Learning how to improvise.......

Before I started to paint, I used to do a lot

of analog photography. 

I loved it. I loved improvising with shutter and

exposure time, push them to the limit

and then watch what would happen.

Showing some of my photos to a friend, he asked:

''Have you tried using Adobe Photoshop?''

Never having heard of it I answered no.

''I think you may find using it as an editing tool

interesting, and if you want, I can download 

a copy of it for you to try out.''

Fast forward three weeks and I am spending all

my free time trying to learn how to use Photoshop.

I even bought a book on ''How to use Photoshop'' but

it didn't make much sense to me, so I did what

I tend to do when I want to learn something new; 

I improvised.

In a Simpson episode Lisa asks Homer why he doesn't

like Jazz. Homer answers: ''Jazz? Pfft!! Why, it's not

real music, they just make it up as they go along.''

Improvising can perhaps be defined as ''making

something up on the go'', or figuring something out

on the ''fly'',  but in my view it can also be defined

as a kind of mindset.

(Just ponder this: An improvised story is created at the same

time as it's told. So is an improvised melody when it's played, 

a painting when it's being painted, a dance when it's performed,

or a solution to an unexpected problem.)

Uncertainty is not something most of us find

easy to deal with. Many of us probably prefer to be

in control, organized, prepared, have plans at the ready,

knowing what or where the potential pitfalls may be, etc.etc.

The catchphrase ''going with the flow'' may probably even be somewhat

anxiety inducing and stressful for some of us.

But here's the thing, sometimes even though we have

prepared, checked, and planned, unexpected stuff happens.

We then have a choice of either trying to figure out a possible

solution(improvise) or just ''quit''.

As a professional musician, I have experienced innumerable

occasions when the unexpected has happened.

Suddenly there was an unexpected equipment failure.

If it didn't get fixed, there could be no show.

No show, no payment.

So, one had to improvise, which in most cases

meant grabbing the ''gaffa tape'' (duct tape) and becoming

very creative. (Gaffa tape, a musician's magic ''wand''.)

Improvisation though often connected with the arts,

 is much more than that,

 ''improvisation'', says Stephen Nachmanovich,

''is intuition in action.''

Improvising is something most of us do every day

although we may call it something else.

''-No marmalade? But I always have marmalade on my toast in the

morning. I guess I could just have some peanut butter and jelly

today though."

''-Wow, it's really raining hard. Maybe I'll just take the bus to work

today instead of the bike.''

In order to create a sense of control and certainty in an uncertain

existence, many of us find comfort in routines.

(We often sleep on the same side in our beds, we make our beds

the same way every day, we have the same breakfast, we go to bed

at the same time, we do our washing on the same day, etc.etc.etc.)

But here's the thing as I see it: there are two sides to routines.

They comfort, but only when intact. Once there is an interference

and any of our routines broken, we often experience anxiety and

discomfort. If our mindsets are too rigid and opposed

to change, may I suggest that we are more easily unsettled than

 if we have a mindset that has embraced the ''art'' of improvising.

''In the long history of humankind(and animal kind, too)

those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively,

have prevailed.''

(Charles Darwin)

about the image: a photo taken of a little girl

holding a red balloon, then subjected to hours of editing

in Adobe Photoshop