Group Creativity : Music, Theater, Collaboration

Group Creativity explores the unique form of creativity that emerges from collaborating groups. Dr. Sawyer draws on his studies of jazz ensembles and improvisational theater groups to develop a model of creative group processes. He applies this model of group creativity to a wide range of collaborating groups, including group learning in classrooms and innovative teams in organizations. In group creativity, a group comes together to collaboratively create in real time. The creative inspiration emerges from the interaction and communication among the members, and makes the result more than the sum of its parts. The dynamic, moment-to-moment communication among jazz musicians and improvising actors is the primary topic of the book. Sawyer explores performers' close listening and sensitivity, the submerging of the ego to the group mind, and the ways that performers work together to create something better than and different from what one solitary individual could create alone. These explorations provide insight into all forms of group creativity and collaboration. A Jazz Quartet. The Cast Of A Stage Play. A Work Team, A Classroom Discussion Seminar, Or A Family, Planning A Summer Vacation. In All Of These Groups, Creativity And Collaboration Are Essential. And Perhaps The Most Creative Collaborating Groups Are Music And Theater Ensembles. Group Creativity Draws On Studies Of Performing Ensembles To Provide Insights Into All Group Creativity. Sawyer Explores Participants' Close Listening And Sensitivity, The Submerging Of Each Ego In The Group Dynamic, And The Ways That People Work Together To Create Something Better Than Any Single Person Could Create Alone.--book Jacket. The Characteristics Of Group Creativity -- Improvised Versus Structured Performance -- Studies Of Group Performance -- Studies Of Creativity In Groups -- Moving Forward: The Study Of Group Creativity -- Jamming In Jazz And Improv Theater -- Small-group Jazz -- Improv Theater -- The Importance Of Group Interaction -- Structure And Improvisation -- The Audience As Collaborator -- Interaction And Emergence: An Interactional Semiotics -- Improvisation And Composition -- Indexicality And The Poetic Function -- A Model Of Group Creativity -- Indexicality In Musical Ensembles -- Group Creativity And The Arts -- The Philosophy Of Art -- Improvisational Theater -- Five Characteristics Of Improvisation -- Toward An Aesthetics Of Group Creativity -- Group Creativity As Mediated Action -- Sociocultural Psychology And Group Creativity -- Parallels With Diachronic Creative Interaction -- Parallel Dimensions Of Synchronic And Diachronic Creative Interaction -- Degrees Of Improvisation In Group Creativity -- Structural Dimensions Of Improvisational Performance -- Ethnographic Examples Of Linguistic Performance -- Ethnographic Examples Of Musical Performance -- Collective Ideation: Creativity, Teamwork, And Collaboration -- Implications For Studies Of Individual Creativity -- Group Creativity In Notated Genres -- Collaboration And Teamwork. R. Keith Sawyer. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 190-204) And Indexes. 'Group Creativity' summarizes the developments in the research on the processes involved in group or team creativity and innovation. The volume draws from a broad range of perspectives, such as cognition, groups, creativity, information systems and organizational psychology.