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DONCASTER COLLEGE, UK
Introduction
Several authors have suggested theoretical or hypothetical models to describe
the compositional process by building upon general theories of creative
behaviour and autobiographical descriptions of the creative process
(Aranosian, 1981; Emmerson, 1989; Laske, 1989; Roozendaal, 1993; Baroni,
1999). Webster (1987, 1989, 2002) has attempted to provide a comprehen-
sive conceptual model for creative thinking in music, which encompasses
composition, performance and analysis within the interplay of divergent and
convergent thinking.
A literature model, or organizational scheme, outlined by the same author
(Webster, 1992) draws a clear distinction between those studies which have
focused mainly upon an assessment of musical product and those concerned
sempre :
194 Psychology of Music 33(2)
with the musical process, which is the primary concern of this study.
Whereas product-based studies (not including innumerable post-hoc analy-
ses of compositions in all genres and styles) regard musical characteristics of
the piece as the primary identifier of cognitive processes (e.g. Doig, 1941;
Loane, 1984; Kratus,1985; Swanwick and Tillman, 1986; Bunting, 1987;
Van Ernst, 1993; Kennedy, 1999), process-based studies focus upon observ-
able behaviours or reported thought processes during the creative act
(Webster, 1992: 70). Some studies have related the process of musical com-
position to Wallass stage theory of creative thinking (Wallas, 1926) (for
example, Bennett, 1976; Kratus, 1989; Burnard and Younker, 2002), but the
overall picture is one which describes or tracks only linear, macro-level plan-
ning and implementation, or general routes and working strategies which
could be used by composers.
Adopting the stance that creative thinking is a form of problem-solving
activity (Gilhooly, 1996), and that a single model of creative behaviour may
well be inadequate to describe the complexity of the creative act (see
Mumford, 2003), the study outlined in this article attempts to illustrate a
finer-grained tracking of the compositional process in real time and broaden
out and relate any findings not only to Wallass stage theory, but to three
other process theories of creative thinking.
Gestalt theory
The idea of dividing creative thought into discrete stages is alien to the
Gestalt school (Duncker, 1945; Wertheimer, 1945); creative problem solving
is a process where individual sub-elements have to be gathered into a whole
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 195
same author indicated that the situation had undergone little change, with
several thousand empirical studies on music perception, but still fewer than
ten serious direct studies of the compositional process, involving in total,
fewer than twenty composers (Sloboda, 1995: 3).
The earliest serious study of compositional process by Reitman (1965)
included an intriguing single case study of a professional composer, with the
primary aim of establishing whether or not it would provide adequate material
for computer modelling. In information processing theory the composition of
a piece of music is classified as an ill-defined problem, and, in this instance,
the ill-defined problem constituted the composition of a fugue by the partici-
pant. Reitmans single case study stands as a key work in the empirical litera-
ture, with its in-depth implementation and analysis of a verbal protocol
delivered by a real composer writing a real piece of music. He postulates
several transformational characteristics used by a composer: (1) constraint
proliferation, where as the problem-solving embedded within the compositional
activity progresses, the increasing number of problem components thrown
up become more critical as a source of constraints; (2) attribute discontinuity,
where in the problem-solving process the composer ignores or suspends
attention to particular attributes (i.e. musical parameters such as rhythm or
dynamics) in order to deal with an aspect of the problem-solving; and (3) con-
nected alternates, where the composer defers plans or actions until suitable
conditions arise for their implementation. Reitman also highlights the
recursive nature of creative thinking involved in musical composition.
Ten years later Bamberger (1977), working with eight musically
untrained students, aimed to discover the strategies involved in composing a
melody. Using a methodological top-down approach, students were given the
opportunity to arrange and rearrange pre-composed tune-blocks embedded
in a computer program; these consisted of musical motifs, or small melodic
phrases consisting of between three to six notes. This was a highly innovative
approach to data-generation and storage and paved the way for later computer-
based studies. As with Reitmans composer, the participants in Bambergers
study made comments as they worked, which became embedded within the
growing musical structure and final protocol. An evaluation of the strategies
involved included the search for continuity, goals, structuring parts into
wholes: grappling with crucial questions involving the interaction between
local and global structure, between detail and larger design (1977: 301).
Davidson and Welsh (1988) applied more experimental procedures in
their study of compositional procedures, and in a similar fashion, asked both
novice and expert participants to speak aloud while they worked on a task of
writing a modulating melody. The authors noted that while novices generally
worked on a note-by-note basis, the experts were able to chunk information
into larger units, hold the focus of attention on the task in hand, but be able
to look both forwards and backwards into the music at the same time.
