The study of musical composition has been marked by a didactic, technique-based approach, focusing on the understanding of musical language and grammar -harmony, counterpoint, orchestration and arrangement - or on generic and stylistic categories. In the field of the psychology of music, the study of musical composition, even in the twenty-first century, remains a poor cousin to the literature which relates to musical perception, music performance, musical preferences, musical memory and so on. Our understanding of the compositional process has, in the main, been informed by anecdotal after-the-event accounts or post hoc analyses of composition. The Act of Musical Composition: Studies in the Creative Process presents the first coherent exploration around this unique aspect of human creative activity. The central threads, or key themes - compositional process, creative thinking and problem-solving - are integrated by the combination of theoretical understandings of creativity with innovative empirical work.
Contents: Preface; Empirical and historical musicologies of compositional processes: towards a cross-fertilization, Nicolas Donin; Process, self-evaluation, and lifespan creativity trajectories in eminent composers, Aaron Kozbelt; Musical imagery in the creative process, Freya Bailes and Laura Bishop; Meaningful engagement with music composition, Andrew R. Brown and Steve Dillon; The practice of diverse compositional creativities, Pamela Burnard; Constraint, collaboration and creativity in popular songwriting teams, Joe Bennett; The influence of the extra-musical on the composing process, Shira Lee Katz; Improvisation as real-time composition, Simon Rose and Raymond MacDonald; On computer-aided composition, musical creativity and brain asymmetry, Eduardo Reck Miranda; Defining inspiration? Modelling the non-conscious creative process, Geraint A. Wiggins; Rules, tactics, and strategies for composing music, David Cope; Index.
