Music Composition Based on Creative Problem Solving: Effects on Students’ Perceptions of Creativity and Learning Music

Music composition has been shown to provide numerous benefits to students. However, composition has generally been considered a less important area in daily music classes than other musical activities. More research is needed to investigate specific teaching strategies for composition. This study aimed to compare the impact of music composition based on the creative problem solving (CPS) approach to traditional music composition on perceptions of students’ creativity competency, interest in and value of music as a subject, and perceived self-efficacy in learning music. A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used, where the experimental group took music composition classes for 7 weeks based on the CPS framework. The study’s results showed no difference regarding interest in music as a subject between students taking CPS-based composition classes and students taking traditional composition classes. However, students in the CPS-based music composition classes showed higher perceived value of music as a subject and self-efficacy in learning music than those in traditional composition classes. Finally, students in the CPS-based music composition classes showed heightened perceived higher-order thinking and problem-solving compared to those in traditional music composition classes, but no difference was found between the two groups in terms of perceived divergent thinking.