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.