foster a change culture. 8. Developing strategic planning to advance proactive conceptualizations of capability which may have an outward focus away from ‘academic norms’ towards ‘the standards and conditions of professional (commercial) life’ (RCM, 1999: 43).

Student development Evaluation of projects with an entrepreneurial orientation has confirmed that students became more proactive concerning their career development (RCM, 1999). Participation has facilitated confidence, self-reliance and leadership (Howell, 1999), the development of negotiation and communication skills, including teamwork, flexibility of approach (RCM, 1999), understanding of group dynamics and conflict resolution (Wiggins, 1999) and awareness of safety issues and responsibility towards others (ibid.). This suggests that the outcomes of these projects align with the ‘four “meta-capabilities” for career success among twenty-first century professionals’ identified by Bridgstock and Hearn (in Bartleet et al., 2012: 36). These comprise: disciplinary agility, social networking capability and enterprise and career self-management (ibid.).

Concerns for educators Not only do educators, practitioners and leaders need to address coursework which makes sense of diverse creativities within and beyond conventional borders and consider aims for student learning, they also have to bring new

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focus to the articulation of the rationale for creative engagement and use of entrepreneurship as an entry point to examine diverse creativities, as if this is not explicit it is ‘unlikely to result in the conscious acquisition of or recognition of the generic skills in question’ (Segal, 1999: 111). The projects detailed earlier were concerned with a number of developmental issues: 1. Justification for the module within the degree distinguished by research innovations (Wistreich, 2008) and for its content and approach to leading professional communities which promote the interchange of ideas between administrators and higher management (Lebler, 2007; Dylan Smith, 2013). 2. Consideration of questions of provision that recognize diverse creativities operating at multiple levels and interrelating research and enlarging expertise across creativities: developing a module with relevance to a diverse cohort that not only examines best practices, but also formulates new investigations that combine theory and practice, reflexive and active methodologies that draw from a range of disciplinary and cultural domains (Wistreich, 2008; Burnard, 2013). 3. Justifying, delineating and managing a new role for staff (particularly instrumental teachers) (Lebler, 2007; Dylan Smith, 2013) and/or justifying their non-involvement (Wistreich, 2008); extending the dialogue as a necessary stage in building programmes, transforming institutions and new practices in the professional sphere (Burnard, 2013). 4. Developing appropriate criteria for assessment (Wiggins, 1999; Lebler, 2007; Wistreich, 2008; Dylan Smith, 2013) and extending the range of approaches and innovative, transformative practices (Burnard and Fautley, 2014). 5. Navigating the expanding boundaries and working creatively within the constraints of limited resources (Wistreich, 2008). It could therefore be argued that educators have to take a highly creative approach to module design and rationalization, operating within a number of constraining parameters and exploring diverse possibilities for innovation. These map onto concerns articulated by authors in this volume, including ‘intellectual and reputational danger and risk’ identified in Chapter 2 in relation to complexity within formal study which also applies to staff engaged in curriculum development. Clearly, one way for students to feel more encouraged to explore creative and entrepreneurial behaviours might be through seeing these modelled more overtly by staff (both academic and instrumental teachers). While it is generally agreed that these behaviours can only be taught to a certain extent, as the most powerful learning results from direct practical experience

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(Anderson et al., 2014), discussion of creative and entrepreneurial practice will surely make significant contributions to institutional culture. Although Weatherston was able to assert that university music staff operate within a ‘culturally ambiguous territory’ and that while staff enterprise can offer ‘personal rewards . . . there is an ever-present sense that this engagement may be inappropriate and somehow removed from core academic roles and responsibilities’ (2009: 52), this view now appears to be replaced by one in which ‘academic entrepreneurship’ (Bresler, 2012: 602) prevails. Bresler articulated a concept prioritizing vision, passion and animation, in which collaboration can expand a project and entrepreneurship can illuminate the project within different disciplines and organizations, leading to further-reaching dissemination and impact. Here, the assertion that ‘academics need to be perceived and involved as agents in their own and their students’ creativity rather than as objects of, or more pertinently, deliverers of a particular “creativity agenda”’ (Kleiman, 2008: 216) could also apply to entrepreneurial activity. With these concerns increasingly dominating institutional policy, creating more transparency, demonstrating how staff engage with and deploy creative and entrepreneurial thinking within their own research as well as with performance and composition would provide more visible and therefore more powerful models for students.

