Week4 Response to Bryan

Bryan's Post:

As I continued reading through chapters 9 to 12 of The Art of Possibility, I find myself continually impressed with the style of Zander’s writing. It challenges the reader the really think about everyday times where one can be instinctively negative about a situation and reframes it to raise the question of where did I learn to think of this situation, thatway? Not to turn this into a review of the book, to save time, I liked it; I’m going to dissect my favorite parts from these chapters. I especially found inspiration in Chapter 9 where Zander took a hard no about holding a concert in a venue to a massive opportunity where the odds were stacked against him, conducting an orchestra for a school in a vastly underprivileged area where many assumed that culture was a lost cause. Not only did Zander and his orchestra rise to the challenge of performing for these children, they exceeded expectations and were a rousing success. It was during this chapter that I started to think about the influence music has had on my life, and some of the many times that music has really raised my spirit to overcome obstacles. Then I thought about Chapter 9 again and thought why wouldn’t live music in this school be successful? To assume a taste in music based on socioeconomic status and race is pointless, I’ve heard the arguments on this, but at the end of the argument music is still music and has the capacity and power to touch anyone whose ears it hits.

International Space Station, image courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons

I also really enjoyed the idea of “being the board” as chapter 10 suggests, because it does provide a more favorable way of presenting situations. While I can’t say that some of the examples Zander used would find much solace in “being the board” it is a healthier way to frame a bad situation. This chapter had a great example in Zander writing the letter to his student about learning to not lash out about situations out of his control, and I’m sure anyone who has been in charge of a monumental task where many things can go wrong, can sympathize with Zander’s position in this story. I have to admit that I’ve not only been in the position Zander was in, I’ve taken the same path he did by lashing out and becoming a burden to the supportive people around me. While I can’t say that “being the board” is a philosophy I could see myself subscribing to in order to solve a tough situation, I can see the value in taking a few minutes to cast that light on a negative situation before acting in regrettable manner.

It was at this point where I found myself reading my second favorite chapter of The Art of Possibility, Chapter 11. The part where Zander describes having his students write comparisons of playing music to the work that the engineers do at NASA. I immediately enjoyed the notion of musicians writing to NASA to speak to the inspiration and imagination that both these fields require to work well. It was especially rewarding to read how touched these engineers at NASA were by these letters, and the fact that they sent them into space to inspire the astronauts and remind them why they do the work they do. In fact, my second favorite quote from this book fell in chapter 11, “I am here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all the alligators.” As an educator, particularly the math teacher in me, that particular line resonated with me. Sometimes just having a positive attitude about the situation can win the battle. I think to that end, this is probably what Zander’s greatest message was throughout the book, that one can lose sight of how great the things in front of them truly are if they choose to frame everything in a negative light. I would contend that this was the most uplifting chapter of the book; because of the way it framed a situation that hadn’t changed or been disrupted at all, but found a new more positive way to look at it. I think as an educator it gets easy to forget the world of possibility seated in front of us each day when we get bogged down with all the white noise of collecting data, and performance evaluations, and so on.

As I came to chapter 12 I was actually excited to see how Zander wrapped this book up, and I have to admit I haven’t gotten that into a book in quite some time. To be honest, I was expecting a massively grandiose message and felt a little disappointed when I finished chapter 12. Not to say that Zander’s message of looking at situations in the “we” instead of the “I/You” wasn’t good, I think we (and all of our personal relationships) could certainly benefit from doing so from time to time. I just built up this idea of a huge overarching message that I assumed had to be coming, but in reality that wasn’t Zander’s message in the first place. In fact, in the coda following chapter 12, he even states himself that this book wasn’t written to “cure” your problems; but, after reading this and allowing Zander to do a little mind expansion, I can certainly see how this line of thinking could make a lot of things in life easier and eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress.

My comment:

Bryan,
That was a great summary of the assigned reading – with quality reflection. I have to say that I didn’t completely enjoy the book as much as others, but then again – I just don’t really like books like this. The one thing that I laughed about as I read the end of your post was that you were slightly disappointed that there wasn’t some grand final message. I was thinking, “Oh thank God!”
I also agreed with your assessment of “being the board”. That’s not really how I roll either. I’m ok with patience, but reactions are frequently warranted.
Great post as always!
Michael