Creativity or musical intelligence?: A comparative study of improvisation/improvisation performance by European and African musicians

This paper describes an investigation into the nature of musical intelligence and its links with creativity across two continents, Europe and Africa. In seeking to indentify the intellectual processes associated with musical intelligence, improvised music was examined as an example of problem solving in this domain. Twenty-four musicians (twelve European and twelve Zimbabwean) functioning at three different levels of expertise – novices, experienced practitioners and professionals – were invited to perform two pieces of improvisation and to reflect upon their performances. An empirical phenomenological approach to analysis was employed. The results show that musical intelligence in this form is both contextually bound but also takes the form of self-expression, self-actualisation, story telling, communication, and social critique. Different levels of ability are illustrated by different levels of abstraction in processing.