24104051 | Tuesday 6th May 2025
I consider the collaborative development of the musical arrangement. In keeping with Hall’s positioning of student ensemble as spaces that “unlock creative potential, develop active group learning and add value” (2014), I feel that, as a songwriter, my significant involvement was enhanced by engaging with the group’s contributions.
My main contributions were the development of lyrics and the structure of the song. I listened to a piano riff created by group members, then scatted along with the lead vocalist to develop an overall theme for the composition, something slightly hallucinogenic and almost “out of body”. In the first recording of the song, I can be heard directing the second part of the song to capture an ethereal mood.
I learnt quickly that having an instrumental riff provides a backbone for the structure and the genre/theme of a song which helped me to create overlaying melodies and lyrics. For “Got This Feeling”, the advanced piano riff resonated as an idea to develop our creative ideas.
Coombs (2025)
Having a range of multi-instrumentalists to work with helped develop my ideas and consider how to incorporate other’s ideas too. We critiqued each other’s ideas and musical quality, bouncing ideas off each other, trying different approaches and dismissing those that were unsuccessful, a reflection of Hall’s approach (see below). Whilst excited to take responsibility I felt quite vulnerable but empowered in this collaborative space.
“involves scaffolding learning through the setting of collaborative, creative tasks and provision of a mentoring environment in which students can feel safe to experiment.”
hall (2014)
When thinking about how this song differs from other songs that I’ve written, I found it stimulating with more people involved. I mainly write, solo, on an acoustic guitar which can often lead to the production of similar sounding songs, however with more creative input, more instruments involved, and the theme of the song set from an early stage, the process of writing this song is more unique than songs I’ve written in the past.
There were weaknesses at the start – certain instruments that we tried to include sounded forced and didn’t fit the sound, tempo and genre of the song. As a group, we had to rethink where these instruments could be included or even needed. This is probably best illustrated in discussions about whether to use an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar – the latter was less successful as it didn’t have the right sound for our project whilst the former supported the development of the genre, e.g. we agreed that using an acoustic guitar in a flamenco style wasn’t a distinctive sound and didn’t fit the genre. By trying different instruments, I was able to hear what sounded a better fit for the song – ultimately, the acoustic pick guitar gave the song the depth that we were looking for.
In reflecting on the development of my own creative process, Hall suggests, using “active learning” (2014) may be developmental but working with others has proven both challenging and stimulating. Working with a group of people who specialise in different areas of the process was, at first quite chaotic. We threw ideas into the mix and developed an approach that meant we were using our specialisms well and were supporting each other to be heard and contribute. Usually, I create all aspects of a track myself, which can make it quite difficult to achieve the level of quality for a whole track, the group process certainly helped to challenge me.
In assessing the overall outcome of the creative process, there were many aspects that worked well and a few that didn’t. The size of the group and different contributions worked well however we didn’t settle on the first idea that we had and continued to challenge each other to try things. Our group included people who were interested in pop music to people interested in reggaeton, a wide range of genres were suggested which gave us many options in the creative process. The genre of the song became mainly “pop”, although influences of Funk and Reggaeton were incorporated from classmates who valued these genres.
Coombs (2024)
There were also areas that could have been improved. We struggled to understand the differential sections of the song which led to people joining in when they shouldn’t have or not joining when they should have, there was some confusion about who was playing and for how long. As we progressed and settled into our roles, our communication improved and become increasingly more in sync.
In comparing my Ensemble experience with that of two other classmates, we agreed that one key area where we excelled in was our ability to “roll with ideas”. They mentioned being “pushed out of their comfort zone”, which I think aligns closely with my experience, as I found that working with others was challenging at times. They also mentioned that they’d played new instruments and sung in front of the group, we shared a view that it had been a good learning curve to make mistakes in the group but to see this develop into new ideas and an even better product.
We discussed the difficulty in starting the process, that the initial chaos of throwing around ideas and randomly trying things had been difficult but that there had been a breakthrough for them once the genre/theme had been set. I also found this to be useful as I could then start to “reflect knowingly” (Gruenhagen, 2017) imagining the sounds this might take in my preparations for the workshops. They also remarked that they’d enjoyed trying out a variety of instruments and rejecting and selecting those that seemed to fit best rather than relying on their “go to” instrument. This was especially useful in “Got This Feeling” where we were looking for a hook or a catchy lead to lay over the track, they felt that the electric guitar wasn’t the perfect fit for this, and that bass guitar felt more suited toward this aspect of “Got This Feeling”.
Having the freedom and safety to throw ideas around and to collaborate felt very freeing, I found the creative process to be very useful. If, at first, I didn’t feel that “the shoe would fit” (Forbes, 2016) perhaps it was the unique personal touch that, as de Bruin suggests, “relationship building and learning experiences garnered from interpersonal learning relationships, and the application of content with pedagogy that aims to build a positive learning climate” (de Bruin, 2021) that enabled me to develop as a more autonomous learner (Carey, et al, 2017).
References
Carey, G., Harrison, S. and Dwyer, R., 2017. Encouraging reflective practice in conservatoire students: a pathway to autonomous learning?. Music Education Research, 19(1), pp.99-110.
Davidson, L. and Scripp, L., 2021. Tracing reflective thinking in the performance ensemble. Visions of Research in Music Education, 16(1), p.10.
de Bruin, L. R. (2022). Collaborative learning experiences in the university jazz/creative music ensemble: Student perspectives on instructional communication. Psychology of Music, 50(4), 1039-1058.
Forbes, M., 2016. If the shoe doesn’t fit: A case and a place for collaborative learning for music practice in higher education. Australian Journal of Music Education, 50(1), pp.53-62.
Gilbert, D., 2016. Curious, collaborative, creativity: Applying student-centered principles to performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 103(2), pp.27-34.
Gruenhagen, L. M. (2017). Developing Musical Creativity through Reflective and Collaborative Practices. Music Educators Journal, 103(3), 40-45.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432116685158 (Original work published 2017)
Hall, R., 2015. Enhancing the popular music ensemble workshop and maximising student potential through the integration of creativity. International Journal of Music Education, 33(1), pp.103-112.
Coombs, B (2025) [Blog post]. 30th Apr. [Accessed 6th May 2025]
Coombs, B (2024) [Blog post]. 26th May. [Accessed 6th May 2025]
