In Music, University of London Institute of Education 1987
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TOWARDSA MODELOF THE DEVELOPMENTOF MUSICAL CREATIVITY: A STUDYOF THE COMPOSITIONSOF CHILDREN AGED 3- 11 by June Barbara TILLMAN Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music, University of London Institute of Education 1987 uý y UNI V, 1 I ABSTRACT The first part is concerned with the literature. The first chapter deals with the problem of definition and is a general outline of all the issues, many of which will be discussed in more detail later. The second including examines the positions taken by a wide variety of writers psych- ologists, psychiatrists and artists themselves on the subject of the creative In it process and in particular whether it can be divided into stages. In the there is a greater concern with creativity in the arts in general. third the writings on the creative process are linked with those about child- fourth ren's creativity and in particular their musical work. The chapter examines the history of the relationship between creativity and education and draws on the preceding chapters to set out some of the educational implications. the The second part turns to a survey of children's compositions and based the development of an eight-stage spiral of development. This is on psychological concepts of mastery, imitation, imaginative play and meta- cognition and on an interpretation of hundreds of children's compositions. the (The age range is 3 to 11). The second chapter links this spiral with preceding chapters on creativity. the The last chapter outlines the implications for various aspects of curriculum and possible wider implications. It also contains a wide variety deals of areas that future research might explore. The first appendix with practical suggestions for implementing the implications in the classroom. The second hints at its possible use in understanding the work of adult composers. The third appendix deals in more detail with the children's fully. compositions and thus illuminates the progress of the development more 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank Professor Keith Swanwick for all his help and encouragement and especially for the work on Part Two Chapter One which was jointly written. I am very grateful to the Inner London Education Authority for financing the project and for allowing me to tape work in their schools. In particular I should like to thank the staff and pupils of Furzedown Primary School and Ann Wilkins, the headmistress and of Graveney (formerly Furzedown) Secondary School and John Phillips, the headmaster. I owe a great deal to St. Julian's where much of the work was done. I am indebted to many people with whom I have discussed the ideas, but especially Jennifer Fowler, Marian Liebmann, Diane Berry, Judy Ollington, Peter Shave, Gillian Shave, Jack Chatterley, Kathy Lowers, Shirley Winfield, Diana Thompson, Ursula Nicholl (whose dramatic work sparked off my first attempts), Marie Tomlinson, Pat Foster and Bernard Braley. I should like to thank other people who have advised, helped, supported and encouraged, especially Ian Ainsworth-Smith, Daphne Himmel, Juliet Shore, Brian Frost, Daphne Horder, Carol Bowyer, Gabrielle Turner and Linda Esposito. Those mentioned in these achknowledgements are only a few of those who have helped, encouraged and guided me along the road that has led to this thesis. To the others also I am extremely grateful. Finally, this could not have been written without the tolerance, help and consideration of my husband and two sons. CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements PART ONE - The Literature on Creativity CHAPTER I Definitions of Creativity CHAPTER II The Process of Creativity CHAPTER III Creativity and the Development of Children CHAPTER IV' Creativity and Education PART TWO - Towards a Model of the Development of Children's Creativity in Music CHAPTER I The Sequence of Musical Development CHAPTER II Creativity and the Developmental Spiral CHAPTER III Curriculum Implications and Suggestions for Further Research Bibliography APPENDIX ONE Classroom Texts and Teaching Strategies APPENDIX TWO A Note on the Systematic Mode APPENDIX THREE The Analysis of the Children's Compositions PART ONE THE LITERATURE ON CREATIVITY ý.,, 5 CHAPTER I DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY Introduction Creativity and creative are much used words today. There are catalogues of 'creative percussion' and handbooks of 'creative activities'. It is a bandwagon, a rallying cry for the converted, a bastion against the upholders of traditional methods. But if we look at its meaning we find that it is as multi-faceted as a diamond and that each writer on the subject is looking at that collection of facets that happen to be facing him at the time. The first chapter will be an attempt to tease out some of the