PIANO'S AND CRITICAL THINKING
Now that I'm retired I've considered several activities to engage in. Engage in at my leisure and in a way that suits me. Hmmm. That sounded kinda selfish, but there it is and I can't really change the statement substantially and still say what I wanted to. So, one of the things I would enjoy would be to teach begginner guitar and mandolin to those who have a desire to learn how to play them. When teaching these instruments I try to include some music theory, (as much as I feel the student can stand), because music theory is applicable to any instrument they may care to learn in the future and will help them be a more complete musician. As it happens, the piano is the best way, in my opinion, to teach music theory. It's kind of like a physical representation of music theory and can open up a deep and effective understanding of music in general. What I've leaned in my music theory classes, and piano lessons has been invaluable in my advancement on other instruments I have learned to play.
    Critical thinking is similar in another area of our lives. If we learn to analyze things systematically we can apply that process to situations as they present themselves in our lives. We cannot use this process to make decisions, but we would be silly not to use the process to HELP us make good decisions. If I may offer a quick example. We may not have delt with new car salesmen before but even on our first encounter we can benefit from analyzing the process. When a salesman says your used trade-in car is worth 3 times more than your friend was willing to pay you you may think your friend isn't as good a friend as you first thought. But if you are appropriately skeptical of the amount of money the salesman is offering you you will likely learn that your car's value is actually more in line with your friends offer. A new car price often includes a significant markup to allow the salesman the chance to offer you the excessive amount of money for your car to give the illussion that they are being very generous to make the sale more likely. They may offer you 3,000 for a car that they will wholesale out for 1,000 while still making a nice profit on the deal. These facts are there for the learning but are seldom discovered. If we know the value of our car before the negotiation we become skeptical of the process and can learn how the new car selling game is played. Then we can negotiate from a position of strength. Strength provided by our knowledge of the process we are engaged in.
    This ability to reason is something our schools use to focus on. Unfortunately we have entered a time when colleges are more interested in advancing a particular ideology rather than teaching the ability to form an opinion based on the logical analysis of the available facts. Just like music theory can help us with our endeavor to learn any instrument, so, too, does critical thinking help us in all aspects of decision making.

Default Discrimination

    It would seem victim-hood is as hard to leave behind as entitlements. If you happen to be one of the "elite" minorities in our society, that is to say a woman, a black, a hispanic, or a child, then you are expected to assume a default position of "discrimination" whenever you encounter rude or unthoughtful people. In my opinion our friend, Oprah, has given us a glimpse into this phenomenon with her recent encounter overseas. While this event has become quite the news story, our country is full of similar situations. Unfortunately, there are no sane leaders among our alleged intelligentsia who are willing to try and move us away from this built-in response to any negative event in the life of an "elite" minority. (I use the term "elite" minority to accent the fact that only a handful of the actual minorities in our country benefit from this mindset.) One of the difficulties in working through this ambiguous maze of pseudo-reasoning is the immediate and very negative reaction one gets when trying to engage others in dialogue on the subject. No one wants to have the reputation of being a woman-hater, a racist, or being against the well-being of our children, so one feels a strong intimidation when approaching this subject. For the sake of brevity I would like to try and illustrate my point with a recent experience of my own. As a singer-songwriter I occasionally attend a local singer-songwriter circle. It had been years since I was able to go but decided to check it out again. As I entered the small sandwich-type bar and grill I saw the circle and headed towards it. I stood behind one of the guys in the circle waiting for the current offering of a song to end before entering the circle and taking my chair. I was having difficulty staying out of the waitress's way and eventually the guy I was standing behind scooted his chair over to allow me a chance to be seated. I took a seat adjacent to the young man who was singing one of his songs. The song had a nice rhythm and chords I was familiar with. I began playing my mandolin along with him being careful not to get in the way of his song. After the song, instead of introductions and a welcome from the leader of the circle, all that was offered was a statement of the rule about only playing when invited and an apology from the leader to the singer for my taking a seat during his song. That was it. Nothing else. Then we were on to the next guy in the circle. Looking back at that situation, I believe if I were a black, or a woman for instance that I would have immediately interpreted this cold reception as being sexism or racism. Since I am not a member of either of these "elite" minority groups, I was left with the conclusion that I was the victim of unthoughtful musicians who were too interested in what they were going to play next to concern themselves with this new guy. I honestly believe that true sexism and racism and several other -isms are present at a much lower level than what public perception would indicate. In fact, there are those who fuel the elevated perception of these ostensibly discriminating acts to further enrich and empower themselves. There IS a comfort level that comes with likeness, this is not in question. But a hispanic, or a black or a woman who loves music, for instance, has entered a comfortable place for me.