Analysing Group Creativity: A Distributed Cognitive Study of Joint Music Composition

We investigated the processes involved in an instance of group creativity by conducting a pilot study that looked closely at a group of expert musicians creating musical compositions over a period of time. We used Distributed Cognition principles to investigate how information propagates and transforms and how it impacts the compositional process. We identified three key processes (attainment, experimentation and structuring) that help the group achieve a successful operation in creating compositions together over a period of time.

This approach has implications for how we investigate group creativity in general. By focussing on the propagation and transformation of information, we can gain a more systematic understanding of how groups come to create products together. Analysis from this pilot study demonstrates that an individual’s creative musical idea possibly bears less influence on group creativity than the group’s ability to transform that idea in a desirable manner. Therefore, information processing within Joint Music Composition has a major impact in how groups create compositions. This view sheds light on how we view the notion of group creativity. It can inform how we design tools to support it and how we design experiment to investigate it.