The psychology of music creation

Abstract

This study aims to conduct a study on the origins of music creation and its metamorphosis. A parallel is drawn between improvisation and composition, making analogies with other fields such as rhetoric and literature. The two terms incorporate a series of processes, mental structures, and a thorough preparation, clear examples found in previous eras, improvisation having a leading place in Baroque and Classicism. The article aims at psychological models encountered in improvisation and composition, creativity being investigated in this context. Improvisation and composition present a series of similarities and differences, being argued by presenting the main theories, which are based on a psychological profile of the individual, carefully studied over the decades. The metaphysics of music and the physical and mental processes that the composer or improviser goes through have often been associated with other fields of research, such as language, theater, poetry, rhetoric, and much more. Their study and presentation have as the role in the artistic development of the complete musician, whether it is a soloist, composer, or improviser.