THE PRODIGAL ALTAR BOY BLOG
180-DAY COUNTDOWN
T-minus 172 DAYS AND COUNTING
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Karen Everett Inner
Circle Work:
- Module #6 “Editing the Character-Driven Documentary” – Navigating Post-Production and the Director/Editor Collaboration
Music Practice:
- Stratocaster warm-ups
- Inversion Excursion work (C Major)
- E-C#/D#-C#min-A work
- Cmin7-Gmin7-F work
Body Work:
- Active rest
Criticism – More Like Simon Cowell
Jeff Elkins’ blog today was about criticism. He makes excellent points about effective criticism,
which include:
1)
Before they start, they make sure I understand they
are on my side, they are trying to help me clean up the mess I don't realize
I'm sitting in.
2) Into the "these
things need to change..." comments they intersperse "I
loved this..." comments.
3) They take the time to
understand before telling me why I'm wrong.
4) Their criticism is focused
and productive.
As good as these
guidelines for effective criticism are, such criticism is often a rarity in
reality. When I had my first
consultation with Karen Everett last month, my biggest fear was what her
criticisms of the assembly cut would be.
Karen spent a lot of time telling me what she liked and what she thought
I did correct, before pointing out the weaknesses of the cut. She spent even more time reassuring me she
wanted me to succeed. Instead of being
discouraged, I came out of the consultation more eager to continue work on the
documentary. The consultation was a major
driver in me making the sacrifice to join her latest Inner Circle.
I compare Karen’s
feedback with feedback I once got from a pastor I worked for as Worship
Leader. In the course of a meeting, this pastor
brought up the issue of people who wanted to be on the worship team, but whose
skills were lacking. In the case of one
particular person, I offered to work with that person to see if we could get
his singing skills up to par. The pastor
replied, “See, that’s your problem, Calvin, you’re like Randy Jackson, when you
need to be more like Simon Cowell.” The
remarks hurt and bewildered me. Here was
a pastor advocating humiliating people.
Less than a year later, I stepped down as Worship Leader. Less than a year after that, we left that
church and started attending Grace City.
I have never looked back.
