Creativity in any industry helps in its evolution. It plays a major role in inspiring current and upcoming artists and developers to come up with better works or improvise on the current ones. Musical improvisation shares similar sentiments where the artists come up with amazing musical pieces from different tools. Currently, the musical sphere continues to grow with the entry of new pieces and fusions between cultures and genres. However, there is a misconception that music creativity is very different from artistic and scientific creativity. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi tends to think of them as equal concepts as they show similar characteristics. In his work, Musical Improvisation, he seeks to support his thoughts and assessments on the link between music and both artistic and scientific creativity.
Purpose
Csikszentmihalyi tends to focus on two areas in the chapter. The first area is to establish the reason as to why artistic and scientific creativity cannot be under one study section when it comes individual and psychological process (Mihaly p43). The lifespan, social and cultural influences tend to be a strong factor towards the roles played out by artists when it comes to creativity. Hence, improvisational musicians tend to follow or emulate Csikszentmihalyi model. The model entails a bridge between the person, their domain and respect field. The three elements work together towards the creative product of an artist.
The second area of focus is the flow state which improvisational musicians record as a state of peak in their musical experience (Mihaly p46). The flow experience is the reason behind the artists’ culture to perform night after night. It is their intrinsical motivator that helps them carry on through hard work, unpleasant gigs, and poverty. Most of the artists have the mentality of making it in future if they continue to progress in their areas. At times, most of them tire from too much stain towards their body and become worn out to continue with their skill. Such errors are what make or break musical improvisation when people ignore or appreciate art pieces.
The chapter starts by revisiting the term creativity. The author looks into the works of Morris Stein, and Dean Simonton of the influence political, social and economic events led to the creative production hike in 1988 (Mihaly p43). He looks into other journals such as the Creativity Research Journal by Kosof. As a way of analyzing the two areas highlighted, the author looks into the flows and systems approach. The reason behind its development is to establish the different degrees of creativity or inspiration an artist has in their field. The first strategy is to deny the role played by recognition in the industry. The results of a process do not matter as the process itself. The experiences and values instilled in people towards attaining certain points in life determine their flow (Mihaly p46). The second strategy entails social judgments as a central point in creativity. One has to factor in its importance, the differences between achieving and persuasion when it comes to creativity and the creative product or idea.
Structure
The article’s structure provides a constant flow of ideas. Focusing on the creative process history opens upon the genesis of creativity. The reader tends to have a general idea of its beginning, the steps taken to advance it and the current standing. The author introduces his idea in a broken down outline by focusing on the individual ideas outlined and providing further information about it. While focusing on the main topic, the author employs different sides of the argument by providing examples and proper reasoning of his ideas. It helps the reader to follow up on the changes and links between artistic and scientific relations and the way they stand out from each other.
The breakdown of topics helps the reader to divulge into specific areas of interests. Apart from that, it helps the reader to discover more on the issues outlined and projected in each section. It brings order to the article and sense of idea flow as one reads it. However, some sections turn out to be fillers, bringing out the notion that the author might have run out of ideas to talk about in the paper.
Appraisal of the main points and concepts
Overall, the topic has rich text and ideas, which bring out the argument outlined by the author. He exposes in detail the issues he seeks to look into and the relations that exist in both of them. The article draws out the different perceptions in the music creation and artistic perceptions. Musical improvisation as a topic is quite an impressive field that the author diversifies and makes it interesting to the reader. However, some of the ideas expressed lack proper backing and feel out of place in the context. In conclusion, Csikszentmihalyi provides a great outlook and sentiments towards the musical improvisations.
Work Cited
Mihaly, Csikszentmihalyi. "Chapter 3 Musical Improvisation: A Systems Approach." Sawyer, Keith. Creativity in Performance. Greenwich: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1997. 43-64. Print.
