Kindergarten Practitioners’ Understandings of Musical Creativity: Unveiling Discrepancies Between Theory and Practice

Musical creativity has been conceptualised in various ways in the literature, including through components often described as exploration, improvisation, and creation. However, little is known about how practitioners understand musical creativity, particularly in Asian educational settings. This study investigated Hong Kong kindergarten practitioners’ understanding of musical creativity, analysing the alignment between their theoretical and practical understandings. Using qualitative methods, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 kindergarten teachers and 10 principals. We asked them to (1) provide an example of a musical activity that fostered children’s creativity (practice) and (2) justify why the proposed activity could nurture children’s creativity (theory). Content analysis was applied. The musical activities proposed by participants predominantly involved structured activities that focused on repetition, compliance with the teacher’s instructions, and proficient singing of specific songs. While the activities proposed were rarely based on these components, practitioners alluded to them in their justifications. This divergence between theoretical and practical understandings of musical creativity could be attributed to training, policy, and cultural factors. We conclude that there is a need to further conceptualise the notion of musical creativity in Hong Kong and similar Asian contexts. Curriculum developers, teacher educators, and professional development providers are encouraged to identify musical activities that are culturally relevant and practically feasible to foster children’s creativity in kindergarten settings and develop training courses accordingly.