Davidson and Welshs work provided a point of departure for Younker and
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 197
Smiths empirical study of the composition process (1996) with novices and
experts. Differing levels of working strategy were observed: novices con-
sidered only local features or isolated, individual sound events. Those
working at a higher level reflected a Gestalt-like approach where they demon-
strated the ability to consider moments of the task from the perspective of
the structured whole (p. 274).
Younker and Smith (1996) recognized the methodological difficulty of
managing vast amounts of transcribed verbal, music notation and sonic data
in process-based studies (p. 34).
Colley et al.s (1992) study of compositional processes involving four-part
harmony also used a verbal protocol data collection methodology. Three
music novices and one music expert were asked to complete seven bars of a
Bach chorale with a given soprano line, within a time constraint of one hour.
A tape-recorder and microphone were used to collect the participants verbal
data. While experts approached the task considering general strategic factors,
novices took less of an overview and approached the task on a bar-by-bar
basis.
By highlighting music composition as a dynamic time-related process,
Kratus (1989, 1994) suggested that in the analysis of compositional activity,
researchers should trace changes in the process over time and, in two studies,
implemented computer-based data collection techniques in order to track
such changes. Computer-based data collection techniques were also used in
Scripp et al.s study (1988). In comparison with some of the previously
described approaches to studying the compositional process, their study gave
participants a greater deal of freedom in completing tasks. Smith and Smith
(1994) aimed to address the problem of data overload from the Younker and
Smith (1996) study and postulated a computer-based multimedia platform to
examine research efforts in creative problem solving and teaching and learn-
ing in music composition. By using the HyperCard environment of the Apple
computer, the various forms of data would be displayed: text protocol, digit-
ized speech from the protocol, digitized music from the unfolding composi-
tion, digitized playing, singing or humming. The computer was also used by
Wilson and Wales (1995) in their product-based study, to assess the ways in
which children represent melody and rhythm. Building upon previous work
which explored the relationships between graphical, figural representation of
sounds and cognitive processes (see Bamberger, 1982; Davidson and Scripp,
1988; Scripp et al., 1988), the authors hoped that the interactive nature of
the computer would allow untrained participants access into music composi-
tion, notation and performance/playback.
More recently, Folkestads longitudinal study of young peoples musical
compositions (Folkestad, 1996; also Folkestad et al., 1997) used more sophis-
ticated computer-based data collection techniques and is of particular sig-
nificance here. A similar dynamic or time-based approach to Kratus was
adopted, but as participants created their music at the computer workstation,
198 Psychology of Music 33(2)
MIDI files were continuously collected using the save-as command. This
novel approach allowed a more accurate degree of mapping compositional
processes, as each save-as could be accompanied by a date and time stamp
within the file, rather than erasing previous work. Folkestad suggested two
fundamental styles of composition: horizontal, where melody, harmony and
structure are composed in one activity from beginning to end, and smaller-
scale editing procedures such as instrumentation deployed afterwards, and
vertical, where the composer works in small chunks, completing them
before moving on to the next section.
Burnard and Younkers study (2002) aimed to track compositional strate-
gies, which they define as significant decision-making moments for the over-
all composition (p. 248) with individual students from varied backgrounds.
The authors adopt Websters model of creative thinking in music (Webster,
1987), which lays emphasis upon the interplay between divergent and con-
vergent thinking, and suggest that compositional strategies may well accord
with Wallass stage theory model (Wallas, 1926). In order to carry out this
mapping, multiple sources of data were derived from verbal reports in the
form of think alouds while composing, interviews, observation, students
written reports as well as the examination of musical products. These
products were captured using a MIDI keyboard and Apple computer. Not
only did the authors claim to observe both linearity and recursivity within the
stage model, but also eureka moments of illumination when, for example, a
student might grasp a holistic understanding of the, as yet incomplete, piece.
A further open-ended compositional process study set within a one-week
timeframe by Seddon and ONeill (2003) also employed computer-based data
collection techniques, in this case to track compositional strategies used by
adolescents with or without formal instrumental tuition. MIDI save-as files
were collected at the end of each composition session, rather than in an
ongoing manner, as well as videotape to track phases in the compositional
process: the exploratory, rehearsal and construction phases. As in previous
studies, students were observed to move in both linear and recursive fashion
between these phases.
In order to contextualize this present study some issues surrounding the
above empirical studies of the compositional process require highlighting:
1. Very little of the empirical data outlined above has been obtained in a
real-world, naturalistic setting; the so-called scientific objectivity
claimed by researchers may well be flavoured by the experimental psy-
chology paradigm (see Persson and Robson, 1995). Thus, many of the
studies, for example, ask participants to behave creatively within precise
time constraints (Kratus, 1989), within pre-set rhythmical frameworks
(Younker and Smith, 1996), in examination-type environments
(Davidson and Welsh, 1988), or within styles or genres of composing
which are foreign to them (Colley et al., 1992).
