Peyton Barrett

12/06/2021

Response to Developing Musical Creativity

It is hard to define creativity. Some may see it more as a process, while others see it more
as an outcome. However, creativity is not one or the other, it is both. As music students and
educators, it is important that we are able to express our ideas through all mediums, whether this
be through our voice, instrument, or notation. However, compared to the first two, notation isn’t
focused on nearly as much. This, while somewhat understandable, does nothing but limit
students and their ability to musically express themselves at a young age.
After reading the article Developing Musical Creativity, I’ve learned of things I hope to
see myself implement as a future music educator. For instance, many students curious about
music technology aren’t given an opportunity to use programs such as Sibelius, MuseScore, or
GarageBand. As mentioned in the article, the students who participated in the testing greatly
enjoyed using these pieces of software, and with that information, it becomes a mystery as to
why they aren’t used more often during K-12 education. Coming from the perspective of a music
student, some of my favorite projects from my high school Music Theory II class involved using
programs such as Flat.io and Chrome Music Lab, simply because they allowed me to focus on
my own creativity. I believe the development of this skill early on would only benefit music
students, and perhaps inspire them to become music educators themselves someday.
I don’t believe my personal feelings have changed much as a result of reading this article.
Many of the discoveries of this article line up with discoveries I have made for myself over the
past few years. However, it was refreshing to read about students who had the joy of making the
same discoveries I did two to three years ago. I’ve always believed that the ability to properly
notate is essential to any strong musician, and it’s a shame the opportunity isn’t available to more
students. I hope that as a result of this article, others can also see the importance of teaching
music technology education. It truly helps develop young students into the musicians of
tomorrow, and turn creative thoughts into original expressions.