Research in music education has emphasized a connection between ownership and creativity. Specifically, many educators have observed a cultivation of ownership after students engage in creative-based activities. Therefore, by defining and analyzing creativity in music education contexts, this chapter aims to explore why this connection exists and how it can be reinforced in the classroom.
Creativity in Education
Creativity is a complex concept discussed in all disciplines. In music education, Webster (1990) points out that the term creativity“has been used in so many different contexts that it has lost much of its meaning and power”. (p.22) Therefore, in his article “Creativity as Creative Thinking,” he proposes to focus on the concept of “creative thinking,” which emphasizes the students’ creative process rather than the creative result itself.
As explored by many educators and researchers, the creative thinking process begins with the intention of a creative goal, such as performance, analysis, or composition. This intention leads to divergent thinking, which involves imagining sounds and experimenting with various musical ideas or knowledge. Moreover, to designing their compositions or creative performances, students might also experience convergent thinking, which includes manipulating the imagined sounds and the musical material in more structured ways. The process ends with a creative result, often defined as something that is both original and valuable or aesthetically interesting for the creator. (Webster, 1990, pp. 23-24; Hickey & Webster, 2001, p. 21; Hickey, 2012, p. 8; Coss, 2019, p. 30).
Creativity as a Bridge to Ownership
The relationship between creativity and ownership is particularly evident in music education.
Several researchers state that to encourage divergent thinking in the classroom, teachers should guide students in the ability to “think in sound,” a process involving auditory imagination and exploring music beyond its notational form. Hickey and Webster (2001) point out that by applying this concept to “listening, performing, composing or improvising, students experience music personally” (p. 21). According to them, imagining and manipulating sounds “in both divergent and convergent ways should naturally lead to aesthetic decision-making” (p. 22), thus ensuring students' choices that resonate with them emotionally.
As well as individual creativity, collaborative creativity also plays a significant role in fostering ownership. Burnard and Murphy (2013, p. 39) argued that establishing a collaborative classroom environment and encouraging a community of creators might provide space for students to take risks in their creative work. By engaging in this process, which includes negotiation, discussion, and compromise, students not only improve their individual musical skills but also develop essential social and emotional skills, such as empathy and cooperation (Sangiorgio, 2020, pp. 12-13).
Connecting this discussion with previous sections, the role of creativity in fostering ownership becomes clear: As further illustrated in Figure 3, encouraging students to stop searching for the correct answer and instead engage in open-ended exploration, whether by creating music or interpreting compositions in ways that reflect their identities and values, allows them to experience learning actively and emotionally. As a result, they develop pride in their work, which empowers them to take ownership of both their learning process and its outcomes (Coss, 2019, p. 19; Hickey & Webster, 2001, pp. 11, 22; Sangiorgio, 2020, p. 13).
Figure 3:
Model of Ownership through Creativity. This model extends the original framework by introducing creativity as an overarching construct that stimulates both emotional connection and active learning. The process is cyclical and dynamic, whereby creativity fosters ownership via intertwined internal and external learning experiences.
In conclusion, the theories explored in this chapter, particularly the concept of “thinking in sound” described by Hickey and Webster, and the collaborative dimension emphasized by Sangiorgio, constitute the core of the creative activities designed to investigate ownership in this case study.