Smooth Like Jazz

There's something about Jazz on a rainy day or when I'm studying in the morning, with my coffee.

I watched Whiplash on the ride across the Atlantic and back.  There's a scene that continues to stick in my mind.  I live in a world of positive psychology where we toss around the term "strengths-based" and talk about feedback being a gift that we give to someone.  We talk about offering people opportunities to choose their challenge, to view behaviors as communication, to see resistance as a gift, and grow in our own self-awareness of how we impact others.

Then there's this conductor: aggressive, terrifying, passionate.  The synopsis describes him as someone who stops at nothing to activate potential.  His speech sticks in my mind as it was something that I already knew, but didn't know like this:

I wonder how to think about potential or how to activate it.  What kind of cymbal will I throw at someone to grow their potential - and when, why, how?  What kinds of cymbals are people throwing at my head to motivate me, give me incentive to move?  I think I can think of a few...

What are the cymbals and what is the symbol!

One thing I learned from playing with Chimes recently, is that the sound of dissonance soon resolved is the sweetest.  You have to cringe before you smile.  

Here's to exchanging a "good job" to becoming smooth - like Jazz. 

There's just something about it.