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 199
Method
PARTICIPANT
For this three-year study a professional composer was purposively selected.
With a large-scale verbal protocol analysis being a major component of
the methodology, it was important that not only was he articulate, but
200 Psychology of Music 33(2)
enthusiastic about being involved in the study and understood the demands
upon his time that such a study might imply. The participant was regularly
involved in writing music to commission (e.g. video soundtracks, music for
radio and TV, computer game music). His preferred mode of writing music
was via a home computer-based system, and therefore the data collection
methods were not an artificial or unnatural intrusion.
Verbal protocols
Protocol analysis techniques developed by Ericsson and Simon (1980) have
been used in a variety of qualitative research fields, particularly in writing
research (e.g. Hayes and Flower, 1983; Smagorinsky, 1994; Witte and
Cherry, 1994). For Ericsson and Simon (1984), the most reliable verbal
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 201
reports on cognitive processes are concurrent, and most studies using this
technique have involved participants in relatively low cognitive-load problem-
solving activities. In this particular study, which involved a high degree of
physical manipulation that could interfere with concurrent reporting (i.e.
manipulation of music and QWERTY keyboard, mouse and pointer, opera-
tion of mixing desk and outboard processors and sound generating devices),
immediate retrospective reporting was employed. Perkins (1981) has indicated
that investigators report this as a finer-grained improvement over thinking-
aloud, one designed to collect a more detailed account of the last minute or
so of thinking (p. 36). Thus, the participant was requested to carry out retro-
spective reporting immediately following a period of compositional activity.
In order to make clear, unambiguous verbal reports during the working
period, with as little distraction from the task as possible, a microphone was
linked to a cassette recorder through the mixing desk. This arrangement
allowed the participant not only to record his own voice, but also to easily
record and intersperse musical examples as he progressed through the work;
it acted as an effective audio enhancement of the verbal protocol, and
clarified any ambiguously transcribed text.
DATA ANALYSIS
In this study data was presented in the following ways:
music data (in the form of MIDI files, audio and notation);
graphical representation of the ongoing work derived from computer
screenshots; and
text (acquired through a verbal protocol, interviews, and verification
sessions).
Through long-term engagement with this data, three major components
emerged:
real-time mapping;
thematic mapping;
structural mapping.
202 Psychology of Music 33(2)
Real-time mapping
The aim of real-time mapping was to present and collate the MIDI save-as
files which had been collected over the period of the composition, with
elements of the verbal protocol, specifically in terms of statements by the
composer relating to reflection and planning. In essence, this represents a
diary of sound and verbal data. This data was also cross-correlated with
extracts from the interviews.
Thematic mapping
Once the verbal protocol had been transcribed, it was read and re-read in
order to identify broad categories. Following Erlandsons suggestions on
emergent category designation (Erlandson et al., 1993), this was also applied
to the initial and final interviews. In order to allow new categories to emerge
and old categories to dissipate as empty sets, further reading and coding was
carried out, until the following resultant categories were elicited, which
directed the final textual analysis:
perspectives (by the composer of elements and sub-elements of the com-
position)
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)
During the constant reading and re-reading of the texts, certain keywords
emerged from the data (such as evolve, add, mood). These occurrences
were then subject to codification in terms of meaning and content. Finally,
data from the verification sessions was used to enhance or clarify meanings
in the text, where needed.
Structural mapping
This acted as a graphically presented overview of events. Through interac-
tion with the emerging data it became evident that the element which
became elevated to a feature was the process of musical structuring. This is
a global view; the individual building blocks of the composition melody,
rhythm, instrumentation, etc. have been subsumed into larger elements
(deriving from the individual folders in which the composer packed music
data in conjunction with the ongoing save-as files). These, as observed in the
real-time mapping, were essentially the fundamental themes of the compo-
sition. Themes are not considered from a single-parameter viewpoint i.e.
melody but as a structural function which encompasses all necessary
parameters. Thematic placement over time served to illustrate how the com-
poser manipulated the emerging composition both in small-scale and global
terms.
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 203
Results
One of the most intriguing issues to arise out of the data analysis at a macro
level of process/strategy was the convolution of thematic placement, which
occurred essentially because of the composers reluctance to change, or pos-
sibly abandon, the two major themes which had originally been composed
within hours of each other on the first day.
The composer at the outset appeared to possess a mental picture of his
composition (or commanding form Langer, 1967: 122) and although this
was only roughly articulated in terms of mood and metaphor (i.e. battle-
like) together with visual/textural ideas rather than specific melodies,
themes or other specifically musical ideas, it nonetheless acted as a loose
framework or superordinate constraint (Sloboda, 1985: 118). In this case,
the composer adhered strongly to the jig (A) and battle (B) themes which
he knew or understood at the outset to be integral to the piece, although at
that stage their final placement within the overall structure was unclear.
