Brandon seminar plus some observations

[Paul]

Brian
Thanks for the analogy. I wanted to go but... You are absolutely correct on
the importance of the seminars and convention classes.

Paul Chick
Plainview MN
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Trout <btrout@desupernet.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:58 AM
Subject: Brandon seminar plus some observations


> 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
>
>