Giant steps toward a developmental trajectory of creative talent

W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2019 Giant Steps: Toward a Developmental Trajectory of Creative Talent as a Jazz Improviser Anthony Michael Washington William & Mary - School of Education, amwashington@email.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/etd Part of the Educational Leadership Commons Recommended Citation Washington, Anthony Michael, "Giant Steps: Toward a Developmental Trajectory of Creative Talent as a Jazz Improviser" (2019). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects.21220/m2-qvzj-1b28 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@wm.

GIANT STEPS: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY OF CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION ____________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Education The College of William and Mary in Virginia _____________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________ by Anthony Michael Washington June 2019 GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION GIANT STEPS: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY OF CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION by Anthony Michael Washington ____________________________________________ Approved June 2019 by Tracy L. Chairperson of Doctoral Committee Carol Tieso, Ph. Rena Subotnik, Ph. ii GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION DEDICATION I write your name On my school desk In every sound I create On echoes of my childhood I write your name By the weight of the one word I was born to know you I write your name How is freedom? iii GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.

2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM. 16 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 26 TEACHERS AND MENTORS. 37 iv GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION Maker.

54 MEMOS AND DIAGRAMS. 62 HEARD THIS SOUND. 62 MENTORS AND TEACHERS. 65 GOING TO THE WOODSHED.

66 Struggle with It. 68 Know Your Horn. 69 Transcribing and Repertoire. 74 v GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE.

79 In search of their sound. 81 Saying what you want. 83 Having Something to Say. 90 GIANT STEPS: A GROUNDED THEORY OF TALENT DEVELOPMENT AMONG JAZZ IMPROVISERS.

92 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND DISCUSSION. 97 ASSOCIATIVE CREATIVE EXPRESSION. 121 vi GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION REFERENCES. 124 vii GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION Acknowledgements To every teacher who believed in me and helped me along my way, thank you.

Momma, I made it! Betty Jean Washington Charlene Rogers Dr. Clifford Watson Mrs. Christopher Rogers Dr. Benjamin Pruitt Bill Lucas Marcus Belgrave Charles Gabriel Dr.

Timmey Zachary Geraldine Boone Dr. Cross viii GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION List of Figures Figure 1. Giant Steps Framework explaining the properties and dimensions of each phase of talent development for jazz improvisers in this study. Color coded depiction of brain areas.

101 Figure 3: TDMM/Giant Steps comparison chart. 102 ix GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION Abstract Expert jazz improvisers follow a developmental trajectory that is useful to understanding creative ability. Because this domain uses creativity as a fundamental part of its performance, its development naturally includes techniques for developing one’s creativity. This study explored the development of expert and eminent jazz improvisers' creative abilities and delineated critical experiences, skills, dispositions, and activities associated with developing elite talent in this domain.

I conducted interviews with expert jazz improvisers to gain retrospective accounts of their talent development process in addition to exploring autobiographical and biographical accounts of developmental activities of selected eminent jazz improvisers. I employed grounded theory techniques to generate and analyze these data and ultimately create a framework for identifying and developing creative talent as a jazz improviser. x GIANT STEPS: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY OF CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION Chapter 1: Introduction Expert jazz improvisers follow a developmental trajectory that is useful to understanding creative ability. Because this domain uses creativity as a fundamental part of its performance, its development naturally includes techniques for developing one’s creativity.

This study explored the development of expert and eminent jazz improvisers' creative abilities and delineated critical experiences, skills, dispositions, and activities associated with developing elite talent in this domain. I conducted interviews with expert jazz improvisers to gain retrospective accounts of their talent development process in addition to exploring autobiographical and biographical accounts of developmental activities of selected eminent jazz improvisers. I employed grounded theory techniques to generate and analyze these data and ultimately create a framework for identifying and developing creative talent as a jazz improviser. Some researchers espouse creativity to be a largely innate ability that existed in a binary fashion from birth with little ability for a person to change their creative output (Subotnik, Worrell, & Olszewski-Kubilius, 2011).

By looking retrospectively at the development process of expert jazz improvisers I examined this field’s approach to developing creativity and the learning experiences that comprised the trajectory. Understanding the properties and dimensions of development in this field may allow us to better understand the extent to which we can develop creative ability and the methods jazz improvisers use to achieve this goal. 2 GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION Statement of Problem Too often, researchers posit creativity to be an innate ability that is only valued in arts related domains when, the impact of creativity is valued throughout many fields of study. Creativity also impacts the identification and selection process for gifted education programs as many high ability students may possess creative gifts that are not measure by IQ tests.

