Novice musicians can make good music by learning the score, note-for-note, measure-by-measure, and performing it accurately, but great music is created when they listen to the other performers and create a conversation that goes beyond the notation. The same can be said for scholarship, where ideas are shared with melodies and counter-melodies, tight and complex harmonies, and pushed through the process of dissonance and resolution. Every performance builds on the last, creating an ongoing conversation to build knowledge and meaning.
