Have you ever thought that, given our love for music and the value we place on the creative process, the amount of pure imitating we do is hugely disproportionate and indeed quite surprising?

Why is it that so many of us, including scores of music professionals, never even learned how to make our own music? The mindset of pure imitation is surprisingly pervasive. Entire lives are spent re-creating and reproducing other composers’ works. Some extremely gifted performers never composed or even improvised any music of their own and, unfortunately, can’t benefit from the perspective these activities lend to their interpretive skills. How have we all, including both recreational and professional musicians, arrived at this sorry state? Many answers are found in how musicians are presently trained.