I learned classical piano, and a bit of music theory, which was mostly about analyzing what I had in front of me. I always found classical music to be a bit de

I learned classical piano, and a bit of music theory, which was mostly about analyzing what I had in front of me. I always found classical music to be a bit dead - beautiful, but dead : I guess I see it as a dead language, like latin or greek. The jazz I was given was fully written, so it was dead too, except in a few cases where I was supposed to magically improvise. Then I 'got' Jazz, 25 years later : it's entirely about learning the language and grammar and vocab of music, and speaking it, creating new sentences and expressing yourself. The process probably matters more than the style itself.