Music teachers’ self-reported views of creativity in the context of their work

Abstract

What are the main views and perceptions of creativity of a music teacher? By administering an open-ended questionnaire to 11 music teachers, we sought to elicit responses to clarify what are their self-reported understandings of creativity; how they think musical creativity can be facilitated in a teaching setting; and how they can differentiate between individual and collective forms of musical creativity in the classroom. A thematic analysis gave rise to five categories, each addressing one or more of these dimensions from different angles. Findings indicate that our respondents tended to associate the development of a creative musicianship with generally positive concepts, attributing to it several interrelated meanings. In particular, the music teachers who took part in the study mentioned how fostering creative attitude in their students may involve stimulating their curiosity, changing their perspectives, and helping them navigate both personal and social domains; finally, our participants indicated that both individual and collective forms of teaching may display important constraints when creativity is placed at the heart of the lesson.