Researchers have endeavored to accurately find talent using psychometric assessments throughout the history of educational measurement. From the earliest attempts at discerning intellectual ability of soldiers using Alpha and Beta tests during World War 1 to present day ability and achievement tests, psyshometricians have tried to predict with certainty those with the potential for high levels of performance through predictive assessments (Bloom, 1985; Subotnik et al. Since those early days, there have been many studies of the lives of gifted children and adults in which IQ has been shown to be a strong predictor of reaching expert levels of performance. However, there is little evidence of a demonstrable increase in our ability to predict eminence using IQ (Bloom, 1985; Cross & Coleman, 2005; Subotnik et al.

This is largely due to the role of creative skills in making a Big-C contribution to a field which would result in the designation of eminence (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). To be eminent refers to having achieved the highest level of performance within a domain which is frequently accompanied by a creative contribution to a domain that moves the field forward. Relying solely on IQ to determine which youth may reach eminent levels of performance as Terman (1926) ignores the role of creative skill development. In addition, there is an inconsistent correlation between IQ and creative domains which prevents these assessments from being useful for identification in a 3 GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION domain like jazz improvisation.

I hoped to glean useful information from this study of creativity that may help us understanding the necessary components for reaching eminent levels of performance. In this study, I explored the developmental trajectory of expert jazz improvisers with a focus on the properties and dimensions of their learning experiences and the extent to which musicians systematically develop creativity this field. I did this through semi- structured interviews with expert improvisers and field observations of the talent development process in several settings to include expert improvisers’ jazz improvisers interacting with students. During this investigation I implemented a Grounded Theory approach as I looked to gain a deeper understanding of each participant’s developmental activities to uncover the common properties, dimensions, and critical experiences of their talent development process.

This study sought to gain a deeper understanding of creative development to potentially understand more about the extent to which jazz musicians intentionally address creative ability. While there is evidence to support the development of speed, strength, and complex routines through deliberate practice there is a need for research regarding the growth and development of the cognitive and psychosocial skills associated with eminence (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Ericsson, 2008; Subotnik, Jarvin, & Rayhack, 2007). The field could receive help from further exploration of the development of skills and dispositions among improvisers to inform the teaching practice. There is ample evidence to support the role of creativity, intrinsic motivation, willingness to take risks, and persistence through failure as essential personality traits of eminent individuals (Bloom, 1985; Leslie, 2000; Marsalis & Hinds, 2003; Subotnik et al., 2007; Terman, 1926) but 4 GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION there is a paucity of research that focuses on the extent to which these dispositions have been developed so that practitioners can systematically provide high quality experiences to their students.

Within the literature there is often a disconnect between the skills needed to become and expert and the assessments used to identify giftedness in youth. This has played out in a lack of ability to identify which students will reach eminent levels of achievement as adults. There are several instances where researchers overlooked children who demonstrate gifted potential and reach eminence were overlooked during various gifted screening processes throughout their development. A notable example of this misidentification was Lewis Terman's (1926) Genetic Study of genius.

Terman sought out students that met stringent intellectual criteria (IQ above 140) in the hopes of generating a sample of those students with the highest potential for reaching eminence (Terman, 1926). Relying primarily on IQ as his selection criteria resulted in two students who he screened and did not select who went on to earn Nobel Prizes, which is exactly the sort of adult giftedness Terman sought to study. In addition, among those selected, those who ultimately reached the highest levels of achievement within their fields had comparatively low IQs for this high-powered group (Terman, 1926). There has been less effort devoted to the development of talent in those who do not demonstrate exceptional gifts early on in life.

Even though we have notable examples of individuals who did not demonstrate prodigious talent in their youth who went on to eminent levels of performance as adults, there remains a focus on the talent level demonstrated rather than the skills and dispositions exhibited that are known to be 5 GIANT STEPS: CREATIVE TALENT IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION common among eminent individuals as children. This study sought to control this error in identification by focusing on experts who have reached expertise which alleviates the necessity to predict later performance. The participants in this study, some of whom did not demonstrate exceptional ability in their youth, have all achieved expertise and have the potential for eminent recognition by virtue of their current level of performance and prior accomplishments. Understanding the talent development process from their perspective was rich with useful information about talent development.

Misidentification of giftedness could also be due to a lack of understanding of specific traits that lead to eminence (Subotnik et al., 2011; Waugh & Gronlund, 2013) and over-reliance on psychometric assessments that ignore factors known to be associated with gifted children (Terman, 1926). By increasing our ability to accurately identify students with eminent potential, we reduce the impact of selection bias against students who may not demonstrate their potential through these more traditional measures. In this regard, this study sought to deepen the fields’ understanding of the innate skills and dispositions that contribute to expertise in addition to understanding the educational and environmental factors that led the participants to expertise as jazz improvisers. Often, researchers who have sought to identify gifted youth in anticipation of eminence have chosen their samples based on only academic achievements rather than exploring the role of the psychosocial skills and dispositions that are associated with eminent individuals (Bloom, 1985; Subotnik, 1995; Terman, 1926).