inhibiting your inhibitions : Imagine, Chapter 4

In Chapter 4 of Imagine, Lehrer shares ideas about improvisation and spontaneity from Harvard's Aaron Berkowitz, starting with a comparison to ELL students:

"At first...it's all about the vocabulary words; students must memorize a dizzying number of nouns, adjectives, and verb conjugations.  Likewise, musicians need to immerse themselves in the art, internalizing the intricacies of Shostakovich or Coltrane or Hendrix...Its only...after expertise has been achieved that improvisation can take place.  When the new music is needed, the notes are simply there, waiting to be expressed." (p. 93).

As early childhood educators, we want to help children dig deeper.  Is explicitly teaching them skills a help or a hinderance to their work and creativity?