Agency In this volume, in Chapter 8, Helfter and Ilari draw on the concept of agency, noting that it may be viewed both as voluntary action and as autonomy. In entrepreneurship, agency is recognized as vital. However, Weatherston’s (2009) research on music students has shown that while students may engage in many self-directed creative projects and initiatives, they are not necessarily profitminded. This focus is explored further in the work of Coulson, who described the 17 freelance musicians in her study as ‘accidental entrepreneurs’ as their primary focus was not to start a business but to engage in creative work ‘in areas such as writing, recording and performing where self-employment is generally the only option’ (2012: 252). Coulson’s participants articulated tensions between their identities as musicians and the need to earn a living: the drive to experience music as their source of primary fulfilment and creative activity prevailed over concerns to generate revenue. Armstrong’s research likewise highlighted the commitment of musicians engaging in ‘high-quality work, irrespective of its monetary rewards’ (2013: 7) because of the ‘anticipation of success and the possibilities for self-affirmation and creativity’ (ibid.: 11) rather than financial

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gain. As with jazz musicians in Umney and Kretsos’ (2013) research, selfinvestment in career development, for example, attending short courses or playing with people who might create further opportunities were noted as proactive, entrepreneurial examples demonstrating agency. Therefore, one dimension of entrepreneurial activities in higher music education worthy of future research concerns the extent to which graduate expectations, creative entrepreneurial initiatives and musical autonomy might map on to the economic constructs of the communities in which they are working: the findings of ‘real-world’ studies to date suggests that creative fulfilment and a ‘real world multiplicity of creativities’ are important constructs of musicians’ entrepreneurship, arguably more than financial gain (Burnard, 2012).

Multiple personas and self-knowledge The idea of multiple personas and the vision of possible selves and possible future selves were discussed in Chapter 13 in this volume. While the ePortfolio allows for selective representation of the self for professional purposes, students may need more support in projecting these personas to other people in a live situation, particularly as their working patterns may involve rapid transition from one musical context and genre to another (Armstrong, 2013). If an intercultural, interdisciplinary context for creative projects requiring musicians to construct multiple selves (Burnard, 2012) is increasingly seen as a working norm, how do music graduates adapt to presenting themselves with ease and authenticity in potentially very diverse situations? Weller (2008) suggests that using a balance of activities focusing on what she terms ‘intrapreneurship’ – developing self-knowledge – will support the knowledge gained from entrepreneurial activity. Coulson (2013), Armstrong (2013) and Umney and Kretsos all emphasize the importance of meaningful personal interaction within ‘complex, individualized relationship chains’ (Umney and Kretsos, 2013: 16). This suggests that unless the virtual can reflect a very capable and communicative individual, the credibility required to establish and support oneself within a complex network of musicians within a community of practice may vanish, no matter how excellent the musicianship. Therefore, entrepreneurial development needs to include space for exploring the student’s view of self, positioning this self within a variety of roles in diverse contexts and developing experiential and reflective awareness of how the persona may meaningfully rearticulate and express itself. Odena notes the importance of emotional intelligence (Goleman,

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1995) in relation to ‘planning and implementing activities in education and professional development’ (Odena, 2012: 205); likewise, Bennett, Perkins and Weller stress the importance of self-knowledge, and provide excellent resources for deepening this (Bennett, 2012). Various chapters in this volume articulate the importance facilitating self-awareness and understanding in higher music education. In particular, Dobson’s work highlights the development of modes of communication in creative collaborations and the ability to negotiate multiple perspectives within creative processes alongside the skills that will be developed through networking, choosing collaborators, pitching ideas and presenting work. Kardos includes discussion of the concept of fluency; while her focus is on the ease with which students can respond to industry-led creative music practices, the idea of fluency could also be applied to the ways in which musicians can draw on their self-awareness and interpersonal skills to work comfortably in any context through moving from one persona to another. As yet, we have little understanding on how musicians gain this kind of fluency and therefore there is scope to extend the documentation of students’ responses to work within entrepreneurial contexts and to consider this concept more consciously when planning curricular provision.

