Creativity in a music composition community: an analysis of online comments

ABSTRACT

Scholars have often highlighted the intrinsic features of technology to support the generation and sharing of ideas (Craft 2011). By studying user interactions within informal online communities, researcher can elucidate the ways technology impacts creativity and learning within these groups. This qualitative content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon 2005) used a systems-based approach to creativity (Csikszentmihalyi 1999) to examine the interactions within an online community (Noteflight) focused on Western standard music notation-based composition. One popular, publicly available, original musical score was selected. Online comments were collected and analysed. Findings highlight the diversity and abundance of feedback given to the composer as well as the many ways users engaged with domain knowledge. This online community allows individuals to share knowledge, learn about the social norms associated with giving feedback, and explore creative ideas regarding music composition. Implications from this study highlight the ways music educators and technology designers can develop web-based music learning environments that support creativity and life-long engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• creativity
• composition
• informal learning
• online communities
• content analysis

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my advisor and dissertation committee members for their guidance throughout the research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.noteflight.com/

2 https://songtr.ee/

3 https://splice.com/

4 http://ccmixter.org/

5 Web scraping is a method frequently used to extract large amounts of data from the web.

6 Salavuo (2008) describe the follow activities to be common in online music communities: 1) uploading one’s own music, expecting feedback, 2) listening to music contributed by peers, providing feedback, 3) discussing, asking questions, providing answers, engaging in arguments, 4) recommending music, and 5) connecting together to engage in joint projects.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick W. Horton

Patrick W. Horton is currently an instructional designer at the University of Illinois Chicago. He previously worked as a curriculum designer and taught music and technology courses at both the secondary and university levels. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education and most recently completed a PhD at Northwestern University where he studied creativity and technology in music teaching and learning.