I had considered writing a blog on the topic of qualified musical opinion (if such a thing exists), but after a thorough discussion with myself, I decided I would instead write about committee decisions again, albeit from a different perspective.
And, voilà - another committee decision is reached!
But wait - could this indeed be a committee decision if it were made by only one person?
I must admit that I feel I carry around a Board of Directors in my head, that is often having a spirited argument among its members when it's not in an out-and-out power struggle (and I very much doubt I'm alone in this). Classic Freudians would suggest this is a typical ongoing conflict between the ego, superego and id, but I often suspect the 'Board' is larger and more varied than the on-board scientist, artist and caveman. I play music because it ultimately gives me a deep, sublime and lasting natural high, and it probably has quite a civilizing effect on me...but where is the logic in making all these fancy vibrations in the air? The answer might be seen in... chasing rabbits (at this point, I can hear readers picking up their phones to have the Men In White Coats come to take me away, but bear with me, gentle reader).
Having had the pleasure of owning a pet rabbit when I was a kid, and living on a farm acreage, I often had the challenge of catching li'l Pete on those occasions when it was time to bring him indoors. As you might know, rabbits have evolved an incredibly effective technique to evade their natural predators (which consist of virtually all the world's carnivores, with the possible exception of robins): they (rabbits, not robins) run very erratically. Great bursts of speed and changes of direction characterize all rabbit running. Ever seen a rabbit run in a straight line? Methinks thinks such rabbits are long extinct. The zig-zaggers have survived natural selection.
Therefore, if you're ever pondering the illogical, erratic or downright self-destructive behaviour of the human species, keep in mind that this very unpredictability probably kept us off the dinner plates of pumas and cannibals over the last few million years...and as we don't appear to have any natural predators left, we're helpfully finding diverse ways to prey on ourselves. Isn't evolution resourceful? But this is for a later topic...
Cheery chat for a Sunday afternoon - but I promise you I won't try to put this blog to music...at least, not without making it rhyme first.