Fragility Although educators often acknowledge the need for ‘robust’ curricula and criteria for assessment, this orientation of focus towards strength and resilience may suggest that it is easy to overlook the fragility present in creative and entrepreneurial activity. Stakelum noted that ‘fragility in developing the musician coexists with resilience and tenacity’ (2013: 1); Gaunt and Papageorgi stated that ‘the most reliable feature of musicians’ careers is their unpredictability’ (2010: 260), and Bolton observed that ‘reflective practice leads to more searching questions, the opening of fascinating avenues to explore, but few secure answers’ (2005: 24). Therefore, one concern for educators may be to address the relationship between fragility (which is perhaps inevitable during the course of the evolving identity of the musician, particularly at times of transition) and expectations of professional strength. If fragility exists outside the constructs of discussion within creative and entrepreneurial activities in education, students may feel challenged by a simultaneous need to articulate and explore this awareness and the potentially repressive or protective awareness of vulnerability. As we have noted, entrepreneurialism involves risk; likewise,

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engaging with creativities is also a process which is likely to be unpredictable, challenging and demanding. While realization of the nature of creativities may lead to care within the process to protect the product/s, is self-care also practised by the student, creative practitioner or entrepreneur? Even in research where the relationship between researcher and participants is highly positive, it is perhaps difficult for musicians to articulate the ways in which they might practice self-care, particularly in relation to their mental health. Kiran (2014) suggests that, in business, fragility is a more dangerous state than collapse, as collapse is visible, whereas fragility may not be. This subject is worthy of further research. For musicians, the support of a mentor may allow these concerns to be articulated; for educators, creating a ‘safe’ environment may enable students to realize that experiencing fragility is a legitimate response to the personal development occurring in conjunction with creative work, and for the profession, articulating fragility will enable those considering working within the music industry to create a more realistic conception of the nature of the business and of those working within it.

Community Inherent in the design of institutions are boundaries separating the internal from the external. However, ‘musical creativity, as with the field of music, has no boundaries’ (Burnard, 2012: 38). In this volume we see, particularly in Chapters 5, 8 and 9, something of the richness of experience and new understandings created through outward-looking, compassionate engagement, which affects not only students but also their teachers as well as those participating from very diverse communities. There is a permeability at work. This leads us to suggest that if the music industry is becoming increasingly less reliant on gatekeepers (Rutter, 2011), institutions need to consider whether they are still holding a gatekeeping role that is now redundant. And, furthermore, to ask whether there is, nevertheless, in some students’ minds, a concern that this is perhaps too early for them; that they may not be able to rise to the challenge; that the external environment is or will be hostile? It would, of course, be irresponsible to dismiss these anxieties. Perhaps what might be of value could be to consider these concerns from a different perspective. In his article, ‘Community music and the welcome’, Lee Higgins (2008) delineates the concept of ‘the welcome’ as a positive invitation to participation and as conducive towards risk-taking within the community music workshop setting. Here, acknowledgement is made of participants’ anxieties and

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the possibility of the unknown, but the focus of the workshop facilitator is on creating ‘a space that invites change’ (ibid.: 394). For students encountering the ‘new’ through entrepreneurial work, this mediating figure of ‘facilitator’ is likely to be absent. However, could students see ways in which they can be facilitative for themselves? One way would be through adopting the open-minded attitude of the facilitator, whose welcome ‘refutes the closure inherent within notions of the “gated” community, enclaves that contain restrictive perimeters that are tightly controlled and which monitor participants entrances and exits’ (ibid.: 392). Therefore, this allows a sense of fluidity, responsiveness and inclusivity. Secondly, Higgins notes that ‘the music facilitator might look towards the impossible, meaning something whose possibility one did not and could not foresee’ (ibid: 393, italics original). This suggests flexibility, willingness to embrace divergent thinking and perhaps, even, to stop thinking and simply respond to whatever the situation presents. Thirdly, Higgins describes the workshop as a ‘site for experimentation and exploration’. These dual emphases suggest that the focus is on the process, not on the outcome, on working with whatever materials, people and opportunities present themselves. Finally, the description of ‘the welcome’ as ‘the conduit through which openness, diversity, freedom and tolerance flows’ (ibid.: 394) may translate both to the perception of the possible community within which the musician may be working and to the musician him/herself. Higgins reminds us that ‘creativity is after all a venture into the unknown’ (ibid.: 394); therefore, his concept of ‘safety without safety’ discussed in the same article could also be adopted to invite students to consider notions of risk, which may then encourage them to not only feel more comfortable with the concept but also to recognize that risk-taking can bring reward, and that without risk, experiences will be reduced to the habitual, to the comfortable, and therefore will impede personal growth.

