Improvisational Conversations: Teaching as an Interpretive Practice

Abstract

Improvisation is a phenomenon that is deeply embedded in the day-to-day lives of teachers and students. Yet, few educators take the time to consider improvisation as being necessary to reach meaningful understandings with students. This paper is a hermeneutic inquiry that positions curriculum as improvisation by engaging in a conversation that may expand others' understandings of what it is and means to be a teacher who is living well with others. Examining specific incidents that have undergirded my life as a jazz musician and educator, I offer reflections on teaching as being, at its core, an interpretive practice. Drawing further on Gadamer’s (2001) notion of genuine conversation, the history of jazz improvisation and my own lived experiences, I engage in a conversation about why I believe teaching is an interpretive practice akin to improvisation and genuine conversation.