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The Western Illinois Museum will present a series of programs for the next annual Al Sears Jazz Festival called, "Improvisation: A Dialogue With Jazz." The act of improvisation is fundamental to how human beings interact with one another and their surroundings. It pervades our relationships with one another, with our communities, and with the larger world in which we exist. Words combine to create infinite meanings, each conversation unique and based on the dialogue between individuals. In the same way, jazz improvisers use rhythm, harmony, and melody to create musical meaning. In this series, the lecture-demonstrations will examine the roots of jazz improvisation and its development in different historical periods in order to help us understand relationships in a broader sense.