Inter- and multidisciplinary creative development Myers observed that the self-views of many portfolio musicians included a concept of themselves as ‘adding value to larger society, rather than expecting society to sustain their isolated and detached musical prowess’ (2007: 4). This reinforces not only the emphasis seen in previous chapters on activating selfreliance and initiative, but also leads to the proposition that institutions must not only be responsible for providing tools for learning but also need to support the development of emotional understanding, awareness of professional contexts for

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musical engagement and acknowledgement of risks, fragilities and difficulties that may be experienced by students. In addition, increasing our understanding of insights provided by neuroscience could also inform practices and pedagogies of creativities in higher music education and in the music profession. Although work emerging from this field currently presents a complex picture of diverse approaches to research and some contradictory findings (Dietrich and Kanso, 2010), the capacity for divergent thinking is influenced by the ‘transient hypofrontality’ or ‘gatekeeping’ role of the frontal lobe (Jung, 2011). This can also promote the loss of inhibitions and self-monitoring, leading to increases in ‘flow’ and in self-expression in musicians involved in jazz improvisation and rapping (Limb, 2010). The work of Ritter et al. (2012) points to the importance of unconscious cognitive processes which influence idea selection, and further work by Ritter demonstrates the need for opportunities to encounter the unexpected, thereby alleviating the ‘functional fixedness’ (ibid.: 961) involving mental blocks in creative work. In this paper, Ritter et al. propose that ‘actively experiencing diversifying events enhances creativity due to improved [cognitive] flexibility’, which occurs through the breakdown of cognitive patterns and enables ‘novel (creative) associations between concepts’ (ibid.). Future research will not only provide evidence for how the brain structures operate during creative work, but could also be used to inform creative and pedagogical practices. Furthermore, widening possibilities for interdisciplinary and technological collaborative creativities enables growth in areas which might not be immediately apparent to students or educators but may provide a springboard for the development of new working and performance practices and dissemination. These may, in due course, feed back into the development of new courses and modes of teaching and learning. To sustain relevance, we must also develop the ability to critique our efforts and sharpen insights gained through experience and experimentation as we teach and innovate, create and collaborate, guide and govern, and engage and expand the boundaries and permeable practices of diverse musical creativities.

The case for institutional leadership creativities as catalyst for change We have many options for transforming our educational system, including but not limited to teaching diverse musical creativities, creating opportunities for

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engagement in entrepreneurial activities and projects as part of the training and development of professional musicians. The necessity of translating these diverse creativities as practices that can be communicated to others in the weighting of criteria across higher education sectors requires radical rethinking of the ways in which our academic environments can and should enable more diverse creativities to be present in research and teaching as well as imaginative modelling of entrepreneurship as an essential key to bridging the divide between academia and the public sphere. This in turn can lead us to thinking about leadership creativity as a change agent. The influence of leadership is an ingredient which can facilitate or impede the creativities of faculty staff and students. The centrality of creativities in musical development, learning and teaching, and the empowering potential of creativities to sustain an institution’s competitive edge and its ability to adapt to the changing landscape, are themes woven across all levels of strategic decision-making and professional judgement in music institutions. The scope and dimension of creativities as a field of leadership enquiry and action, as with institutional change, is evidenced in the growing recognition that effective leadership needs to be viewed as workable leadership knowledge regardless of any domain-specific process. Widening the net of engaged colleagues strengthens the likelihood and extent of potential collegial engagement in decision-making and institutional change. Using a metaphor of jazz, this can be described through articulating a distributed perspective on leadership along a journey to create a new teaching and learning vision in higher music education where leadership, like jazz, is a public performance, dependent on so many things – the environment, the other players in the band, the need for everybody to perform as individuals and as a group, and the absolute dependence of the leader on the band members. Leaders need to improvise and adapt quickly in circumstances of escalating tension and in decision-making under pressure, which requires improvisation and adaptation. They also need to demonstrate value and belief in the ideas, resources, and, most importantly, other people they are working with. Whether formally or informally, it is important to recognize that practically everything leaders accomplish happens through collaborative and change cultures and leadership creativities which engage hybrid ways of configuring leadership in a nexus of collective choice and professional judgement. In pursuit of this goal, research on activating diverse musical creativities in teaching and learning in higher music education highlights the need for creative mechanisms, not only to examine best practices, but also to formulate new investigations that combine

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originating ideas adaption

risk-taking

strategic planning

improvisation

Distributed

CHANGE CULTURE

Inter-organization networks

LEADERSHIP CREATIVITIES

COLLABORATIVE Team CULTURE structures

Shifting configurations mutual support

relational trust

reciprocity

communication

Figure 14.1 Dimensions of leadership

theory and practice, that examine critical educational issues, and that explore the ways in which the educational marketplace relates and sustains relevance to the music profession, creative and cultural industries, and to the shifting nature of the career patterns and diverse creativities distinguished by today’s successful musicians. We are not on our own. We are more often working with others in the application of new and novel ideas for improving the quality of our work, for transforming institutional programme curricula by creative teaching for creative learning in higher academic music education and for being more innovative in our teaching. The leadership creativities on which the actual practices depend are portrayed in Figure 14.1, which shows some of the main elements of leadership and leadership creativities.

