Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón is in Puerto Rico finalizing details of his educational initiative 'Jazz en las escuelas’ (Jazz in Schools), which aims to formally teach improvisation in school curricula. This project is part of Zenón’s desire to contribute to the country’s cultural investment in favor of new generations and to reciprocate what he learned in his extensive musical career. 'Jazz en las escuelas’ is a concept developed by Zenón with the support of the Make Music Happen foundation and will start this school year with students from the Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini in Hato Rey.
Zenón, a graduate of the school over 30 years ago, noted that during his time, there was no formal education on musical improvisation. He recognized the need to teach the language of improvisation, which is common in Puerto Rican music, including plena, bomba, and salsa. The initiative aims to provide a structured program for teaching improvisation, which is vital in jazz and other music genres.