The initial concept of the first theme, A (Figure 1) was stated by the com-
poser merely to act as a contrast or relief, or one of perhaps a number of
sections which will be a bit shorter, which will intersperse with the more
battle-like stuff . Thus in the first instance, although the composer did not
ascribe much structural importance to this theme, he was unwilling to make
the theme less significant than B (Figure 2).
Through restructuring the problem, he reformulated the givens; that is,
sticking to what he had written a few hours earlier, he reversed the order of
the seemingly incompatible themes A and B rather than losing either or both.
In what I term a process of problem proliferation; two concurrent
problems now arose out of this restructuring: first, both themes now needed
an appropriate link, and second, since A now opened the piece, a reworking
was required in order to make a more gradual lead in. Two general solutions
are postulated by the composer in the verbal protocol: (1) should he rework
the end of B; or (2) pare down the opening? Either of these would have been
possible, but in an inspired move, he again restructured the problem by
FIGURE 1 Theme A. Note: Some of the triplet beaming has been omitted from this
original screenshot.
FIGURE 2 Theme B
204 Psychology of Music 33(2)
25
FIGURE 4 Theme C
Concurrent problem 2
Concurrent problem 1 Opening needs reworking to
Themes are varied in character make more gradual lead
and need an appropriate link
Restructuring the
problem
So adds new material,
= Reformulating
imported theme (C)
givens
Problem proliferation
Concurrent problem 1 Concurrent problem 2
Balance at link/transition now altered Overall length of piece
now extended
Which also ...
Concurrent problem 3
Creates an unwanted build up into final A
93
FIGURE 7 Theme D. Note: Some of the triplet beaming has been omitted from this
original screenshot.
Collins: A synthesis process model of creative thinking in composition 207
Problem proliferation
Concurrent problem 1 Concurrent problem 2
Balance at link/transition Overall length of piece now
now altered extended
Concurrent problem 3
... creates an unwanted
build up into final A
Problem proliferation
Rethinks entry into A
from B
Discussion
On the basis of these findings (for more extended detail see Collins, 2001) a
hypothetical model is suggested. The model views the compositional process
as a synthesis of stage process models of general creativity and Gestalt theory
with the spirit of Grubers emerging systems theory (Gruber, 1980; Gruber
and Davis, 1988). Like Wallass stage theory (Wallas, 1926) it views the crea-
tive process as a series of steps over time; it also acknowledges that in the
208 Psychology of Music 33(2)
Germinal
ideas/themes/motifs
Sub-goals
= solution
space
Problem
proliferation Reformulating givens
General/functional solutions
Specific
Deferred and/or (immediate) and/or restructuring
solution(s) solutions
Reformulating goals
Sub-goals
Problem
Proliferation
Reformulating givens
General/functional solutions
Specific and/or
Deferred and/or restructuring
(immediate)
solution(s)
solutions
Figure 50
nceptual
:Co model of the compositional process
Reformulating goals
Sub-goals
Problem input
General solutions
Small-scale
editing
Specific solutions
I
Sees the
Motifs/ideas broader
picture Restructuring
Postulating
broad aims
Solution space
next sub-
goal Deferred solutions
particular specific solutions are verbalized but deferred to a later stage in the
process (see Figure 10).
Conclusion
From the case-study, which attempted to track what Minsky terms the
temporal evolution of the compositional process (Minsky and Laske, 1992:
7), a hypothetical model is presented, based on triangulating multiple sources
of thick data. This model reflects elements of classical stage theories of crea-
tivity; however, these theories rely upon imprecise notions such as the role of
illumination, or insight, the acceptance of discrete and linear stages, and
the assumption of well-defined (and usually singular) goals within the problem-
solving activity. The hypothetical model developed from study suggests that
the musical composition process may incorporate many moments of insight-
ful behaviour within a particular mode of general and specific problem
solving, together with instances of simultaneity (or so-called parallel process-
ing in problem solving). Furthermore, set within a paradigm of large scale
problem solving to product, rather than small-scale problem solving with
single, clearly defined goal tasks, the model allows for the proliferation and
branching of problems and subsequent solutions with associated unclear
goals. Since the act of writing music is a product-based form of creative prob-
lem solving, stages in the process are additive, and, furthermore, linearity can
alternate with recursive process; the analysis of the verbal protocol indicated
quite clearly that the composer was involved in a reflexive feedback process
with the emerging composition.
212 Psychology of Music 33(2)
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