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Concerted Creativity: Emergence in the Socio-(Im)Material and Intangible Practice of Making Music

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science volume 52, pages 228–240 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore how the basic conception of ‘emergence’ informs the study of creativity as a socio-material practice. Initially, the article explicates how creative processes, products and performances involve not only tangible, but also intangible and social elements. Secondly, the theoretical conception of creativity as socio-material and the general philosophical notion of emergence are introduced. Inspired by the idea that a ‘whole’ is other than the sum of its ‘parts’ and by examples primarily from the world of music, the article argues that the relationship between subject and object – the main analytical focus of studies on creativity as a socio-material practice – is fundamentally embedded in an emergent process. The article concludes by highlighting how emergence theory acknowledges the performance or product as an intangible material for creative processes of musicians, and that studies of the socio-materiality of creative practices clearly involving tangible, intangible and social elements must refer to the emergent process through which the creative product or performance evolves meaning. The theoretical framework suggested is relevant for researchers interested in exploring how materials, social settings and physical environments are involved in creative processes.

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Notes

  1. See e.g. Galen (AD 129 – c.200): On the Elements according to Hippocrates, 1.3, 70.15–74.23 and Aristotle (384–322 BC): Metaphysics, Book Η6, 1045a 8–10: ‘which have several parts and in which the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts’.

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Funding

This study was funded by Roskilde Festival and Innovation Fund Denmark (grant number 1).

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  1. Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Dan Lund Hvidtfeldt

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  1. Dan Lund Hvidtfeldt
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Correspondence to Dan Lund Hvidtfeldt.

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Author Dan Lund Hvidtfeldt declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Hvidtfeldt, D.L. Concerted Creativity: Emergence in the Socio-(Im)Material and Intangible Practice of Making Music. Integr. psych. behav. 52, 228–240 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9406-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9406-6

Keywords

  • Creativity
  • Emergence
  • Socio-materiality
  • Music