A Tradition is not a Value

I remember when growing up that one of the favorite musicals of my family was "Fiddler on the Roof". If you don't know the story, it centers on how a poor Jewish milkman, Tevye, struggles to maintain "Tradition" against the tide of rapid change (the backdrop being the Russian Revolution some 100 years ago). Like Tevye, we all want to keep our traditions. But so many of us confuse traditions with values.

Values are what we stand for, deep down. Traditions are how we express our values. Values are timeless. Traditions can be too ... but not always.

Lately, I have reflected a lot on my life's calling, my career, my family, and even the organizations I have been part of.* I see so many organizations dying from the inside today. They are dying because they cling stubbornly to traditions (two pistons! no amplification! no dance!) that have eventually poisoned the water.

And this is not just drum corps. Community organizations are literally dying - old members are aging and new ones aren't joining. There are organizations that say they serve young people but don't even know how to reach them anymore. The list is long of drum corps that have taken tradition right into the grave, and a number of kids are poorer for not having the opportunity. (Maybe some I discussed in the post Loss below).

Young people like to question traditions, but they don't do it with maturity, and so we more, um, experienced folks react viscerally to defend the traditions when they do. But we have to learn how to questions traditions, too, only with maturity. How? By asking, "Does this tradition enhance or hinder our values?"

It is funny that I remember the time the Holy Name/Garfield/of Bergen County/Cadets used the motto Tradition: Innovation. To me that said it all. And look at how old they are (founded in 1934), and how young they continue to be in the new and innovative ideas they bring to the competition field. The Cadets have traditions, but mostly they have values that have been infused over time.

So, anyway, most of last week I was at a work conference. On Monday of that week it was announced at the meeting that my fellow professional association members have humbled me by asking me to join their Executive Committee, which comes with a path toward leading the organization in a few years. I hope I can help find ways to strip out the unnecessary traditions, and enhance the values.

Look at the organizations you belong to, and whether or not they are dying by traditions instead of living by values. If not, you will be the one who needs to come up with the new traditions to enhance the values.

Some people call it "Thinking outside the box." The Cadets are my favorite corps for doing this, and doing it successfully. I think it is because they also know this: "Thinking outside the box implies that you know how to think inside the box to begin with."


* Okay, "of which I have been a part." That is grammatically correct ... but clunky. I tossed tradition for a bit there ...

Storyboards & Soundtracks

I've been on a posting tear now - three in a row - maybe because it's final exam season and I'm pretending my boys are reading this for inspiration. (1)

I got to thinking that besides sheer physical volume (see 7Ps below) of practice, there also is the mental preparation side of practice, which brings me to this topic.

Storyboards … Watching “Shrek The Third” with the family the other night, we took in the "deleted scenes" DVD feature. This was different from other delete scenes features, however, it that there were three camera shots on the screen – the shot on top featured each storyboard, with the bottom left showing the person telling the story and the bottom right showing the audience.

I could not help but wonder how many marching bands “storyboard” their show. I don't mean just computer music playing to the to the computer drill, but an actual storyboard of the visuals. Then I got to thinking, how many people storyboard important events? Weddings? Important presentations (and I don't mean just PowerPoint!)?

Storyboarding can take place in your mind, but maybe we should all use paper, not computers, and storyboard ... whatever needs to be storyboarded. Paper is cool and can be recycled. It can be dug out of the trash. It can be marked up. My paper of choice is in several sizes, but about two years ago I ditched the typical legal pad for grid/graph paper. Click here for some other cool tools.

Soundtracks … I chose the name Soundtracker because originally I was going to write about probably my favorite “type” of music, movie soundtracks. (Or, as they say in the business, "film scores.") Some soundtracks are original music, some are adapted from familiar themes, and some are old hits in a new form.

But without music, TV and movies can never be “best pictures”. Music sets the tone. Think about it – we hear a song, and picturesque memories or fantasies come to life.

My Mom told me I learned to like classical music from Loony Tunes. (Hmmm. Maybe my Mom was saying that I was looney tunes ...?) I mean, who can forget Bugs Bunny and "The Rabbit (Barber) of Seville"!

I’ve told people in the past that there is nothing more to be said in the world, that we can just sing our way though conversations. (It certainly would make peace talks more interesting!)

Tony singing “Maria” in "West Side Story" – pretty romantic, guys, no matter how you propose! (We used “One Hand One Heart” in our wedding. And "Sunrise Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof", come to think of it. And ... well, I'll quit with that.)

So ANYWAY, this is I think why I have the passion for marching band. Visual storyboards, told purely with a soundtrack.

Storyboards. Soundtracks. As the great Yogi Berra (not Yogi Bear, but he's great too ... see the storyboard!) said, “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.” (Yogi said a lot of other things that are allegedly about baseball. More on that later.)

(1) Finals have been going on for the past week. Studying? Hmmm.