Creative Conceptualisation: Nurturing Creative Practice Through the Popular Music Pedagogy of Live Recording Production (original) (raw)
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2017
This article examines how musicians use recordings as learning resources in preparing for performance. While previous research has partially acknowledged the contribution of external factors to self-regulated learning, the specific impact of recordings on performers’ approaches to practising remains largely uncharted. A survey was designed to assess the use and importance of recordings on musicians’ listening and practising behaviours, their preferences when choosing recordings, and the type of influence exerted by recordings over self-regulatory processes. Respondents (N = 204) completed an online survey, and the data were analysed according to level of expertise: advanced music students (n = 147) and professional musicians (n = 57). The results show clear differences between students and professionals in the frequency of use and level of reliance on recordings, with students consistently exhibiting a greater preference for these resources. Students were more likely to listen to recordings and, consequently, change aspects of their interpretations in the early stages of practising. Additionally, students were influenced by other people’s recommendations, especially their teachers’, and by other performers’ reputations when choosing recordings. The need to develop a distinct style had a positive influence on students’ practising and performing habits. The study shows that listening to recordings forms an integral part of self-regulated learning activities and contributes to musicians’ development by increasing musical knowledge and stylistic awareness.
The romantic and inspirationist understandings of creativity appear to be cemented into place in the music industry so much so that they have become common sense. However rationalist research does not support these views (e.g. . In fact these views have been described as myths (Boden, 2004) and are therefore explanations lacking veracity. If this is the case what is available to describe the phenomena of creativity in studio practice? Historically, most rational research into creativity has focused at the level of the individual neglecting the broader social and cultural structures that shape and enable creativity and cultural production . Nonetheless, recent research has been moving towards confluence models one of which is the systems model . According to this approach creativity comes about through the ongoing operation of "a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996:6). By taking this model and applying it ethnographically to what occurs in the recording studio, from preproduction through to production and postproduction, a greater understanding of the creative process, one that goes beyond common sense and mythic assumptions, may be forthcoming.