Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Be In Tune

A guitar is a very delicate instrument. Inspite of the fact that players like Townsend, Hendrix and Cobain smash the crap out of them, they are delicate instruments. Made of wood, metal with many knobs to adjust, tuners to manipulate, guitars are tough to keep in tune. The weather effects the wood, expanding and conracting it with temperature and humidity to change the tone of the 6 strings. Strings wear out. Hell, just playing the thing gets it out of tune. I remember trying to learn to play with an out of tune guitar. Everything sounded the same.

The same is true in the classroom. So many variables can get your class "out of tune". The weather, the mere thought of a snowflake turns a great class into animals. A class has more strings and variables than the guitar. Students, teachers, visitors the lesson all have an effect. You have to think of each lesson to start in tune. Make the start good and you should be good for a while. It is important to set the tone from the beginning and refuse to start until you are in tune. Even as the lesson progresses you find that you need to tune up as the lesson continues. It is important to stop, tune up and then proceed. You see musicians do this constantly. Good ones can tune in mid song. Other can banter with the audience and tune up. I've seen BB King break a string, install a new one, tune it and never miss a note of a song. It takes years to perfect but that is the goal we are trying to achieve. To be in tune the entire class and make adjustments along the way.

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