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Our ability to imagine and then invent institutional change is one of our greatest assets. To be successful, we need to recognize and harness our own creativities, and those of our colleagues and our students, while continually adapting and inventing creativities for accomplishing complex institutional change in an ever-changing and increasingly complex world.

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Index Page numbers in bold refer to figures/tables. 808 State 216 Abbey, N. 224 Afonso, N. 184 Agawu, K. V. 100 agency 149, 269–70 Ahmed, S. F. 44 Alesis ADAT 208 Alheit, P. 137, 154 Alix, C. 75 Ambisonics 211 Amorim, E. 186, 189, 190, 191 Anderson, M. 228 Anderson, S. 269 anti-production 219 approaches to teaching and learning 46–52 constraint-based tasks 51–2 formative assessment 49–51 practice 52 repertoire analysis 47–9 Arcaño, A. 106 Armstrong, V. 270 Attwell, G. 233, 235 AudioTool 226 Azevedo, S. 186, 187, 190 Bachelor of Popular Music (BPM) 57–8 Baer, J. 181 Bailey, D. 101, 118 Baker, D. 5, 7, 265 Ball, L. 244 Barbosa, Á. 228 Bardin, L. 186 Barrett, E. 234 Barrett, M. 78, 139, 140, 192, 193 Bartleet, B.-L. 261, 267 Beatles, The 48, 49, 66 Yesterday 48 Beck, M. 129, 183 Becker, H. S. 177 Beckman, G. D. 264

Beckman, S. 194 Beeching, A. 265 Beetham, H. 233 Beethoven, L. V. 103 Bennett, D. 4, 23, 37, 38, 41, 44, 48, 206, 207, 209, 244, 247, 261, 264, 271 Bennett, J. 51 Bennett, S. 219 Bergh, A. 204 Berkley, R. 181 Berliner, P. 118 Berríos-Miranda, M. 106 Beyers, W. 149 Big Beat 218 Biggs, J. B. 242 Biklen, S. 184 Biophilia 231, 232 Blaine, T. 228 Bleakley, A. 22, 23, 32 Blom, D. 245 Bochmann, C. 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192 Boden, M. 39, 40, 43, 44 Boehm, C. 205 Bogdan, R. 184 Bohm, D. 21 Bolt, B. 234 Boltanski, L. 193 Bolton, G. 271 Bonfiglioli, C. 227 Born, G. 12 Borstel, J. 126 Bourdieu, P. 8, 11, 14, 39, 192 Bresler, L. 4, 5, 269 Brooks, W. 241 Brown, J. 217 ‘Funky Drummer’ 217 Brown, R. A. 180, 206 Buckham, L. 243 Burke, P. J. 256

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Burnard, P. 4, 6, 12, 14, 37, 57, 75, 138, 178, 179, 180, 181, 192, 193, 203, 211, 218, 228, 253, 254, 266, 268, 270, 272 Musical Creativities in Practice 203 Byers, T. 263 Campbell, D. T. 39 capital 8 Cardona, A. 192 career creativities through ePortfolios 241–56 career creativity 16 Carey, G. 264 Carvalho, S. 181, 186, 188, 189, 191 Chan, J. 179 Chiapello, E. 193 Christensen, C. 208 Christianity 170 Clapton, E. 115 Coates, H. 244 Cohen, L. 247 collaboration hub, the 80 interviews with members 81–91 collaborative creativity 16 Colley, B. D. 15 colonization 170 compositional creativities, training for 180–2 Conde, I. 177 conservation 22 Cook, N. 31, 218 Correia, J. A. 184 cosmopolitanism 161 Coulson, S. 269, 270 Covach, J. 62 Cowdroy, R. 32 Craft, A. 91 creative critical listening 57–72 development of, the 60–2 music semiotics and 58–60 impact of semiotic analysis (student perceptions of) 66–7 intended outcomes of semiotic analysis (student perceptions of) 65–6 role of semiotic analysis (student perceptions of) 63–4 value of semiotic analysis (student perceptions of) 64–5 theories of learning expertise 67–70

