Scary art

There's a lot of controversy in yesterday's postand I actually got some hate mail. Wow, first time for everything. I am not going to defend the post or my thoughts since it's clear a number of people misunderstood my intent and thought process, yet an equal number got it. I think those are good results. As an adjunct to yesterday's post NPR (our public radio in the United States) ran a terrific article on teaching democracy to students through jazz. Jazz is focused on improvisation and to create music on the fly requires a group of people to get together and agree. What a marvelous idea to integrate jazz into the classroom. You can hear that broadcast by clicking here. I would like to expand on yesterday's core subject, however, the art of design. Let me just suggest that there are many ways to design equipment, just as there are many ways to cook food. Designers can follow tried and true recipes and prepare some wonderful sounding equipment, just as chef's can do the same. But rarely do designers or chefs standout as stellar examples of innovative creations by following recipes. No, only those designers and chefs that have the courage to step outside their comfort zones and get away from the tried and true stand out. There's art and skill in following a recipe of design or food and creating a successful end result. But for those adventurous enough to step outside their comfort zones and try something new, especially in the art of reproducing music, the potential rewards for their customers are huge. Recipes are safe, creative art can be scary.