Life
is in a relationship with life. What?
Everything
that exists is in relationship …
~Husbands
and wives
~Boss and employee
~Company and client
~Parent and siblings
~Stars and planets
~Earth and tides
~God and man
Even
in music a relationship exists between notes, rhythm, balance, volume, tone and
texture.
Jack
Canfield shares a great illustration about this in “Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive”.
“Once upon a time there
was a manager who couldn’t use his concert tickets for Schubert’s Unfinished
Symphony and gave them to his efficiency expert. After the performance the manager received
this report.
1. For considerable periods, the four oboe players had nothing
to do. Their number should be reduced,
and their work spread over the whole orchestra.
2. Forty violins were playing identical notes. This seems unnecessary duplication, and this
section should be drastically cut. If a
larger volume of sound is required, this could be achieved through an
electronic amplifier.
3. Much effort was absorbed in the playing of demi/semi
quavers. This seems an excessive
refinement, and it is recommended that all notes be rounded to the nearest
semi-quaver. If this were done, it
should be possible to use trainees and lower-grade operators.
4. No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the
passage that has already been handled by the strings. If all such redundant passages were
eliminated, the concert could be reduced to twenty minutes. If Schubert had attended to these matters, he
probably would have been able to finish his symphony after all.”
What
a funny little piece of writing. This
makes me laugh as a human being, but as a musician I cringe.
What
if I said to my wife, “Honey, on my
wedding day I told you I loved you, and if I change my mind, I’ll let you
know.”? That might be efficient but
hardly prudent for maintaining my marriage.
Sometimes
we need to shelve efficiency for good old fashioned time well-spent with
someone just because they exist.
Relationships, like music, need the full spectrum of sights, sounds,
emotional highs and lows, and resolutions of chords.
You
can’t strip down relationships to “do as
I say, not as I do.” You can’t
ignore the human factor in relating to people.
One
book that touches on this idea is Getting
Naked by Patrick Lencioni. To whet
your appetite, listen to this short video clip of Pat talking about this book.
Bottom
line – relationships need nurturing.
P Michael Biggs
Offering Hope
Encouragement
Inspiration
One Word at a Time
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