Learning in general, and particularly when applied to any creative activity like composition, happens in a nonlinear way. It happens more in waves, combining periods of evolution and necessary periods of involution. It also happens in distinct phases when learning can bring rigidity and structures and other periods when learning means being able to unlearn the already learned.
In its preliminary stages, education comes with structure and structure with chains and gags. At this initial point, education provides us with knowledge. This is, for instance, what you are obtaining by reading this article. This knowledge has a passive nature. We can reach out and take the information we need from our brain, but we need to make a conscious effort and decision to do so. Therefore, we sometimes need to figure out what to do with that knowledge.
With time, experience and practice, we can transcend pure knowledge, bringing us to a higher level where knowledge paves the way to understanding. This is a process through which we ...