Music leadership is a foggy notion with many meanings. Leaders may be chosen, unchosen, appointed, unappointed, or self-appointed. As a powerful dimension of collaborative performance, leadership is framed here first as a linear-hierarchical model– a ‘one-way street’; second, as a visionary-transformational model – a ‘two-way street’; and third, as a plural-distributed model – a ‘shared street’. All three are examined in the light of Leader-Member Exchange theory of leadership (LMX). The extent to which the leader and subordinate exchange resources and support beyond what is expected based on the formal employment contract evidences a high LMX. A low LMX relationship is one in which the employee performs within the bounds of the employment contract but contributes nothing extra. Nine musicians, selected for their many years of experience in giving, receiving, and sharing leadership functions, provided interview data. Analysis generated a number of different elements that were identified as having a reported impact on music decision making. This chapter uses those elements to contribute to a growing body of knowledge of use to the drummer in her development of a suite of 'off-instrument' skills now seen as every bit important as her suite of 'on-instrument' ones.

Musical imagery – the mental experience of music – is a common occurrence for both musical experts and nonexperts alike. A diverse range of experiences can be classified as musical imagery, from the replaying of a tune in a listener’s head after hearing it on the radio to a composer conjuring up the next notes of a new symphony. Overall, research in this domain has indicated that incidences of musical imagery often replicate a perceptual experience with a high degree of fidelity, and similar neural resources are recruited in both music perception and imagery. The diversity and fidelity of musical imagery experiences can be affected by expertise, suggesting imaginative processes related to music may be developed through dedicated, long-term practice. Both everyday and expert experiences of musical imagery can vary widely in terms of both intentionality and modality of recall, with some episodes comprising aspects of auditory, motor, and visual imagery. Implications for our understanding of creativity and suggestions for cross-disciplinary approaches to integrating psychological research findings with creative practice are discussed.