A Validation Study of a Measure of Musical Creativity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of the Measures of Creativity in Sound and Music (MCSM), a test developed by Cecilia Wang, and to compare MCSM scores with the subjects' academic achievement scores, sex, and age in months with teacher ratings of the subjects' creativity. The author randomly selected two boys and two girls from each of eight second-grade classrooms ( N = 32), and two judges administered and scored the MCSM. An author-constructed Likert scale rating form was used to collect ratings of each subject's musical creativity and general creativity as determined by the music specialist and classroom teacher, respectively. The author obtained Stanford Achievement Test (StAT) composite scores for each subject from school records and recorded the subject's age in months and sex. Interjudge reliability coefficients for the MCSM subscores of fluency and imagination were .99 and .90, respectively. Interitem reliability coefficients ranged from .83 to .92. Teacher ratings of student creativity were correlated more highly with StAT scores than with MCSM scores, and the intercorrelation between the ratings of the music and classroom teachers was not significant. Differences in neither age nor sex accounted for significant differences in scores on the MCSM. Ratings of music and classroom teachers were significant predictors of musical fluency and accounted for 20% of the variance. None of the variables was a significant predictor of musical imagination.