Musical Extrapolations: Creative Processes Involved While Music is Being Listened to and Composed

341 Pages·2016·4.166 MB·English

by  Sebastian Schmidt (auth.)

Musical Extrapolations
Sebastian Schmidt
Musical Extrapolations
Creative Processes Involved While
Music is Being Listened to and
Composed
Sebastian Schmidt
Karlsruhe, Germany
ISBN 978-3-658-11124-3 ISBN 978-3-658-11125-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-11125-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947768
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FormybeloveddaughterSontjeandmywonderfulwifeNadja.
Acknowledgment
Firstofall,IwouldliketothankRaphaelaTraumann,who,alongtimeago,en-
couraged me to work in this direction. My thanks also, to Thomas A. Troge and
Denis Lorrain for their constant help during my studies, and whose thoughtful
suggestions resulted in important aspects to this thesis; to Sven Traumann, who
readallpartsofthemanuscript;andtoBarbara-Wengeler-Stiftungforitsfinancial
support.
Finally,IwantespeciallythankmywifeNadjaSchmidt,whowasalwayshelp-
fulandencouragingduringdifficulttimes.
SebastianSchmidt,Karlsruhe
Abstract
It is well known that human creativity influences the organization of music, and
that individual differences of creative behavior in music exist. Numerous studies
havebeencarriedouttoinvestigateaspectsofcreativity,suchasthelinkbetween
creativityandcognition,developmentalaspectsofcreativity,creativepersonalities,
creative production abilities, definitions of musical creativity, educational strate-
giesformusicalcreativity,etc.However,mostofthesestudiesonlydealwithpar-
ticularaspects,andrelativelylittleworkhasbeencarriedouttoassesscreativityin
musicinasystematicway.
The present study proposes such a systematic understanding about the con-
ditions, mechanisms, influences, and processes evolving into a creative behavior
in music, based on interdisciplinary perspectives of the cognitive sciences: de-
velopmentalpsychology,neuroscience,musicpsychology,emotionsresearch,and
creativityresearchingeneralandinmusic.Forinstance,ourfindingssuggestthat
generalcreativeprocessesareinvolvedwhilemusicisperceived,learned,andprac-
ticed. But also that, similarly to activities involved in composing music, creative
processesareactivewhilelisteningtomusic.Wethusassumeparallelsindevelop-
mentalaspectsbetweenlisteningandcomposingcompetences,and,furthermore,
argueforpossibledevelopmentsofmusicalcreativityorcreativethinkinginmusic
consistingroughlyofthreesteps.Theseandotherfindingsestablishthefoundation
foranextendedsystematic,proposedasanoriginalmodelofcreativityinmusic.
Thefocusisonso-calledmusicalextrapolationsprocesseswhichbringtheelu-
sivequalityofmusicintomentalexistencebycreatingextrapolationsabout:first,
possible future occurring events; second, their musical meanings; and third, the
meanings of their inter-relations. These processes, involved while music is be-
ing listened to and composed, are defined as the result of implicit and explicit
problem-solvingprocesseswhichareguidedintangiblewaysbyfactorsofintrin-
sic activities and motivation, pre-disposed and experience-based structures, and
environmentalpressure.
Thisso-calledModelofMusicalExtrapolationsstructuresanewperspectivein
research, and furthermore, provides an enormous potential for future extensions,
notleastbecauseanenhancedperspectiveisopenedaboutthecomplexityofhighly
creativeandparallelprocessesorganizingsoundswhilelisteningtowhatiscalled
music,aswellasmusicalideaswhilecomposing.
Contents
ListofFigures.................................................
Introduction................................................... 19
PartI InterdisciplinaryPerspectivesofCognitiveSciencesinTermsofMusic
1 PerspectivesofDevelopmentalPsychology:BetweenPre-disposed
StructuresandMusicalExperience ............................. 27
1.1 OntogenyofMusicalAbilitiesduringthePrenatalPeriod ....... 27
1.1.1 TheFetalSoundEnvironment......................... 27
1.1.2 FetalAuditoryCompetencies ......................... 30
1.1.3 FetalAuditoryLearningandMemoryStructures ......... 33
1.2 Infants’AuditorySensitivityRelatedtoAcousticalParameters
ofMusic ................................................. 35
1.2.1 AuditoryThresholdSensitivity ....................... 35
