Improvisational jazz pleases me. When a really great musician, say Diana
Krall, does her craft it becomes magical.
The improvisation at play fits, flows, and melts into one great musical
experience.
I like improvisation.
Life sometimes needs improvising. Things don’t always flow like the text book
says it will. And what then?
We either improvise or quit the
band?
Sometimes jobs don’t flow like the handbook
said they would. Do you flow with it or take
another job?
Same with marriages, partnerships, and
courtships. You either find ways to
improvise and get back in the same key or your go your separate ways.
When I served as a music leader in
churches, sometimes I liked to go off script.
I called it “creating”. Once, my
technical team got rather upset with me for going off script at a certain point
during a night of music. They didn’t
like it one bit, let me tell you. They
said it made them look incompetent. I
knew exactly where I was and what I was doing.
I was creating on the spot and they had a hard time with that. So sad for them.
Sometimes, plans are just that – plans. Sometimes we spice things up and
improvise. We paint outside the lines just
for the fun of it – just to see what we can discover, or as an afterthought when
it makes sense to make some minor adjustments in the flow of things.
Often, Carolyn and I improvise on our
date days together. We start out with no
agenda and move through our day going from one place of interest to the next
with no game plan, no agenda, and no structure.
We just free-fall and those often turn out to be some of our best dates
ever.
I’m all for having an agenda and a plan,
but it is not the end of the world if on occasion we abandon the plan and
improvise.
Really, it can be a kick in the
pants.
A couple of suggestions:
Leave your “up-tight” mindset at home on
those days.
If life hands you lemons, do what some
wise person once said and make lemonade with lots of sugar.
If you find yourself needing to
improvise, trust your instincts. We
really do have survival skills that can serve us well. We just need to get back in touch with them
sometimes.
What I am not saying is this … always
improvise and never follow the plan.
Even Diana Krall and her combo always
have a chord chart to follow. They often
work out ahead of time who and where the improvisation will occur.
Have fun.
Improvise when you have to, or need to.
You might learn something about yourself that will open up new vistas.
P Michael
Biggs
Offering
Hope
Encouragement
Inspiration
One Word
at a Time
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