This one by Daniela Sammler et al. is a relatively new study:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322039886_Musical_genre-dependent_behavioural_and_EEG_signatures_of_action_planning_A_comparison_between_classical_and_jazz_pianists

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-01-miles-davis-mozart-brains-jazz.html

https://derstandard.at/2000072328392/Hirnprozesse-laufen-bei-Jazz-und-Klassik-Pianisten-unterschiedlich-ab

Related:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/asoa-hdm112316.php

https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-01/look-musicians-brain

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28266-musicians-brains-fire-symmetrically-when-they-listen-to-music/

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0138238

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/10/21/1508431112

Regards,

Joachim

Thank you very much!

There are a large number of tests of creativity and divergent thinking (e.g. RAT puzzles, Alternative Uses Test, Rebus puzzles, etc.) but I can't think of any that are specifically for use with musicians.

Any of them can of course be applied to musicians, but why would you want musician-specific ones? What would you expect them to show that can't be picked up by more generic ones? Or are you thinking of improvisation / composition as a creative musical act?

Best,

Philip

Dear Dr. Fine,

first of all thank you for your answer.

Regarding the test, we will actually use a generic test to assess divergent thinking. Additionally, we are looking for a specific test for musicians' creativity in order to do a correlational analysis between the "generic creativity" and the "specific" one among jazz- and classical musicians that, as you probably know, have a different education, background, and know-how (also in terms of improvisation skills).

Do you have any suggestion and/or idea that we could use to implement and improve the study design?

Sounds very interesting, Antonio. Are there any tests of improvisation out there which are in some way standardised? You'd clearly expect to see a difference between jazz and classical musicians on that, yes. What about the AUT with a music-specific object perhaps?

I suppose you could just compare the jazz and classical musicians' performance on the generic DT test to look for group differences, but I agree a correlational design would be stronger.

Incidentally, if you're looking at expertise (whether expert musicians are different from non-expert) in these two music genres, you might find our new GECA (grounded expertise components approach) of use in terms of characterising the population first. Then you might find other factors which correlate with the DT test scores, and also which might differ between the two genres. Good luck!

Best,

Philip

Friedlander, K. J., & Fine, P. A. (2016). The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area of Cryptic Crossword Solving. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 567. Article The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area...

Thank you very much for the paper and for these important suggestions!

I will try to find some standardized test for improvisation. The idea about AUT is very interesting as such as the other suggestions.

Thank you!!

Just a few examples: How many ways can one (re)interpret/find uses for a voicing? A rhythmic pattern? A pitch series? A form? a group of instruments? Could be done In 1) real time, i.e, improvised 2) pre-composed approach. These are music specific divergent thinking tasks.

Dear Dr. Shields,

thank you very much for these suggestions which are fantastic! However, do you know what's the name of this task and if they are standardized?

Thank you again!!!

Hi Antonio, interesting topic!

Here are a few references you may want to check:

- with a mixed-method approach in Cognitive Psychology that attempts to respect all the social/artistic aspects of free improvisation practices:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00966/full

- with qualitative research only, from in-depth interviews and studio experiments of high-level recognized improvisers from the NY scene (both papers are in French but the improvisers' quotes are in English):

http://www.criticalimprov.com/article/view/3341

Article L’échantillonnage dans l’improvisation : Rencontre de deux i...

- a book that I recently discovered with important concepts and method approaches to analyze free improvisation:

http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783540921943

- a very important book in most free improvisation communities that make important artistic concepts explicit (I was pleased to see it quoted a few times in Cognitive/Neurosciences conferences about free improvisation - though it's far from quantitative research approaches):

http://kennywerner.com/effortless-mastery

Good luck with your research,

Amandine

Dear Dr. Pras,

thank you very much for your answer!

I once used a midi keyboard to try to examine the difference between experts and novices in terms of monophonic tonality (with a probability model). I didn't develop it too much.

Roger Beaty used consensual assessment to rate Jazz improvisor's playing and correlated it with other measures http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/r_beaty_first_2013.pdf?__hstc=93097666.519e4524b70250ee32af27bd064877f9.1474761600041.1474761600043.1474761600044.2&__hssc=93097666.1.1474761600044&__hsfp=1773666937

Hi, I play clarinet in two dixieland bands and we improvise on every tune. Does anyone know how dixieland improvisation can be quantified?

Clearly understanding Structure design, thematic organization and harmonic scheme of the pieces.

Measuring Creativity in Music :

A new study suggests that listening to happy music promotes more divergent thinking—a key element of creativity. ... Since music has been shown to improve cognition and enhance learning and memory in other studies, it makes sense that perhaps it has an impact on creative thinking, too.

A 2017 study in the journal PLOS ONE found that listening to “happy” music—defined as classical tunes that were upbeat and stimulating—helped people perform better on tasks that involved “divergent” thinking, which is a core component of creativity.

the following links may be helpful:

Article Enhanced divergent thinking and creativity in musicians: A b...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/test-of-divergent-thinking

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-3858-8_470

Article Creativity in the Here and Now: A Generic, Micro-Development...

Article Increasing Divergent Thinking Capabilities With Music-Feedba...

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505548.pdf

http://www.senseandsensation.com/2012/03/assessing-creativity.html

Article Divergent Production Abilities as Constructs of Musical Creativity

https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/14230/ACM_preprint_evaluation-musical-creativity_FINAL.pdf?sequence=1

hope it is helpful

best regards