Brandon seminar plus some observations

[Brian Trout]

Hi List,

I too am back from the soundboard installation seminar in Brandon, MB and am
absolutely thrilled that I went!  Having installed a number of soundboards
in the past, some of what was going on was review, but the whole experience
put the bigger picture into a perspective I might not have realized for
years to come.  I made a number of new friends, learned a lot, and came away
from the experience a better person for having attended.

(This is a plug for going to seminars and conventions and classes... If you
don't, you're depriving yourself of so much.)

Andre and Christian Bolduc, Mark Cramer, Stan Kroeker, Roger Jolly (who did
a brief 'technical' demonstration of steam voicing with a touch of a few
related things), and a number of people at Brandon University (my apologies
for not remembering all of the names) are to be commended for their
contribution to an event that will have a positive impact on so many lives.

I wanted to make a general observation or two as well, if you have the time.

My wife has had a number of fish tanks over the years.  She's had little one
gallon tanks.  She's had the 5 gallon tanks.  She's had 10, 25, and now a 55
gallon tank.

When she put a little fish in a little tank, it grew a little, and then
stopped.  When she took the same fish, and put it in the 5 gallon tank, it
grew a little more, but only a little.  As she progressed up through the
tanks, the fish got bigger and bigger, much depending upon how big the tank
was.

I was visualizing myself as that little fish in the little bowl.  In my
local area, I'm in a small 'tank'.  I only run into a limited amount of
things to fix and tune, and classes are pretty much non-existent.  I have
grown, but growth is limited if I only cower in my little bowl (area) and
never learn what's out there in the big ocean.  But when I attend a class
like the one in Brandon, all of the sudden, I'm not a big fish in a little
bowl, I'm a little fish in a great big tank!  (And as I was trying to
illustrate, being a little fish in a big tank gives me lots of room to grow,
which I believe I have done, not to imply that I have arrived.)  And the
wonderful people I've been rubbing shoulders with for the past 4 days have
helped me to grow.  (They're the <symbolic> bigger fish in the tank that
could eat me alive if they wanted to, but instead, protect me, and nourish
me, and help me to grow.)

I don't know if it's a good illustration or not, but the whole experience
not only built me up, but at the same time it humbled me and helped me to
realize how much I don't know.  I've enjoyed the learning so much, and I
sincerely look forward to more of the same camaraderie, and fellowship, and
sharing that will hopefully be a part of all of our futures.

Wishing you all the best,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net