Performers in the practice room

Abstract

This chapter begins by investigating perspectives on practice and creativity in the scholarly literature and in both practical and pedagogical writing, and it argues that to date little attention has been paid to creativity in relation to individual practice. To redress this, the chapter then explores the creative processes that underlie the practising of classical musicians, focusing on the findings of a research project that allowed participants to identify aspects that they considered important to the creative development of their performances. Creative processes to do with moment-by-moment practice strategies are discussed, along with those resulting in the creative development of interpretations and a sense of ownership in music-making. This discussion leads to a series of insights concerning musicians’ creative ways of working, how technical and expressive elements can be interrelated and integrated, the nonlinear nature of the creative processes in question, and what practice itself entails. The chapter ends by encouraging new ways of thinking about practice and by suggesting some approaches which both teachers and individual student musicians might find effective.

Creative Processes in the Shaping of a Musical Interpretation: A Study of Nine Professional Musicians

“…5 All participants told us that their artistic image of the music changes both after a performance and over time, whether or not they continue to play the piece, because “our knowledge [and] our way of seeing things evolve” 6 (S3.EDS.115). The interactive process model of Wise et al ( 2017 ) reflects our observations, and its three components are similar to concepts described elsewhere in the literature. “Developing an overarching concept” is quite similar to the concept of making a mental representation of the music (Sloboda, 1985 ; Lehman and Ericsson, 1997 ; Chaffin et al, 2003 ); “Establishing focused intentions” may relate to performance cues (Chaffin and Imreh, 2002 ); and “Making it feel right” suggests the artistic appropriation stage (Héroux and Fortier, 2014 ), wherein the musician seeks accuracy in the interpretation.…”

“…If our participants' backgrounds may explain certain similar strategic choices, we observed other choices that were less common and may reflect individual learning styles, or “evidence of distinct analytic and intuitive approaches to interpretation” (Hallam, 1995 , p. 117). Wise et al ( 2017 ) describe such choices as either “musical parameter-led […] seeking balance between, and an effective understanding of, different musical elements in relation to the whole” (151), or “emotion/narrative-led […] seeking/communicating emotional narrative or effects” (153). For example, S3 described searching for the piece's “coherence” while S2 was definitively emotion/narrative-led: “I start to find the necessary tools at home to make me cry while also hoping the public will cry.…”

“…Values offer another explanation for the musicians' choice of strategies, personal learning styles, and musical choices. Wise et al ( 2017 ) note the “tension between, on one hand, the respect that performers often feel they must have for performance traditions and the score—as somehow enshrining the composer's intention—and, on the other hand, their own personality and individuality, factors which can be seen as essential to creative performing” (157).…”

“…Studies of creativity typically concentrate on general aspects of creativity common to all artistic domains or on elements particular to a given domain (Kaufman and Baer, 2005 ; Kaufman and Sternberg, 2010 ). Creativity in music performance was first studied with respect to improvisation (Clarke, 1988 , 2012 ; Pressing, 1988 ; Kenny and Gellrich, 2002 ) and, more recently, with respect to music interpretation (Lisboa et al, 2011 ; Héroux and Fortier, 2014 ; Héroux, 2016 ; Payne, 2016 ; Barros et al, 2017 ; Wise et al, 2017 ). As Clarke ( 2012 ) notes, identifying creative elements in the interpretation of written music is not an easy task.…”

“… Various studies have been conducted to understand the role of mental representation when musicians practice or perform music (Lehman and Ericsson, 1997 ; Sloboda, 2005 ) and the work steps required for a musician to prepare a concert (Chaffin et al, 2003 ). More recent studies examine creativity in the shaping of a musical interpretation (Lisboa et al, 2011 ; Payne, 2016 ; Barros et al, 2017 ; Wise et al, 2017 ). However, none of these studies answers the following questions: Why do expert musicians working from the same score create different musical interpretations?…”