Musical Imaginations: Multidisciplinary perspectives on creativity, performance and perception
ISBN: 9780191731044
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Psychology;

Musical imagination and creativity are amongst the most abstract and complex aspects of musical behaviour, though, until recently, they have been difficult to subject to empirical enquiry. However, music psychology and some allied disciplines have now developed, both theoretically and methodologically, to the point where some of these topics are now firmly within our grasp. The study of creativity and imagination is growing rapidly in disciplines including psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and education. The inter- and multidisciplinary study of music, and developments in music psychology in particular, mean that studies of musical imagination and creativity in action are now distinctly possible

'Musical Imaginations' is a wide ranging, multidisciplinary review of the latest theory and research on musical creativity, performance and perception by some of the most eminent scholars in their respective disciplines. The topics addressed in this book include the investigation of creativity and imagination in music and emotion, composition and improvisation, performance and performance traditions, listening strategies, different musical genres and cultural belief systems, social collaboration, identity formation, and the development of psychologically-based strategies and interventions for the enhancement of performing musicians.

With creativity now a topic of significant interest, this book will be valuable to all those in the fields of psychology, sociology, neuroscience, education, as well as to musicians themselves - dealing with practical as well as theoretical issues in music therapy, performance and education.






The study of creativity and imagination is growing rapidly in disciplines including psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and education. The inter- and multidisciplinary study of music, and developments in music psychology in particular, mean that studies of musical imagination and creativity in action are now distinctly possible. This book undertakes a multidisciplinary review of these developments. It contains a wide range of contributions by some of the most eminent scholars in their respective disciplines, representing a comprehensive account of the state of the art of theory and research on musical creativity, performance and perception.


David Hargreaves is Professor of Education and Froebel Research Fellow at Roehampton University, and Visiting Professor at the Inter-University Institute of Macau, and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2004. He has been Editor of Psychology of Music, Chair of the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education (ISME), and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, His books, in psychology, education, the arts, and music have been translated into 15 languages. He has appeared on BBC TV and radio as a jazz pianist and composer, and is organist at his local village church, but really ought to do more jazz playing than he currently has time for.


Dorothy Miell is Vice Principal at the University of Edinburgh and Head of the College of Humanities and Social Science within the University. Previously she was Professor of Psychology and Dean of Social Sciences at The Open University where she was a member of the multidisciplinary Music Research Group. Starting with her doctoral research on communication patterns in developing relationships she has developed an increasing interest in studying how people collaborate on creative activities, working across boundaries between Music, Education, Social and Developmental Psychology and with colleagues in the UK and internationally. She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Thinking Skills and Creativity, Psychology of Music, and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Raymond MacDonald is Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation at Glasgow Caledonian University. After completing his PhD at the University of Glasgow, investigating therapeutic applications of music, he worked as Artistic Director for a music company, Sounds of Progress, specialising in working with people who have special needs. His ongoing research focuses on issues relating to improvisation, musical communication, music therapy, music education and musical identities. He has co-edited two texts with Dorothy Miell and David Hargreaves, Musical Identities (2002) and Musical Communication (2005) and is currently working on two new books, Music Health and Wellbeing and Musical Imaginations. He is currently Editor of the journal Psychology of Music and Associate Editor for The International Journal of Music Education, Jazz Research Journal and Research Studies in Music Education. As a composer and saxophonist he has recorded over 50 CDs and has toured and broadcast worldwide.

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