THE MISSION
THE SCIENCE
OF CREATIVITY
Why does music creation matter? What does the research say? And what are we doing about it? This portal is for anyone who wants to understand the deeper why behind Blank Canvas Music Labs.
READ THE RESEARCH →
BUILT ON RESEARCH
STANDING ON
GIANTS’ SHOULDERS
Every Blank Canvas Music Lab resource, activity, and module is grounded in peer-reviewed creativity research. These are the six theorists whose work forms the foundation.
"Possibility thinking is the engine that drives little-c creativity in everyday learning."
ANNA CRAFT (1961 - 2014) · CREATIVITY IN EDUCATION PIONEER
Craft's "little-c creativity" — the everyday creative problem-solving accessible to all children — is the direct inspiration for the Blank Canvas method. Her "What if...?" pedagogy is embedded in every activity we publish.
"The arts teach children that in complex problems, purposes are seldom fixed."
ELLIOT EISNER (1933 - 2014) · STANFORD PROFESSOR
Eisner identified 10 cognitive skills uniquely developed through arts education. His landmark argument: the entire academic curriculum should borrow the teaching methods of arts, not the reverse. He provides the academic backbone for every BCML curriculum claim.
"Creativity is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."
SIR KEN ROBINSON (1950 - 2020) · EDUCATOR & AUTHOR
Robinson's 2006 TED Talk remains the most-watched in history (66M+ views). His central thesis: standardized education destroys children's creative confidence by age 10. His "All Our Futures" report shaped UK government policy. His book Creative Schools is your foundational text.
"Musical intelligence is as valid as mathematical or linguistic intelligence."
HOWARD GARDNER · HARVARD DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory (1983) gave teachers scientific permission to value music as intellectual development. His framework remains influential in teacher education programs in all three BCML target markets.
"The human species could not survive if creativity were to run dry."
MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI · PSCHOLOGIST, FLOW THEORY
Csikszentmihalyi's "Flow" theory — the state of optimal creative engagement — is directly applicable to music creation classrooms. His systems theory argues creativity emerges from the interaction of individual, domain, and field. BCML creates all three conditions.
Arts participation "significantly predicted academic achievement regardless of socioeconomic background."
JAMES CATTERALL · UCLA, CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE STUDY (2012)
Catterall's 12-year longitudinal study of 25,000+ students demonstrated that high arts involvement in K–8 school significantly predicts academic achievement and positive life outcomes — with the strongest effect in students from low-income families.
The Data
WHAT THE
NUMBERS SAY
80%
Drop in creative thinking scores between age 5 and age 12 in standardized school environments
(George Land, NASA study)
7,000
US public schools with zero music programming, disproportionately serving low-income communities
(Save the Music, 2023)
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