creative development, inter- and multidisciplinary 273–4 creative industries 30 creativities, border territories in 182–4 complexities present in 179–80 and creation 31–2 in popular songwriting curricula 37–54 technology as a tool 211–12 technology as instrument 215–16 creativity, and assessment 32–3 business students’ views of 25 hierarchical conceptions of 25 Oakley on 22 as a professional disposition 29–30 as a socially constructed form 24 topology of 22 creativity, hierarchical conceptions of 26–8 attributional conception 26–7 comprehensive conception 27–8 definitional conception 26 Creech, A. 263 Creswell, J. W. 145 Critical Response Process 126 Cronon, W. 183 Cross, I. 16, 140 Csikszentmihalyi, M. 4, 12, 39, 43, 126, 179 Cuban Revolution, the 106 cultural production 8 cultural relativism 161 culture 161–3 as industry and/or product 162 as ontology 162 as a tool 162 Cummins, J. 224 Cutler, C. 217 Dausien, B. 137, 154 Deci, E. L. 149 DeNora, T. 204 Dessner, B. 227 Destin, M. 255 Dewey, J. 205 DeZutter, S. 75, 77, 91 dialogic creativity 188 Dias, A. V. 187 Dietrich, A. 274

Index Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) 226, 228, 231 Logic Pro 226 digital creativities 223–38 connected mobile devices 231–2 creative practice research 233–5 digital cultural landscape 224–7 in higher music education contexts 232–3 online presence 235–6 social music networks 228–9 social networks 230–1 Digital Native 206 Dijkstra, K. A. 62 Dillon, T. 78, 180 d’Inverno, M. 225 Dion, C. 59 Dobson, E. 271 Downes, S. 235 Draper, P. 59, 61, 225 Dredge, S. 232 Driscoll, M. P. 233 Dunbar-Hall, P. 247 Dyers, J. 89 Egües, R. 103, 106 El Cuarto de Tula 117 Elektronische Musik 215 emancipation 151 empathic creativity 16 empathic listening 150 Eno, B. 129, 209 The Studio as Compositional Tool 209 entrepreneurial creativity 16 entrepreneurialism 17, 263–7 in higher music education 264–7 and student development 267 entrepreneurship, as change agent 4–5 Epstein, M. 244 ethicism 161 ethnomusicology 100, 119 exoticism 161 extracurricular interdisciplinary collaborations 75–94 Facebook 230, 242 The Fall 231 Fast, S. 62 Fautley, M. 268

Feld, S. 31 Feldman, D. H. 12 Ferreira, J. 180, 192 Fielding, J. L. 184 Fielding, N. G. 184 fields of power, the 8–12 Bourdieu’s definition 8 fields within 10 Fitzgerald, E. 115 Fluxus 226 Folkestad, G. 88 fragility 271–2 Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) 39, 46 Free Play 132–3 Free Space 124, 125 creating music from 129–30 Freidson, E. 177 Friedman, S. S. 183 Fundora, M. 109, 112 Furness, R. K. 211 GarageBand 226 Gaunt, H. 261, 271 Geertz, C. 184 Gembris, H. 261, 265 Ghiglione, R. 186 globalization 172 Goleman, D. 270 Gomes, C. 230 Google Docs 242 Gotye 60 Hearts A Mess 60 graduate employability 243–5 Graves, N. 244 Green, L. 76, 78, 81, 139, 264 Greenwood, J. 227 Gregory, S. 182, 266 Gromko, J. E. 193 Group Creativity 206 Group Processes 206 Guba, E. G. 184 Guedes, C. 188 Guilford, J. P. 234 habitus 8 Hakkarainen, K. 76, 78 Hakotu Ba 171 Hallqvist, A. 137, 138, 140, 154 Hambrick, D. Z. 60, 67

