Developing categories for children’s creative and responsive musical actions in group improvisation: a mixed methods action research study

ABSTRACT

Defining categories of musical actions in improvisation with young children is challenging due to the spontaneous, creative and emergent nature of interactions. Following a literature review, two new constructs were proposed to circumscribe and classify different types of events in improvisation, Creative Musical Agency (CMA) and Socio-Musical Aptitude (S-MA). These were refined and tested through eight phases of mixed-methods research. Two cycles of improvisation workshops were video-recorded. Multimodal Video Analysis of musical, gaze and gestural Modes of Communication contextualized with field notes was used to refine constructs. Two raters independently observed and rated children’s improvisations as showing CMA, S-MA or neither, giving reasons for difficulty or ambiguity in using constructs in separate interviews. Raters demonstrated fair agreement for CMA (Κappa 0.21) and moderate agreement for S-MA (Kappa 0.5). Development of these constructs offers a valuable way of understanding the complexity of young children’s musical actions and mental processes in improvisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Young children
• improvisation
• categories
• creativity
• responsiveness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Una M. MacGlone

Una M. MacGlone lectures at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has designed and delivers modules in Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration, Improvisation and Music Psychology. Her research interests include improvisation, pedagogy and impacts of creative music-making. She is a co-editor of an anthology: Expanding the Space for Improvisation Pedagogy (2019), published by Routledge. She is a double bassist and works in and across different genres appearing on many CDs and radio broadcasts.

Graeme B. Wilson

Graeme B. Wilson is a visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He has research interests in the theory and practice of group improvisation, particularly in interdisciplinary settings, and in musical participation to improve wellbeing. He has published and lectured widely as a psychologist on improvisation as well as on health, identities and discourse. His composed work has been performed internationally and his saxophone playing features on an array of releases, including his own quartet albums. He is the co-author with Raymond MacDonald of The Art of Becoming (2020), published by OUP.

Raymond A. R. MacDonald

Raymond A. R. MacDonald is a professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation at Edinburgh University. His ongoing research focuses on issues relating to improvisation, musical communication, music health and wellbeing, music education and musical identities. He studies the processes and outcomes of music participation and music listening and has a particular interest in collaborative creativity. His work is informed by a view of improvisation as a social, collaborative and uniquely creative process that provides opportunities to develop new ways of working musically.