The relationship between time constraints and creativity in bass lines of eminent jazz musicians: An exploratory study

The effect of time constraints on the creativity of jazz musicians has received little attention in creativity research and has produced mixed results. In this exploratory study, the relationship between time constraints (operationalized as tempo and harmonic rhythm) and creativity (operationalized as the proportion of novel melodic patterns) was investigated using Kendall’s partial correlation analysis and a sample of forty-two transcriptions of Paul Chambers’s and Ron Carter’s bass lines (9,334 bars of notation in total). This research is one of the first to investigate creativity under extreme time constraints.Results indicated a statistically significant and weak to moderate negative correlation between tempo and creativity and a statistically non-significant and negligible to weak positive correlation between harmonic rhythm and creativity in Paul Chambers’s bass lines. However, when removing small differences between melodic patterns and accounting for the decreased rhythmic variation at fast tempos, results indicated a statistically non-significant and negligible to weak negative correlation between tempo and creativity and a statistically non-significant and negligible correlation between harmonic rhythm and creativity in Paul Chambers’s bass lines. Results based on Ron Carter’s bass lines were often inconsistent in terms of effect direction which makes it difficult to interpret the results. However, it is noteworthy that both musicians were able to create highly creative bass lines with little repetition of melodic patterns even at very fast tempos.