Visual Thinking in Sounds and Creativity: Graphic Notations as Means of Stimulating Creative Thinking in Music

This paper argues empirically that visual thinking in sounds stimulates creativity in music. This paper presents examples in which visual thinking plays a crucial role in developing creative ideas in general, non-music areas. It then describes Walker's research into audio-visual perception in music using graphic notations, which provided a theoretical foundation for using graphic notations in teaching music in schools. As evidence that graphic notations can make a difference to creative thinking in music, three studies, i.e., Auh and Walker (1999), Auh (2000), Auh and Walker (2002) are described in that order. Implications of the proposition for teaching music in schools are suggested at the end.