Activating Diverse Musical Creativities - (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Activating Diverse Musical Creativities analyses the ways in which music programmes in higher education can activate and foster diverse musical creativities. It also demonstrates the relationship between musical creativities and entrepreneurship in higher education teaching and learning. These issues are of vital significance to contemporary educational practice and training in both university and conservatoire contexts, particularly when considered alongside the growing importance of entrepreneurship, defined here as a type of creativity, for successful musicians working in the 21st century creative and cultural industries.

International contributors address a broad spectrum of musical creativities in higher education, such as improvisational creativity, empathic creativity and leadership creativity, demonstrating the transformative possibilities of embedding these within higher music education teaching and learning. The chapters explore the active practice of musical creativities in teaching and learning and recognize their mutual dependency. The contributors consider philosophical and practical concerns in their work on teaching for creativity in higher music education and focus on practices using imaginative approaches in order to make learning more interesting, effective and relevant.

Review Quotes

"Ambitious and wide-ranging ... With its philosophical and theoretical substance, this is a book to inspire reflection ... It is a rich offering." --Journal of Music, Technology and Education

"Engaging and thought-provoking, and successful in highlighting a range of challenging issues ... This book makes a valuable contribution to current debates surrounding the future of music education ... Music education leaders and professionals should take particular notice of [it]." --Journal of Education for Teaching

"This book treats with freshness and vitality issues that are crucial for educators in higher education and beyond. The international and multi-disciplinary group of scholars - anthropologists, psychologists, musicians, artists and art educators - engage us in deeply educational issues and experiences ... Enthusiastically recommended!" --Liora Bresler, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Illinois, USA

"This is an illuminating and long-overdue book that celebrates the myriad ways in which musicians engage their creativity, both as they develop their expertise and then as professionals. In many contexts, we are experiencing acute needs to champion innovative artistic practices whilst at the same time maintaining the qualities of traditional practices. It is clear that creative entrepreneurship is essential to future success, and this book helps to demystify its principles and practice. It is a must-read for all those engaged in higher music education." --Helena Gaunt, Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, UK

About the Author

Pamela Burnard is Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. Recent publications include Musical Creativities in Practice (2012), Teaching Music Creatively (with Regina Murphy, 2013) and Developing Creativities in Higher Music Education (2013).

Elizabeth Haddon is Research Fellow at the University of York, UK. She is the author of Making Music in Britain: Interviews with Those Behind the Notes (2006).