Managing Boredom In Large Meetings

For the Spring Meeting of the corporation; a hundred CEOs fly to a midwestern city noted for service by multiple discount airlines.
Here, we are informed of the unparalled excellence of the Home Office, and the many equally excellent reasons why the corporation's share prices have not budged for another year.

Despite the fact that all the executives who have stock options are unlikely to see any immediate or long-term advantage from this "perk", we are cheered to know that the drab-looking clique of senior managers is doing their best to operate effectively.

From dawn to dusk, we are harrangued by mediocre functionaries who believe themselves to be leaders in the industry. Under the watchful gaze of the Chairman, whose remote ancestors founded the company, and whose extended family owns the controlling shares, the suited ranks pretend to be impressed.

Lest we be distracted from this happy tale of ever-increasing success, cell phones and Blackberries are banned. I bear some responsibility for this measure. Last year, a group of my peers (younger junior execs who were "acquired" through the purchase of our small and more nimble firm four years ago, entertained ourselves by maintaining a comic commentarty on the most egregiously stultifying presentations on our Blackberries.

We were all deemed to have "bad attitudes" and to have insuficiently adopted the soul-destroying "philosophy" of our Chairman. So, through the course of the past year, I have been coached by various long-term employees of National Mediocrity Ltd. about the joy and personal success that always attends those who follow the NML pathway. But, at the conference, our blackberries are banned.

Because I was afraid that my fixed glassy-eyed stare was beginning to resemble the first minutes of rigor mortis, I began to invent games and diversions to preverve some semblance of interest. Whenever the words "industry leader", "excelllence," "bonus threshold," "Chairman's Award," "decision point," or "strategic enhancement" were spoken, I nodded vigorously.

Unfortunately, the buzzwords tended to be articulated in rapid succession by the same speakers, so I endured long periods of motionlessness, and then began nodding in a manner indistinguishable from a petit mal seizure.

When I tired of this, I composed a long list of "Ways the Spring Meeting Could Be Improved."
I had to steal the fancy hotel note pads from my neighbors in order to complete the list. Fortunately, most of my neighbors seemed to be thinking about suicide notes and did not object to my appropriation of all the pads.

On the remaining pages, I started jotting fond remembrances of great meetings by other companies with which I have been affiliated.
There were some great speakers, real conversation with peers, facilitated problem-solving that was actually helpful, and an opportunity for participants to do more than take notes.

Lastly, I began to inventory the contents of the tote bag filled with miscellaneous items I had received when I signed in at the Registration Desk.
One of the items was a truly elegant bound notebook, apparently included so that participants would have an appropriate place to record the pearls of wisdom delivered by the Chairman.

I used it make notes about future articles for the Blog.

Things That Come To Mind

1, At any given time, I have six to ten draft articles.

I begin writing something, and run out of enthusiasm.
Or, I recognize that I am tackling the subject from the wrong perspective.
Or, I realize that I have a long list of facts to check.
Or, the subject suddenly becomes too large for one article, or too esoteric to interest anyone (although i am learning to ignore this - the French songs and the madrigal pieces existed as drafts for a long time.)

Sometimes the disconnect between my care for the topic and my leaden prose requires that I "take a break" and start afresh.

And, sometimes the story becomes so personal that I cannot tell it without revealing my real life identity (which must remain a secret until that last warrant is suppressed).
Or, I can't find a decent graphic to illustrate the article.

Do other people leave heaps of unfinished writing lying about?

2. Has anyone else seen the great movie, "The Trip To Bountiful" starring Geraldine Page? (It won several Academy Awards, including Best Actress, in 1985).

The screenplay was written by Horton Foote (To Kill A Mockingbird, Tender Mercies), who is one of the greatest writers in America. (I have an unfinished article about him!)

In the movie, there is a scene of such tremendous forgiveness and understanding that it is thrilling whenever I recall it.

And, there is an incredible exchange between the son (played by John Heard) and his mother (Geraldine Page) as they stand in the abandoned house of their ealy life and discuss whether or not something should be remembered if it is painful.

For some reason, this is haunting me.

All Creatures Now

In a recent article about going a'maying (winner of an award for appropriate punctuation: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976996120 ) I noted the remarkable English composer of madrigals, Thomas Morley.

I know several of his compostions very well, having performed some of them dozens of times when I sang with a small vocal music ensemble in upper school and at University.

Writing about "Now is the Month of Maying" brought back memories of "Fa Una Canzona" by Orrazio Vecchi, (1550-1605, Italy), "April is in My Mistress' Face" by Thomas Morley, 1558-1603), and "All Creatures Now are Merry-Minded" by John Bennet (1570-1615, English).

Bennet's madrigal, "All Creatures Now Are Merry-Minded" was published with other songs and madrigals in a volume entitled, "The Triumphs of Oriana" in honor of Queen Elizabeth the first.

The madrigal was the most important form of secular music in the era in which it flourished, the second half of the 16th Ccentury. It arose in Italy, where late Renaissance prosperity and learning created an environment in which a skillful diversion could be practiced and admired.

The form, which was a fluid trasition from harmonic ecclesiastical styles to a more flexible and innovative secular format, soon spread throughout Europe. England, in the great bloom of Tudor prosperity and peace, adopted and treasured the madrigal.
Although opera and dialogues, the cantata, and oratorios displaced the madrigal throughout most of Europe by 1630, the English continued to make creative innovations in the form. In the British Isles, madrigal singing endured much longer as a favored diversion of the rural aristocracy.

Madrigal singing usually involves a small emsemble of eight to sixteen voices, depending on the complexity of the music and whether voices "double up" on parts.

Madrigals involve tight harmonies in four parts, which sometimes separate into eight parts.

Unlike most choral music, the madrigal is usually performed unaccompanied by instruments, or "a cappella". The italian phrase betrays the ecclesiastical origins of the music.

The experience of singing in a madrigal ensemble was the most disciplined musical work that I have ever done. You must attend continuously to pitch and tone, and to the other singers.

When we performed, a pitch was given at the beginning of each set. We would perform the piece, then sound our pitches for the next piece without the aid of tuning fork or a pitch pipe. The same for the third piece.
It was a triumph to end, as we always did, exactly on the pitch as sounded again by the pitch pipe.

My ear and voice have never been as good as they were in that tight group. Every missed note was immediately known to each peer, because you were often the only voice on the note. It required a discipline of attention and hearing, and sounding the tones and the multiple languages in which we sang.

But the discipline of practice was made worthwhile by the sheer delight and exuberance of the music. If you can know an age by the sounds of the music enjoyed in the period, this was a time of enormous joy and sensual delight.

This link takes you to a web-page offering a glorious rendition of the song: (Hit the green"play" arrow on the page)
http://www.toptempo.com/song/song_0000280.html

All creatures now are merry minded.
The shepherds`daughters playing,
the nymphs are falalaing
Yond bugle was well winded.

At Oriana`s presence each thing smileth.
The flowers themselves discover,
birds over her do hover,
music the time beguileth.

See where she comes with flowery garlands crowned,
queen of all queens renowned.
Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana:
Long live fair Oriana.