I have been deeply inspired by reading articles by Robert Levin and Malcolm Bilson, who are both excellent pianists as well as scholars. Their subject is Mozart's music, and their topics are how to read the music properly and how to perform it. They back their claims by referring to historical sources. Reading the music means following the indications of the composer - something that surprisingly few musicians do. This is especially true of short notes which are often lengthened. A staccato marking - dot or wedge - means the notes are to be played short and crisply. A slur indicates an accent on the first note and cutting off the final note under the slur. Meter is a clue to accentuation. 4/4 indicates more of an on-every-beat accentuation more than cut time in which the emphasis is on beats one and three. A series of quarter notes are to be played in a detached manner, with each note being played for half of its full value. The Alberti bass figures are customarily played softly, allowing the right hand to be played cantabile. Not so, says Bilson. The music was written for the keyboards in existent during Mozart's time, and these instruments are incapable of this effect. With quiet left-hand figures the music loses much of its energy.Mozart's music is full of repeated sections, but the music was not intended to be performed the same way twice, according to Bilson and Levin, who wrote an article for Early Music (1992) called "Improvised embellishments in Mozart's keyboard music." The repeat provides the performer a great opportunity to make the music his/her own. More opportunities for self-expression come when there's a fermata at a half-cadence. At this point the 18th century performer knew he or she needed to add a lead-in to the next section. Mozart even made up a term for this fermata embellishment - eingang. Mozart's music is replete with notated eingänge. Levin suggests that the 18th century performer knew that he or she could choose to play their own instead of Mozart's own, which was simply a fill-in to give the performer the general idea. The music of Mozart did not have to be played metronomically. Bilson tends to make short ritardandi and change tempos during his performances of solo keyboard works.All these are great ideas for a composer and jazz player. At the least, adding embellishments keeps the performer much more involved in the music. It can turn an ordinary melody into something deeply affecting.