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286 Hannan, M. 261 Hansen, B. 217 Odelay 217 Hargreaves, D. 139 Hatfield, E. 140 Hebert, D. 139 Henkel, M. 242 Hennion, A. 43 Herring, S. C. 230 Hesmondhalgh, D. 5, 7 Higgins, L. 272, 273 higher music education courses 5 Holmes, L. 254 Honey, C. 230 Hooks, B. 183 Hotscotch 232 The Housemartins 218 Howell, T. 267 Huberman, A. M. 186 Hugill, A. 59 identity, and higher education 242–3 Ilari, B. 139, 140, 141, 154 improvisational creativity 16 contexts for 101–5 Indaba 228 Instagram 242 interdisciplinary creativity 16 Intermental Creativity Zone (ICZ) 84, 90 Ittelson, J. 242 Jackson, N. 34 Jaeger, G. 24, 30 Janssen, J. 244 Jarre, J. M. 216 Jiménez, J. 179 Johnson, R. 8, 115 John-Steiner, V. 77, 81 Jørgensen, H. 264 Joubert, M. 81 Jung, R. 274 Kagitcibasi, C. 149 Kahneman, D. 50, 51, 60, 61, 71 Kanso, R. 274 Karlsen, S. 3 Kaschub, M. 181 Katz, M. 207

Index Kaufman, J. C. 181 Kennett, C. 59 Kent, C. 233 Kim, C. 180 Kinderman, W. 103 King, A. 76, 203, 219 Kiran, R. 272 Kirby, A. 225, 227, 236 Kleiman, P. 269 Knight, P. 243 Kodable 232 Koskoff, E. 178, 193 Koveos, P. E. 3 Kraftwerk 216 Kretsos, L. 270 Lally, P. 60, 67, 69 Landy, L. 215 Langner, D. 265 Lapa, F. 189 Lapidaki, E. 15 Laurence, F. 139, 141, 147, 149, 151, 152 Laurillard, D. 233 Re-thinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age 233 Lautman, J. 177 Le Coq, S. 178 leadership creativities 16, 274–7 dimensions (of leadership) 276 learning, Driscoll’s definition of 233 Lebler, D. 58, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268 lecturer, role of the 133–5 L’Écuyer, R. 186 Leon, C. 205, 211, 212, 213, 214, 219 Lequesne, C. 185 Lerman, L. 126 Leyshon, A. 7 Liebman, D. 104 Limb, C. 274 Lincoln, Y. S. 184 Littleton, K. 78, 84 live performance 212–15 Look Back in Charanga 112 Lorenzo, G. 242 Lubart, T. I. 179 Maasai 167–8 McAlpine, M. 244

Index McClary, S. 62 McCormack, J. 225 MacDonald, R. 78, 84 McIntyre, P. 37, 38, 53 MacKinnon, D. 37, 39 McLaughlin, J. 115 McMillen, A. 60 McPherson, G. E. 179 Madureira, J. 187 Mahavishnu Orchestra 115 Mahn, H. 81 Mallon, M. 261 Manning, P. 215 Mans, M. 139 Mantis 226, 228 Marcus, G. 59, 246 Martin, A. 208 Matalon, B. 186 Matusov, E. 77 Max/ MSP 226 Maxwell, K. 244 Mellor, L. 78 Menger, P. M. 177 Mercer, N. 84 Michielse, M. 234 Middleton, R. 62 MIDI 208 Miell, D. 78, 81, 84 Miles, M. B. 186 Miller, S. 102, 109, 265 modernization 170 Moll, L. 76 Moore, A. 45, 62 Moore, A. F. 38, 205, 210 Moore, F. 208 Moore, R. 99, 101 Moorefield, V. 209 Moser, C. 253 Moulin, R. 177 Moylan, W. 59, 210 Muhly, N. 227 multiple personas, and self-knowledge 270–1 Music Hack Day 230 Classical Music Hack Day 230 music studio, the 208–9 musical identity 31 musical policies, friendship policies and 193–4 Musician 3.0 124–5

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musicking 138–40, 149 and empathizing 140–1 MusicNOW Festival 227 Myers, D. 137, 141, 152, 273 Nachmanovitch, S. 128, 133 Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art 128, 133 Negus, K. 7, 37 Nettl, B. 183 Nicolas-Le Strat, P. 177, 184 North, A. 139 Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) 215 Noteflight 226 Nóvoa, A. 183 Nurius, P. 246 Nyström, S. 243 Oakley, K. 22 Objective-C 232 Odena, O. 179, 270, 271 Oldfield, M. 216 Oliver, M. B. 243, 254 Orb 216 Orquesta Sublime 105–9 Orr, S. 77, 85 Oyserman, D. 255 Pacheco, J. 109, 112 Palmer, T. 261 Papageorgi, I. 261, 271 Papua New Guinea 169–70 Partti, H. 3 Patten, B. 231 Pearce, A. 267 Petocz, P. 21, 24 Pettijohn II, T. F. 44 Pickering, M. 37 Pires, F. 189, 190 Plato 6 Plunderphonia 217 Pope, S. T. 205 popular music 99 practice 11 Prensky, M. 206 Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) 218 processed improvisation 126–7 creative learning within 127–8 processors, students as 130–1

