Hi Rick, Rick, I believe that to learn anything about music is helpful. It's a matter of what it is that's important to you to learn. I found that the more I learned about music theory: chord construction, jazz harmony, four-part writing with figured bass, counterpoint, arranging and orchestrating, the better I was able to appreciate the artful simple communication of folk songs. The more I learned, the more I learned to appreciate.

The language for jazz is different than for classical music. I think that this is true when it comes to folk music as well. It's rare that a minor seven flat five chord would fit in a folk song accompaniment without stretching the borders of taste. It's a matter of familiarity with the idiom. Sometimes three chords can be the most effective form of communication. There has been a direction in so-called "serious" music to minimalism. It's a tool like any other approach.

Improvisation, in my view, is a communal expression. You gotta' speak the same language to improvise together.

Frank Hamilton