Growing Up as a Creative Musician: The Role of Psychosocial Dispositions and Environment

This study tried to identify the psychosocial dispositions and environment conducive to the development of a creative musician. A sample of 14 established musicians (vocalists and instrumentalists) belonging to Hindustani music tradition was selected from three major cities of Uttar Pradesh and were interviewed in-depth. They were interviewed about their early childhood, training in music and growing up as a musician. A thematic analysis yielded three major psychosocial themes pertaining to nurturance of creativity—developmental dispositions, preferred settings for music practice (Riāz) and performance, and relationship with Guru. Many participants showed proclivity to be creative musician, but all needed to have intrinsic motivation, nurturing social environment, and proper setting for riāz. They also reported that learning under a worthy guru was important for their creativity to blossom. Implications of these findings for training of the music students in an institutional set up were discussed.