In jazz, walking bass lines rely on movement, tension, and resolution. Or, sometimes suspension where the music finishes but there seems to be more to be said. It feels unfinished.
In a sense, learning is like this too. Especially when we are self-teaching a concept or learning something independently. Interests move from topic to topic. Chord to chord. Drawing knowledge from different domains to build a broader understanding of the world. In each topic, the learning can lead anywhere. This is the improvisation. Like in jazz.
But, like jazz music, this builds tension. It raises questions, doubts, contradictions, uncertainty about the world. About how little we know, and about how much we don't. This tension, the suspended notes, drives movement between chords, between fields of knowledge.
In a search for understanding, we dance between disciplines and domains. We add layers to our knowledge and complexity to our understanding. The more we know, the more complicated our understanding becomes. This brings more and more interesting improvisation to fit over the more and more complicated chords.
In jazz, the improvisation is nearly always unique to the performance. To the performer. As learning is always unique to that learner. Their context. Their experiences. We can't standardise learning and make everyone learn the same thing in the same way. It is impossible.
And like jazz, we sometimes get a resolution. The root chord. An answer. A satisfying ending. But sometimes we don't. The song is left in suspension. We end not with an answer, but a harmony of new questions. More improvisation is necessary. More movement. More tension. More questions. And isn't that so exciting!
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