A concert...... Violins and 120 students (plus thousands of others from other schools). What comes to mind?
Now - Watch the video below.
Take that 15 second video and change your thinking about our day, because it DID not go as I had planned. The learning we encountered that day was unreal.
Yes I said learning, and this is where my purpose of this letter is real, true and direct. Today I was inspired by the band Black Violin. Not because of the fact they've toured with the likes Alicia Keys, played at the Billboard Awards and countless other tours with recognizable bands (although it is pretty sweet). What I was truly inspired by was their message and what they were trying to teach.
As an educator, coach and even a new parent I see things and have long wondered, why is it happening, why do they do that, why am I living my life this way? For example, if you know me I'm a huge believer in the fact that we are losing leaders because kids don't have unstructured play time. Instead we rush them from activity to the next by led by coaches, sponsors and directors who are telling kids what to do. We don't let kids think, do and be different. We don't let them get into trouble, argue with friends and disagree about the last 10 seconds of a pickup basketball game and who should have won.
Sure structured activity has a great place - It's your foundation. At some point though we need balance, the passion to encourage others to do it differently.Today it hit home when in between songs Kev Marcus told the students something so real it gave me chills. He stopped the music and told the students to: "Go against the grain, do it differently, whatever you do don't do it the way it's always been done or the way your friends are doing it". He looked at his violin and asked the students if the violin when created was intended to be played the way they were - of course the students in a roar of unison said "No!".
I challenge you as parents to let your kids "Go against the grain, do it differently". Make them think different, let them invent, break things, destroy things and fix things. Personally, an awesome thing my parents did for me as I look back on my childhood that I feel so blessed is that when I told my parents I wanted something or that something was broke they always asked me to fix or build it. Heck - When I told my dad I wanted a computer he bought me a box of "computer parts for Christmas and told me to get to work building my own. .
Second Kev Marcus said that famous people are famous because of one thing and that's because they out work EVERYONE. They are doing the things that average people are not willing to do. From a personal perspective, a coach and a teacher I see this happening all the time (or lack of). Kids, adults and even myself say that they want to be great, so with the help of the people around them they join this team, that club, join this band, get this job and they work at doing something they enjoy.
What I feel like normally happens though is (myself included) all of us do "just enough" to say they were there or involved. They get the ribbon or pat on the back for participating.
What I don't always see is someone who loves/cares about them instill in them the absolute only way you can be great is to outwork others. The best bosses, performers, leaders, famous people aren't where they are because of talent. They are there because they outworked EVERYONE. They aren't there because they played this many games in a season, sang in this many performances, passed this many tests. They are famous because they outwork EVERYONE.
I challenge you as a parent, mentor, coach, teacher or leader to instill in young people the mind-frame of outworking anyone and everyone. That's the only way they'll be great. They won't be great by showing up to 30 games, performing in 15 musicals or acing 10 tests. They can only be great by having an unbelievable work ethic.
Lastly - I challenge you to watch that music video above a second time and be amazed at how a group of guys got their foundation in classical music and then outworked EVERYONE. How a group of guys got thousands of elementary aged students to learn differently and think outside the box.
