Thoughts on how the President ticks
Today I sat in awe watching and listening to the President summing up the activities of his Nuclear Security Summit. And when he came to taking questions from reporters, I tried my best to analyze the brilliance as to how he was answering the questions. My only point of reference is my own discipline: Music.
I came up with two scenarios: one is the scenario “Harmonizing a given melody” and the other, “Firmly announcing the modality of your music”.
In one of my music classes, we had to purchase a series of folk songs from other countries. In those little books, there were ten of them as I recall, only the melodic line was written. Our job was to go to the piano and harmonize that melody however way we wished. In other words, we had to use chords or whatever to turn that melodic line into a completed song. Sometimes the teacher would just call out a page number for us to go to.
As we laboriously played each chord progressing into our creation, we had to identify the chord or whatever we would be playing as the teacher would quietly ask at various intervals, “What chord was that you just played?” and she would follow up with, “Did you use the appropriate progression from that chord?” “Yes, Ma’am” many would answer in humble and trembling timidity, horrified she may follow up asking, “Why?” “Wh..wh..why? Ma‘am?” “Yes. Why did you use that particular progression?” or she may ask, "Class, do you know?" and you knew you were sunk!
In relation to the President’s speech and answering questions from reporters, the President hears a melodic line and proceeds to use appropriate chord structures to create the verbal masterpieces he does. And in the event he is given two different melodic lines, he yields an oratory/melodic feast. And if he is called out on any one issues, he is fully prepared to define its structure and justify his usage and its logical progressions. I scratch my head!
The second scenario deals with writing music in the classical form. One thing you must do is keep the tonality in sync with your writing. That is, being consistent within the musical key or modality in which you are writing. Don’t confuse the listener with non-related and extraneous modalities. In it simplistic form, one would say if you were writing in the key of “C major” stay in the key of C major.
Don’t go drifting into the key of “F” or “E minor” without appropriate justifications. Even momentary modality drifting could turn a listener off concluding you do not know what you are doing or worst, you know what you should be doing but you lack discipline. I am mindful writing in another post regarding un-disciplined streams of consciousness.
With the speeches of the President and answers to questions from reporters, if he is in the key of “C major” with his speech, he uses appropriate *normaclasure or buzz-words associated with the issue he is addressing. That issues alone pops me out of my seat. I wonder how he remembers such things and use them at the drop of a hat!
It is fascinating to me and the only analogy I can conjure up as grueling within another discipline would be that of law. A law student is asked by the professor to identify all the parts of speech and its justification he is using in his class-room summations in a mock trial.
As always,
BB
* I swear I know normaclasure is a word but I can not find the spelling on google.
I came up with two scenarios: one is the scenario “Harmonizing a given melody” and the other, “Firmly announcing the modality of your music”.
In one of my music classes, we had to purchase a series of folk songs from other countries. In those little books, there were ten of them as I recall, only the melodic line was written. Our job was to go to the piano and harmonize that melody however way we wished. In other words, we had to use chords or whatever to turn that melodic line into a completed song. Sometimes the teacher would just call out a page number for us to go to.
As we laboriously played each chord progressing into our creation, we had to identify the chord or whatever we would be playing as the teacher would quietly ask at various intervals, “What chord was that you just played?” and she would follow up with, “Did you use the appropriate progression from that chord?” “Yes, Ma’am” many would answer in humble and trembling timidity, horrified she may follow up asking, “Why?” “Wh..wh..why? Ma‘am?” “Yes. Why did you use that particular progression?” or she may ask, "Class, do you know?" and you knew you were sunk!
In relation to the President’s speech and answering questions from reporters, the President hears a melodic line and proceeds to use appropriate chord structures to create the verbal masterpieces he does. And in the event he is given two different melodic lines, he yields an oratory/melodic feast. And if he is called out on any one issues, he is fully prepared to define its structure and justify his usage and its logical progressions. I scratch my head!
The second scenario deals with writing music in the classical form. One thing you must do is keep the tonality in sync with your writing. That is, being consistent within the musical key or modality in which you are writing. Don’t confuse the listener with non-related and extraneous modalities. In it simplistic form, one would say if you were writing in the key of “C major” stay in the key of C major.
Don’t go drifting into the key of “F” or “E minor” without appropriate justifications. Even momentary modality drifting could turn a listener off concluding you do not know what you are doing or worst, you know what you should be doing but you lack discipline. I am mindful writing in another post regarding un-disciplined streams of consciousness.
With the speeches of the President and answers to questions from reporters, if he is in the key of “C major” with his speech, he uses appropriate *normaclasure or buzz-words associated with the issue he is addressing. That issues alone pops me out of my seat. I wonder how he remembers such things and use them at the drop of a hat!
It is fascinating to me and the only analogy I can conjure up as grueling within another discipline would be that of law. A law student is asked by the professor to identify all the parts of speech and its justification he is using in his class-room summations in a mock trial.
As always,
BB
* I swear I know normaclasure is a word but I can not find the spelling on google.
posted by BB at 4:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home