Thursday, January 8, 2009

Misunderstanding

Not exactly a cheery topic, but....

First of all, to report on how the band experience went on Monday...short version: good.
To elaborate, I misunderstood the schedule. I was thinking it'd be Symphonic Band on Monday nights, and the Jazz Band on Thursdays. I had that reversed. So I just had a different kind of fun. I was the youngest guy there by at least a decade. And I guess I sort of underplayed (meaning I didn't bring it up unless asked) the whole "I was a music major for 6 years, and a HS band director for 4 years" thing. So it was a tad amusing having a couple people enthusiastically try to impress on me how fun band is, and what a typical rehearsal is like.

We spent 2 hours just reading down charts, many of which I was familiar with of course: In the Mood, String of Pearls, Pennsylvania 6-5000, Sway, etc. About 10 or so charts. I was worried about how my out-of-shape chops would do, but they held up, and I focused on getting rhythms and articulations right, which impressed the weekend warrior types.

The other aspect I misunderstood, was that apparently to play in the jazz band (called "Kicks", btw) members are required to also participate in one of the concert/symphonic bands (there are 7-8 different bands). Unfortunately, I can't commit to any of the other band rehearsal schedules. Sooooo, it looks like it might already be over for me. I did hear that there were having auditions for the Colorado Springs Chorale though..... =)

Two other areas of misunderstanding to cover:
1. I've been irked a few times in the past couple weeks at defending my fondness for the Carpenters' music. Yes, I know the music is sometimes played in elevators; and yes, Sean, I know that the bottom-side of her vibrato leans flat, but the more vehemently I try to explain why Karen's voice moves me so much, the worse the mocking gets. So, I'm resigned to be in the minority here, since I've yet to meet a single person (aside from mom!) who agrees with me.

2. I was trying to explain to someone the hands that led up to me busting out of a poker tournament, and why I made the correct moves at the correct times, but just got beat by lucky cards, and I felt like they didn't understand me. That's not a slam on their ability to understand things in general (or poker specifically), but it fell into the pattern of misunderstanding I've been thinking about recently.

I think part of the reason why it tends to get frustrating for me when I'm involved in (receiving or giving) a "misunderstanding", is that part of me suspects that I am to blame for poor communication. It would be honest to concede that a part of me just always wants to be right and get my way, and misunderstandings/miscommunication are obstacles to those. I have to try and remember that there is an infinite God who created a (seemingly) infinite number of personalities and people are just different - not "wrong" or "bad" - just different.

I'm starting to....understand...