You never know the impact you will have on someone. 20 years ago I had a professor get under my skin and stirred my brain a bit. I took every class I could from him - History of Jazz & Music psychology (Sound and Silence). I would have taken more but he went on sabbatical my last year at OSU. He taught me how to break rules, how to make your own rules, how to notice the unnoticed, how to make your own language, and that perception is very different than reality. I use his the things I learned in his classroom nearly every day. The best of which was that being afraid is no reason to quit. His class syllabus in a huge auditorium stated everyone had to write and perform music to pass the class. I went in to talk to him and said I didnt read or write music (most of the class had more problem with the performing part). The next class the auditorium was nearly empty - the masses had been scared off. We wrote music in a language only we could understand enough to repeat our music. We learned that the movie Apocalypse Now was terrible without the music score. I learned about many subliminal tricks used in ads and how they really work. His classes make you think, they were sometimes hard - but in an entertaining way that made the hard work fun. I would see him around campus while he was on sabbatical - heading to drum in the long house or cobbling together a steel band when the football team cut funding for the marching band. He even stopped and talked with my parents and I when he bumped into us while having lunch. I am proud to still call him my friend. Thank you Dr. Coolen for doing teaching the most import skills of them all - Thinking and finding your own way...and creating, simply creating.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 07:00:43 +0000
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