strands of meaning. Indeed the term 'creativity' did not appear in the Oxford Dictionary 14 till the twentieth century when in 1972 'creativity' is defined"-, (l) as the creative power or faculty: ability to create; 'creation' on the other hand was earlier defined as the action or process of creating. Golann puts together in this quotation many of the strands that it is hoped will be unravelled later: A striking feature of the literature on creativity is the diversity of interests, motives and approaches characteristic of many investigators. Creativity has been viewed as a normally distributed trait, an aptitude trait, an intrapsychic process, and as a style of life. It has been described as that which is seen in all children, but few adults. It has been described as that which leads to innovation in science, performance in fine arts, or new thoughts. Creativity has been described as related to, or (1) Oxford Dictionary, London, Oxford University Press, 1972, p. 673. (2) Oxford Dictionary, London, Oxford University Press, 1933, P" 1152. 6 equatable with, intelligence, productivity, positive mental health, and originality. It has been described as being caused by self- actualisation and by sub. iiation and restitution 1) of destructive impulses. The Myth of Divine Creation 'creativity'. The notion of creation must be implicit in the term Elliott outlines how the concept of creativity as traditionally applied Creativity to works of art is linked with the myth of divine creation. is bringing a new thing into being; it is part of the concept of an artist. Either instantaneously or by process of making, God freely brought into being, ex nihilo or from some pre-existent indefinite material, a concrete, infinitely rich, perfectly ordered and beautiful world, the most wonderful of all created objects save man himself. He made it for man, not only as his environment and to sustain him, but, more importantly, for him to contemplate and wonder at ý2ý a perpetual occasion for him to praise his maker. This link may be in part due to an ancient link between art and religion. Much early art was not for art's sake but for religious ends. Bell(a) and Tolstoy(4) both see a link between art and religion today. Indeed later references to the role of play in (i) Golann, S. E., Psychological Study of Creativity, Psychological Bulle tin, Vol. 60, No. 6,1963, pp. 548 - 565. (2) Elliott, R. K., Versions of Creativity, Proceedings of Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, Vol. 5, No. 2,1971, pp. 139 - 152. (3) Bell, C., All, New York, Capricorn Books, 1958, pp. 181 - 190. (4) Tolstoy, L., at Is Art? London, Oxford University Press, 1930, pp. 121 - 34. 7 (') creativity have their roots in religion too as in Sachs. And a (2) concept of the word "God" by Rickman is used at one end of an evaluation scale as the absolute beauty at the other end of which we recognise the power of death which we say is ugly. Perhaps the most worked out link is in Dorothy Sayers. The speech of Archangel Michael at the end of The Zeal of Thy House sums up her (3) (worked thinking out in more detail in The Mind of the Maker). Praise Him that He hath made man in His own image, a maker and craftsman like Himself, a little mirror of His triune majesty. For every work of creation is threefold, an earthly trinity to match the heavenly. First: there is the Creative Idea; passionless, timeless, beholding the whole work complete at one, the end in the beginning, and this is the image of the Father. Second: there is the Creative Energy, begotten of that Idea, working in time from the beginning to the end, with sweat and passion, being incarnate in the bonds of matter; and this is the image of the Word. Third: there is the Creative Power, the meaning of the work and its response in the lovely soul; and this is the image of the indwelling Spirit. And these three are one, each equally in itself the whole work, whereof none can exists ithout other and this is the image of the Trinity. (1) Sachs, H., The Creative Unconscious, Cambridge, Massachussetts, Sci-Art, 1947, pp. 211 - 215. (2) Rickman, J., On the Nature of Ugliness and the Creative Impulse, in Ruitenbeck, H. M., The Creative Imagination, Chicago, Quadrangle 1965, Books, pp. 97 - 121. (3) Sayers, D., The Mind of the Maker, London, Methuen, 9th ed. 1947, 1st published 1941. (4) Quoted in Brabazon, J., Dorothy L. Savers: The Life of a Courageous Woman, London, Victor Gollancz, 1981, p. 206. 8 Elliott continues: Our ordinary concept of creativeness is still dominated by this She divine creatio7 myth. Instances of creating are arranged in a hierarchy, from accidental production and mechanical fabrica- (as tion through simple originative making when a schoolchild makes something of his own choice out of clay) to production which involves uniqueness or originality and is further classified as invention between or artistic creation.