The production of novelty is sometimes used as almost a synonym for creativity. But what constitutes novelty?
"Creativity in this sense would amount to skill in smoothly and innovatively combining or sequencing phrases or motifs from memory while conforming to structural constraints supplied by prototype and convention (such as chord progressions in jazz). "
Björn Merker in Deliege & Wiggins Musical Creativity (pg. 27)
Merker is talking about Jazz solos but we could just as well consider these examples: here and here.
Boden provides a summary of her book (which make the below a 2nd order compression). The starting point is the creation of new ideas (including poems, music and scientific inventions under the same umbrella) - the novel combination of familiar ideas to produce something new. She notes that this novelty should also be valuable and recognised as being valuable a fact too often neglected in the discussion. She also points out that how those familiar ideas came together is important in order to understand creativity (e.g. defining creativity in such a way does not explain how it happens). She calls this type of creativity improbablistic:
"A merely novel idea is one which can be described or produced by the same set of generative rules as are other, familiar, ideas."
In contrast impossibilist creativity is more radical. Something that could not occur within the usual mental activity in the relevant field (whether in art, science, or other domains).
She also mentions P & H creativity. P, for psychological or personal, are ideas that are new to the person originating them regardless of whether others had the same idea in the past. H, for historical, is a P-creative idea that also did not occur to anyone else before.
To understand how impossible ideas can come about she starts with the conceptual space - the system that enables us to generate useful ideas or concepts in relation to a domain or task. All the possible Bach-style Chorale harmonisations (of a given melody). Improbablistic would be exploring new parts of this conceptual space. Impossibilist creativity is transforming this conceptual space. She gives the example of the expansion of tonal harmony in 18th and 19th music as an example where the conceptual space kept being tweaked to expand what is possible. The conceptual space is defined (perhaps in part) by constraints, eliminating or changing a constraint is one way of transforming the conceptual space.
Creativity and _______________
insert: inspiration, problem solving, originality, inventiveness, expertise(?), ...
Is a creative act part of a continuum (related to simpler tasks) or is it qualitatively different?
Can we talk of creativity as a general trait. In other words does creativity in music, painting, science, teaching all tap the same mechanism or processes?
Composer as creator (of new things) or explorer (of unknown things. See Boden above).
Are definitions driven mainly by what we can objectively assess?
Other questions/issues:
creativity and time ("Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration") - is it mostly about the 'aha' moment? when does the creative process start and end?
(How) can we teach creativity? (How) can we foster it?
Multiple creativities in music: composing (<-improvising->) performing listening.
The flow-machine project (the concept and ideas discussed by Pachet in his chapter): overview and a video introduction
A Neuroscientific perspective on Musical creativity
Studying process rather then product.
Discusses some general theories about the creative process, such as:
Stages: preparation, incubation, illumination and verification (from Wallas, G. (1926) The Art of Thought. London: Watts.)
Creativity as problem solving but at the same time the 'problem' is not well defined and novelty may be more important then the fitness of the solution
Discusses some related studies and notes difficulties:
Composition often takes place over a lengthy period of time (weeks, months).
Studies of specific tasks (compose a short melody or a fugue) are artificial and may not reflect organic composition process.
Interference of the data acquisition with the creative process.
Proliferation of data.
This article is about a case study of 1 composer over a 3-year period.
Composer working in his home studio (normal work setting for the person who writes music for video games, tv, etc.)
No limitations or prescriptions set as a task.
Data collected:
regular MIDI saves, by the composer himself during the work when he decides something important changed.
Semi-structured interviews before the study began and after the composition was finished.
Composer ask to record verbal comments reflecting on his activities. While ongoing commentary on actions is not feasible, reflections on recent work which included both speech and recorded examples from the piece would not interfere as much with the process.
Analysis.
Identifying categories emerging out of recorded comments and interviews:
perspectives (by the composer of elements and sub-elements of the composition)
approaches (to composing, in general and in particular)
processes/strategies (at a micro level – e.g. dynamics, instrumentation, pitch)
processes/strategies (at a macro level – e.g. placement of themes, sections)
'Real-time mapping' organising the different data-types chronologically
'structural mapping' – graphic representation of themes in the composition process.
Results/Discussion
Starting point was both a general and vague notion of the overall piece and 2 themes composed on the first day.
The relationship between the structure and the theme only became clearer as the work progressed.
Solving one 'problem' often leads to additional problems. Sometime the solution is to reformulate the problems.
The study identified stages in the creative process but boundaries were fluid – the composer shifting back and forth.
There were also more substantial transformational moments which shifted the process to a different level.
Restructuring of the problem by redefining the 'givens' (e.g. themes already composed) or redefining goals.
Possible evidence for simultaneous (as opposed to sequential) problem solving.
Shifting of focus between micro- and macro-level thinking.