ABSTRACT
Creativity in music has been largely associated with improvisation or composition (see chapter 6 in Hallam 2006; Hickey 2003; chapter 7 in Lehmann, Sloboda and Woody 2007) and less so with expressive or communicative performance of composed works. In this chapter we adopt Burnard’s (2012: 6) view that there is a ‘myriad of differing ways in which musicians . . . are creative’, arguing that musical performance, including improvisation as well as performance of composed works, has the capacity to be profoundly creative. The problem that we will address is whether creativity in musical performance can, or indeed should, be assessed in higher education contexts. If so, questions arise concerning the facets of creativity that could be assessed in performance, who should do the assessing and what purpose such assessments might serve. We argue that, in addressing these questions, higher education institutions need to foster dialogue, encouraging students and staff members to take ownership of the ‘project’ of re-evaluating core concepts of creativity and approaches to its assessment. We will conclude the chapter by exploring the implications of case study examples of creative approaches to assessing creativity in musical performance in UK conservatoire settings.
