Creativity in the Music Classroom: An Inquiry

Chapter three caused me to reflect on the concept of creativity in the classroom.  This is an area that I struggle with in my lesson planning and pedagogy for a variety of reasons.  Scripted curriculums, large class sizes, standardization, differentiating instruction, and inclusion, are a few of the challenges that I (and any teacher) grapple with in trying to encourage students to move beyond mere memorization of facts to developing musical creativity.  I would like to share several quotes in particular that stood out to me. My thoughts are looked at through the lense of my high school general music classes and  often present more questions rather than definitive answers.  However, it is a starting point for my growth and development in this area.

“Creative thinking is a dynamic process of alternation between convergent and divergent thinking, moving in stages over time, enabled by certain skills (both innate and learned), and by certain conditions, all resulting in a final product” (Bauer, 2014, p. 49).

1) What does it mean for creative thinking to be dynamic?  To me, this means that students are able to interact with curriculum in such a way that the material is not only engrained, but their minds are engaged.  It’s not merely about memorizing signs and symbols.  It leads to further inquiry, persistence, and excitement to move forward.  This, of course, makes the assumption that all students are interested in the material to begin with (I guess that is the realist side of me-not all of my general music students are in my class by choice!) and want to fully engage in the creative process.  

2) Also, how do you facilitate interplay between convergent and divergent thinking?  Convergent thinking requires a basic understanding of musical knowledge coupled with students’ creative ideas.  Teachers have control of the material presented and have a role in convergent thinking.  But, can you teach divergent thinking?  How do you encourage students to take the material “out of the box,” and create on their own?  These kinds of high level critical thinking skills are a challenge for many students and, though I can do my best to scaffold their learning, the end result will look different based on students’ individual capacities.

3) How much time do you devote to the creative process?  According to Bauer, “Creative work is not linear; there are often false starts and dead ends.  Trial and error is commonplace” (p. 50).  Also, “Creativity is almost always a process that takes time, preparation, and persistence” (p. 50).  In a classroom with so many time constraints and demands, how do you allow for creativity to move in stages over time and not completely take over your curriculum?  In my general music classes, most students are not coming in with prior knowledge or musical skill.  There is a certain amount of material I have to get through in order for them to leave with appropriate foundational knowledge.  How do you weave in the creative process while trying to teach foundational musical skills?  If I were to assign a composition project, when do they know enough information for it to be introduced and how long should we devote to it?  Is it something that can evolve over time as they learn more skills?  I do not have access to computers and music software in my classes, so how much music notation do I hold them accountable for?  When the objective is that students will create their own musical compositions, does the final product have to include the same expectations for all?  How do I differentiate based on student ability and still feel they have all sufficiently completed the requirement?  I have always looked at creating (along with notating) music as a high-level endeavor that some students simply will not be able to complete.  Perhaps I need to broaden my definition of “creating music” and expectations to successfully implement this in class?  I do currently assign a composition based project in my class, but these are the questions I struggle with each semester.  I don’t feel I have quite mastered the sequencing for this type of endeavor and would love to gain resources from teachers who have implemented composition in their classrooms!

“Creativity within musical genus is facilitated by a) listening to music and developing aural skills, including the ability to audiate; (b) imitating musicians and musical styles and genres; (c) analyzing how music is structured; and (d) engaging musically with others more experienced than oneself” (p. 51).

Ideally, I completely agree with this statement.  However, this adds a whole different dynamic to the curriculum.  Along with developing foundational musical knowledge (signs, symbols, vocabulary, note reading), students must also be exposed to composers and musicians of various musical styles and genres.  To take it a step further, they must be able to analyze the structure of music and develop aural skills which will assist them in creating their own musical compositions.  Phew.  How do you get this all done within a 20 week ( one semester) general music class?  I’d love to go to some professional development on this.

“The key to the creative process is intrinsic motivation” (p.50).
This statement might be the cornerstone of this conversation.  Students have to want to create.  There has to be some sort of intrinsic element in order for creativity to be possible.  So, my next question becomes, how to do I awaken intrinsic motivation in my classroom?  How do I encourage my students to WANT to compose? To convince them at some level that we are creative beings by nature and awaken that inside of them? I don’t think it is possible to reach every single student.  But, hopefully, I can start with one student in one class and grow from there.