ABSTRACT
It is commonly known that two of the most creative musical activities are composition and improvisation. While a large body of literature has addressed the creative processes involved in these two musical abilities, less attention has been given to creativity in music performance, particularly in higher music education, an area that remains seriously under-researched (Gregory 2005; Roberts 2005). Regardless of the particular musical genre or context, the most distinguished performers are usually those who present an original and creative interpretation of their respective repertoires (Dolan 2005; Roberts 2005; Williamon, Thompson, Lisboa and Wiffen 2006), which makes it imperative to understand the meaning and processes involved in performance creativity. While different conceptions will be discussed in this chapter, I broadly refer here to performance creativity as the multiple possibilities in which creativity manifests (as a process) and develops in a musical performance (as an original product) that takes places in a particular socio-cultural context.