1.2.2 AuditorySensitivityforFrequency,PitchandTimbre
Discrimination ..................................... 40
1.3 PerspectivesofInfantsGeneralMusicalOrganization ........... 46
1.3.1 AuditoryGroupingandSegregationProcesses........... 47
1.3.2 Perception of Time and Rhythmical Structures - a
SensorimotorPerspective ............................ 49
1.3.3 Processingof’Musical’Sequences .................... 55
1.4 TheEvolvingMusical-ArtisticCompetenceFromInfancyto
Adulthood ............................................... 57
1.4.1 ChildDevelopmentinaSocial-CulturalEnvironment-
theperspectiveofPiagetandNeo-Piagetian ............. 58
1.4.2 ThreeModelsofMusical-ArtisticDevelopment.......... 64
12 Contents
1.4.2.1 Hargreaves ’Five Age-Related Phases
in Musical-Artistic Development’
.......................................... 65
1.4.2.2 Swanwick and Tillman’s Model of
’DevelopmentalSpiral’ ................ 69
1.4.2.3 Schubert and McPherson’s Model
of Emotion Perception in Music
.......................................... 72
1.4.2.4 Conclusion – Relationships and
Distinctions Amongst the Three Theories
.......................................... 77
1.5 Summary ................................................ 80
2 PerspectivesonCreativityinGeneralandwhileMusicisbeing
ListenedtoandComposed ..................................... 85
2.1 PerspectivesonCreativityinGeneral ......................... 85
2.1.1 CognitionandCreativity ............................. 85
2.1.2 DevelopmentalandSocialInfluencesonCreativity ...... 90
2.1.3 CreativityinDependenceonPersonality,Motivation,
andEmotion ....................................... 96
2.2 MusicalCreativity/CreativeThinkinginSound.................111
2.3 DevelopmentalAspectsofMusicalCreativity/CreativeThinking
inSound .................................................118
2.3.1 Definitions of Musical Creativity in the Course of
Development.......................................118
2.3.2 Perspectives to Measure the Potential and its
Developmentwithin’thePsychometricApproach’of
MusicalCreativity ..................................121
2.3.3 Conclusions – Measurement of Musical
Creativity/Creative Thinking in Sound/Music
andtheirDevelopment...............................136
2.4 CreativityinListeningtoMusic .............................140
2.4.1 Listenersas(Creative)MakersofMusic ................140
2.4.2 VariousWaysofListening(toMusic) ..................144
2.4.3 CreativityResearchinTermsofListeningtoMusic.......153
2.4.4 Conclusions .......................................160
2.5 CreativitywhileComposingofMusic ........................162
2.5.1 TheRoleofImageryandImagination ..................162
2.5.2 Composing Music – A Creative Problem-Solving
Perspective ........................................168
Contents 13
2.5.2.1 Between Ill-defined Problems and
Well-structuredSolutions ....................169
2.5.2.2 InfluenceswhileComposingofMusic..........173
2.5.2.3 ModelsdescribingCreativeProblem-Solving
inTermsofComposingMusic ................180
2.6 Summary ................................................191
PartII MusicalExtrapolations–TowardsaModelofCreativityinMusic
3 AttheVeryHeart(ofMusic) ...................................209
4 TheModelofMusicalExtrapolations–BasicFactorsandtheir
Inter-dependencies ............................................223
4.1 IntrinsicActivityandMotivation.............................223
4.2 Pre-disposedandExperience-basedStructures .................228
4.2.1 Pre-disposed .......................................228
4.2.2 Experience-based ...................................232
4.3 EnvironmentalPressure ....................................239
4.4 AttheVeryHeartofNewMusicalExtrapolations...............247
4.4.1 Problem-ConstructionandProblem-Finding.............249
4.4.2 Idea-Generation ....................................254
4.4.3 Evaluation .........................................264
4.5 Summary ................................................270
5 Perspectives of Investigation Based on the Outlind Model of
MusicalExtrapolations ........................................289
References........................................................295
Appendices .......................................................345