Interesting research coming out of Cambridge U on musical performance and creativity.

Much of what allows us as musicians to explore our own creative contributions to music lies in four key areas familiar to those of us who are in the Alt Pibroch Club:

• a sense of freedom to explore
• a willingness to be flexible
• an experience in “being in the moment”
• and the approach of giving the audience a “gift” with our performance

Of course, each of these is antithetical or ancillary to much of the pedagogy of pibroch. We are giving rigid rules of how to play, how to explore. We focus our efforts on mimicking our elders. We play to make sure the judges are pleased. Our goal is to “sound like everyone else, only better.”

No wonder no one attends pibroch competitions.

Most interesting of all is that musically creative insights can come when we are away from our instruments, simply thinking about the music, or encountering something that sparks a connection to the music.

Enjoy the video.