288 quadrophonic sound 211 Rabinowitch, T. C. 16 Radbill, C. F. 263 Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (RTF) 215 Radloff, A. 244 Raemdonck, D. V. 194 Reich, S. 217 Different Trains 217 Reid, A. 21, 23, 242, 243, 244, 250, 256 Ritter, S. M. 274 Roark, C. D. 4 Roberts, G. 244 Rogoff, B. 152 Rosa, A. C. 187, 191 Rowley, J. 241, 244, 247 Rumsey, F. 204 Runco, M. 24, 30 Russ, M. 261 Russell, J. 140 Rutter, P. 264, 272 Ryan, R. M. 149 Sabrosa como el Guarapo, Pacheco’s 106, 107–8, 109, 110–14 Sabroso como el Guarapo 104–6 Saether, E. 16, 152, 153 St John, P. 78 Salavuo, M. 224, 232, 234 Salley, K. 41, 48 Santos, B. S. 183 Sartre, J-P. 81 Sawyer, K. R. 75, 77, 78, 89, 91, 206 Zig Zag: . . . 89 Schafer, P. 215 Schmidt, P. 129 Schubert, F. 38 Scott, K. 204 Scruton, R. 38 Seddon, F. A. 75, 77, 228 Sefton-Green, J. 223 Segal, R. 268 The Sex Pistols 59 Shakti 115 Sharpe, R. 233 Shehan Campbell, P. 119 Shreeve, A. 32 Siemens, G. 224, 235

Index Simone, N. 115 Simonton, D. K. 39, 43 singular creativity 3 Slater, M. 208 Small, C. 100, 139, 141, 149 Smalley, D. 215 Smilde, R. 3, 137, 140, 152, 153, 154 Smith, D. 265, 266, 267, 268 Smith, J. P. 179 Soto, A. 140, 141 sound, Motown Sound 207 Nashville Sound 207 Spector Sound 207 Sound Art 215 Soundation4Education 228, 229 Soundbox, the 210 SoundCloud 228, 230 Spalding Newcomb, R. 78 Spector, P. 209 Stakelum, M. 271 Sternberg, R. J. 179 Stewart, J. 233 Stockhausen, K. 215 Storey, H. 81 Stryker, S. 256 Tagg, P. 38, 58, 59, 62, 100 Music’s Meanings . . . 58 Tang, L. 3 Tavares, G. M. 179, 182, 183 technology for creativities 203–19 and the curriculum 205–6 live performance 212–15 music studio, the 208–9 socio-cultural and educational issues 206–8 students’ creative learning 245–8 Théberge, P. 207, 208 Any Sound You Can Imagine 207 Thomas, K. 179 Timmons, J. A. 263 Tolle, E. 123 The Power of NOW 123 Toop, D. 217 Track Imperatives 45, 45 traditionalism 161 Tubular Bells 216 Twitter 230

Index Umney, C. 270 USC Thornton Outreach Programs, The 142–5 implications for higher music education 152–5 methods 145–7 Vakeva, L. 3 Vargas, A. P. 178, 187, 189, 191, 192, 193 Vasconcelos, A. Â. 178, 193 Vass, E. 81, 84 VJing 75 von Konsky, B. 243 Vygotsky, L. S. 75, 84, 206 Walser, R. 62 Ward, C. 253 Waxer, L. 106 Weatherston, D. 269 Welch, G. F. 179 Weller, J. 270, 271 Wenger, E. 139, 154, 234, 242, 243 West, K. 227 Bound 2, 227

Wheeler, J. 264 Wiggins, T. 266, 267, 268 Wilson, B. 194 Wilson, C. 59 Let’s Talk About Love: . . . 59 Winterson, J. 261 Wistreich, R. 265, 266, 267, 268 withdrawal 23 Wood, L. N. 244 WordPress 242 world music 99, 164, 172 Wright, R. 138, 139 Yorke, M. 243 Younker, B. A. 78, 181 YouTube 7, 230 Zagorski-Thomas, S. 210 Zappa, F. 209 Zecker, L. B. 244 Zervigón, E. 106 Ziggy Stardust 204 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) 84, 87

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