This exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a sound-based intervention in the initial training of specialist music teachers at a Spanish university. It aimed to create spaces geared towards more creative and contemporary approaches to musical learning in order to gauge the perceptions of trainee teachers regarding this kind of approach. The intervention (45 h of class time) was based on the creation of electroacoustic compositions following the SBM (Sound Based Music) approach using digital tools (Aglaya Play, AP). Qualitative process data were collected through self-reports, individual memories, and nine focus groups. The results suggest that the implementation of new intervention models that take into account the development of future teachers’ creativity with activities focused on exploration, experimentation, and creation with sound can generate new opportunities to enrich their teaching identities.

Musical creativity is represented through the activity of “creation” in the curricula for music education in both Montenegrin and Slovenian primary schools. Starting from the assumption that this activity is insufficiently realised, a survey of the teaching practice of the specialist music teachers in the two countries was conducted (N = 154). The obtained results show that creative musical activities are moderately represented in teaching practice and that Slovenian teachers achieve programme-defined goals related to the activities through which pupils create their own music to a greater extent. The results also indicate the particular circumstances that, in real school conditions, make it difficult to systematically realise this activity within regular music classes.

Stylistic composition is a creative musical activity, in which students as well as renowned composers write according to the style of another composer or period. We describe and evaluate two computational models of stylistic composition, called Racchman-Oct2010 (random constrained chain of Markovian nodes, October 2010) and Racchmaninof-Oct2010 (Racchman with inheritance of form). The former is a constrained Markov model, and the latter embeds this model in an analogy-based design system. Racchmaninof-Oct2010 applies a pattern discovery algorithm called SIACT and a perceptually validated formula for rating pattern importance, to guide the generation of a new target design from an existing source design. A listening study is reported concerning human judgments of music excerpts that are, to varying degrees, in the style of mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849). The listening study acts as an evaluation of the two computational models and a third, benchmark system, called Experiments in Musical Intelligence. Judges' responses indicate that some aspects of musical style, such as phrasing and rhythm, are being modeled effectively by our algorithms. Judgments are also used to identify areas for future improvements. We discuss the broader implications of this work for the fields of engineering and design, where there is potential to make use of our models of hierarchical repetitive structure.