Enactive performance: between musical creativity and instrumental genesis

The relationship between the body and a musical instrument can be an obstacle to a pupil’s artistic performance. Studies on this complex relationship have allowed us to identify the phenomenon of instrumental genesis and to describe the influence of creativity on the enactive representation of musical learning. This article reports on an exploratory study conducted with two groups of young pianists who over the course of four weeks had to learn a work based on a unique mode of playing: the cluster. As well as this task, the pupils in one of the groups had to compose a piece using this mode of playing. The results of the study seem to point to better pianistic performances by the creative pupils.