While it is neither possible nor necessary to reduce the findings of the contributions in this Research Topic to a discrete number of outcomes, nevertheless the approaches taken can be grouped into the following three categories: (i) reviews and theoretical investigations, where existing assumptions and conceptual frameworks are systematically re-examined on the basis of novel insights, (ii) contextual framings, in which musical creativity is addressed within specific domains of interest (e.g., music performance), and (iii) implementations in composition and musical analysis, where novel theoretical and practical tools are proposed to illuminate how creative thought develops across a web of compositional processes. This allows us to explore, in novel ways, the neural, psychological, and behavioral processes involved in (the development of) musical creativity to gain a deeper understanding of the social and individual dimensions of creative music-making to put novel ideas and hypotheses to the test and to offer syntheses of methodologies and findings pertaining to diverse research domains. Such a variety of contributions fosters fascinating opportunities to examine from new angles the mechanisms associated with creative practice and experience, as well as their interplay with broader aspects of human cognition. Hence, this edited collection includes articles exploring how creativity plays out in concrete musical contexts from a range of perspectives: here the views of composers, music theorists, musicologists, neuroscientists, ethnomusicologists, educators, and psychologists, take the form of conceptual analyses, literature reviews, and original empirical studies, ensuring a complementarity of epistemological approaches and methods. To do so, we have deliberately invited submissions from colleagues working in diverse areas, promoting a cross-pollination of ideas and insights. How exactly can musical creativity be defined? What are its main characteristics, and how do these play out across different musical settings? On what neural, social, cognitive, and behavioral resources it is based? We are convinced that clarifying what musical creativity entails requires a dialogue between theoretical analysis, experimental research, and the practical teaching of everyday music-making. Given its complex phenomenology and variety of manifestations, understanding musical creativity remains a crucial, yet difficult goal of current scholarship on the musical mind. From learning to play an instrument to performing, composing, and improvising, much of our music-making activities are deeply associated with creative thought and action ( van der Schyff et al., 2018). ![]() Creativity is central to human life, and the domain of music is no exception ( Boden, 2004 Cook, 2018).
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