Theorising ‘participatory creativity’ in music education: unpacking the whole process at a Spanish secondary school

Toward conceptualizations of musical creativities in secondary education: An integrative literature review between 1990 and 2020

“…Another perspective concerning the creative process is to describe it as dynamic and cyclical (Burnard & Younker, 2002). Mellor (2008) also corroborates this perspective with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)-based composition, as do Lage-Gómez and Cremades-Andreu (2020) in soundtrack cooperative composition and Kaschub (1997) in a choral setting. The importance of listening has been underlined as key in the creative process (Kennedy, 2002), together with reflection (Kokotsaki, 2011).…”

“…Thorpe (2018) states that motivation to compose in a group setting may not necessarily be driven by the extrinsic rewards of a school qualification, but rather by the enjoyment of social music making. In a similar sense, Lage-Gómez and Cremades-Andreu (2020) point out procedural and group mechanisms as relevant to encouraging students’ motivation. This perspective relates to the emergence of positive emotions at a multidimensional level, which is corroborated by Burnard and Swann (2010), who underline the emotional dimension in learning in collaboration with artists and the importance of the context for learning.…”

“…Composition in the classroom has been described as a plural musical procedure in terms of: (a) a temporal and nonverbal artistic construction (e.g., McGillen & McMillan, 2005); (b) a sociocultural action, involving a series of conative aspects such as student motivation (e.g., Lage-Gómez & Cremades-Andreu, 2020) and classroom atmosphere (e.g., Kaschub, 1997); (c) problem-solving procedure (e.g., Berkley, 2001, 2004; Burnard & Younker, 2004); (d) a vehicle for the development of creative thinking (e.g., Fautley, 2005a); and (e) a tool for music language learning (e.g., Blom, 2003). The role of composition in the curriculum is considered to be an interesting, but secondary, addition compared with other musical knowledge and skills (Berkley, 2001).…”

“…The capacity to guide group activities is recognized as a difficulty, as are students' musical levels (Augustyniak, 2014) and time spent off-task (Hopkins, 2015). As a result, productivity is not constant in each composing session, but comparatively high in the last session (Hopkins, 2015;Lage-Gómez & Cremades-Andreu, 2020). According to Odam (2000), too many teachers use methods inappropriate to the resources available to them.…”

Creative Methods for Creativity Research(ers)? Speculations

“…In addition, the authors used creative arts media, walking and being in nature, artifacts of artistic expressions, physical and metaphorical dancing, and creative writing, among other strategies, to bring forward transformational and humanistic practices of critical creativity. In another participatory project, Lage-Gómez and Cremades-Andreu (2020) studied participatory creativity in music education. Participants created a soundtrack of collaborative compositional methods utilizing creative learning.…”