CRITICALLY REFLECTING

ON CREATIVE PRACTICE
DR JOHN HABRON, HEAD OF MUSIC EDUCATION
• What is creative work? What does it look like? [Adjectives]

• Colourful, playful, inventive, experimental, original, captivating, unique,

diligent, well-done, thought-provoking, immersive, innovative, indulgent,
diverse, inclusive, inspiring, engaging, powerful, personal

• Class of 2017-18
• What is creativity (i.e. the processes or means that lead to creative work)?
[Verbs… -ing]

• Brainstorming, decision-making, communicating, blue-sky thinking, effort-

taking, experimenting, hallucinating (!!!), imagining, developing, planning,
discovering, exploring, failing, risk-taking, compromising, problem-solving

• Class of 2017-18
 ORIGINALITY: A SPECTRUM
Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds: Learning to be
creative. London: Capstone.
Chapter 4 (pages 111-137)

Original to:
• The person involved – personal originality;
• For a particular community – social originality; and
• For humanity as a whole – historic originality
Ken Robinson

TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

 CREATIVITY: A THEORY
What is it?

“For creativity to occur, a set of rules and practices must

be transmitted from the domain to the individual. The
individual must then produce a novel variation in the
content of the domain. The variation then must be
selected by the field for inclusion in the domain”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p. 315)
 MULTIPLE MUSICAL CREATIVITIES:
ANOTHER THEORY! J
• Individual
• Collaborative / group
• Communal
• Empathic
• Intercultural
• Performance
• Symbolic
• Computational

Pamela Burnard,
Burnard, P. (2012). Rethinking ‘musical creativity’ and the notion
of multiple creativities in music. In O. Odena (Ed.) Musical Professor of Arts,
creativity: Insights from music education research. Oxford: Creativities and
Routledge, 5-27. Education, University of
Cambridge
 EXAMPLES OF CREATIVITY INVOLVING
AUDIENCES AND USERS IN DESIGN…

• Creative People and Places

• Toolkit for shared decision-making:
http://www.creativepeopleplaces.org.uk/sites/default/files/Shared_DecisionM
aking_Toolkit.pdf
 PRACTICE
What is it?

• Knowing how / knowing that

• Knowing how = procedural knowledge
• Knowing that = declarative knowledge

• Procedural knowledge can be “tacit knowledge”

(Polanyi, 1966)

• Embodied – situated

• When a practitioner displays artistry, his/her intuitive

knowing is “richer in information than any
description of it” (Schön, 1983, p.276). And yet, and
Barbara Hepworth 1903-1975 yet…
 …YOU HAVE TO REFLECT ON
YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE
What is reflection? What’s its relationship to critical thinking?
• Critical = judgment
• From krinein (to judge, decide) > kritēs (a judge)
• How does a judge, in a court, make a decision?
 REFLECTION
How to do it?
• Feel – notice – label – think
• Consider the whole of you and the whole situation. All aspects of yourself and the
situation are worthy of reflection: feelings, actions, words, environment, others,
behaviours, phenomena
• Start by focusing on memorable moments: turning points, aha! moments, mistakes,
false starts, breakthroughs, moments of struggle / not knowing
• Consider your different roles and when and how these change; do you feel more
comfortable in one or another? If so, why?
• Think about your experiences and your learning; what you notice and how you learn
• Ask yourself: what does all this mean for me? This is deep reflection…
• Don’t leave out the obvious
• Keep a log; add to it as you go along – Dictaphone, voice memo…

DESCRIPTION
What happened – the ‘facts’
What you noticed, observed or
felt
GET THE BALANCE RIGHT
REFLECTION
Why was it like this? How do I make
sense of it? What does it mean for
me? What I can take from this? What
might I have done differently? What
have I learnt about myself, others
and the world around me? How
might this affect my career
aspirations and choices? How have I
changed as a creative artist? How
have I changed as a person?
 THE FOUR LEVELS…
• See Moodle: GP’s story
 ABOVE ALL…
• Do it continuously, to refine
your work. True reflection is not
something tacked on at the
end of a process.
• Not reflecting during the
process results in missing vital
opportunities to improve as
the project continues
 HOW DOES IT FIT INTO THE
MODULE?
Assessment - Portfolio (equivalent to 6,000 words) to include:
• Project Proposal (and any subsequent updates); 1,000 words (or equivalent)
20%
• Reflective assessment evaluating the creative and professional practice
(project work); 3,000 words 60%
• Evidence of the project to include (as appropriate) industry feedback,
photographic evidence, online promotion/ fliers/ programmes, external
reviews; 2,000 words (or equivalent) 20%

Rineke Smilde, Professor of
Lifelong Learning in Music
at Prince Claus
Conservatoire in
Groningen; Professor of
Music Pedagogy at the
University of Music and
Performing Arts Vienna
THE REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER:
WHY?
“The main challenge of today’s musicians and music
educators trained in our conservatoires and music academies
is navigating a rapidly changing landscape. In short, these
changes are helping to shape a very different workplace for
musicians and music educators. Flexible portfolio careers are
held by musicians and music educators, which require finely
tuned transferable skills and a more entrepreneurial attitude
towards work. Increasingly, musicians and music educators
work collaboratively with professionals in others fields in cross-
arts, cross-cultural and cross-sector contexts. Moreover, they
now have to perform different roles as they are expected to
respond creatively to new cultural and educational contexts.
They need to be entrepreneurs, innovators, connectors,
partners, and, most of all, reflective practitioners”
(Smilde, 2014, p.27)
 REFERENCES
• Burnard, P. (2012). Rethinking ‘musical creativity’ and the notion of multiple creativities in
music. In O. Odena (Ed.) Musical creativity: Insights from music education research.
Oxford: Routledge, 5-27.
• Davies, C., & Lowe, T. (2005). Kolb learning cycle. Staff and Departmental Development
Unit: University of Leeds.
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective for the study of
creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.) Handbook of creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 313-336.
• Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. London: Capstone.
• Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action.
Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Smilde, R. (2014). Reflective practice at the heart of higher music education. In T. De
Baets, & T. Buchborn (Eds.) European perspectives on music education. Innsbruck:
Helbling, 27-39.
 FURTHER READING
(Musical) creativity
• Berkowitz, A. L. (2010). The improvising mind: Cognition and creativity in the musical
moment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Burnard, P. (2012). Musical creativities in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and
Invention. New York: HarperCollins.
• Hargreaves, D., Miell, D., & MacDonald, R. A. R. (Eds.) (2012). Musical imaginations:
Multidisciplinary perspectives on creativity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Deliège, I, & Wiggins, G. A. (Eds.) (2006). Musical creativity: Multidisciplinary research in
theory and practice. Hove: Psychology Press.
Reflective writing
• Bolton, G. (2010). Reflective practice: Writing and professional development. Los
Angeles: Sage.
• Moon, J. A. (2006). Learning journals: A handbook for reflective practice and
professional development. Abingdon: Routledge.