Musical Creativity: The Stream of Consciousness in Composition, Improvisation, and Education

Abstract

This article explores the stream of consciousness as a primary source for the ideas from which music is created. Improvisation and composition are presented as behaviors which deserve attention at all levels of elementary and high school music programs; the cognitive foundations of each are discussed. Also, humanistic methods of teaching music are described in the article as being superior to the traditional behaviorist methods, because the former encourage the development of both representational and creative skills, while the latter reward representational skill development and discourage the skills needed to be a creator of music.