Chair’s Column

By Kerri Williams

Anticipation

In the colder regions of the northern hemisphere, the anticipation of the color, warmth and rebirth of spring helps buoy our spirit through the challenges of a starkly gray, frigid winter (for our members south of the equator, the hope of autumn helps get us through the challenges of a frigid summer!). Anticipation is a tension of expectation that actively seeks change in the form of release and resolution. 

Musicians are intimately acquainted with the compositional anticipation (tension/release) that drives all music. Musical tension is a sense of unrest, instability, excitement, a sense that more is coming, and a curiosity for what’s next. From anacrusis to fermata, V⁷ to dissonance, anticipation is the bedrock of musical expression because of the hope for the consonant “next.” These same descriptors could be applied to a day in the life of a music teacher, but I digress!

In a sense, anticipation is the bedrock of life. Our problem is not particularly with the existence of anticipation, but with the duration of the suspense. Carly Simon characterized this discomfort in her 1970s pop hit, Anticipation:

“We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway.
And I wonder if I’m really with you now
Or just chasin’ after some finer day?

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin’ me late
Is keepin’ me waitin’.”

Carly’s last verse ends with “. . . So I’ll try and see into your eyes right now, and stay right here ’cause these are the good old days.” While lyric analysis may elucidate a deeper meaning, the verse actually speaks to the core of change and disagreement resolution—feeling “seen.” We remain in disagreement until we sense that we are seen, heard, and understood, and that brings us consonance. Positive change and progress are enhanced by that validation.

Our drive to remain in consonant stasis may be derived from memories of that comfortably familiar homeostatic residency in utero, but the reality is that a constant state of anxiety and distress is traumatic and unhealthy. We spend billions of dollars on many types of stress relief, seeking a consonant balance in our lives. However, residence in the unexamined familiar is the antithesis of growth and development. Just as it is dissonance that propels music to greatness, considerate disagreement can push us to thrive. It is the discomfort of dissonance that pushes us to seek and implement resolution. 

Even the SAA has seasons of dissonance. Of course, it is not surprising that an organization consisting primarily of creatives and problem-solvers may have a clash of (strong) wills. That dissonance of disagreement, though awkward and uncomfortable, is also a catalyst for organizational change and forward motion. Though it might feel better to develop coalitions of similarity (consonance), our progress as an organization is dependent on the communication flow that includes dissimilar perspectives. We thrive because we are not monoliths!

Our Board is in the process of charting forward progress for the SAA. Though our team effort is quite collegial, the choices and challenges can take us out of our comfort zones. Currently, we are optimizing Board policy, supporting fiscally responsible decisions, accessing the expertise of highly competent Board teams (committees), as well as refining organizational strategic planning in order to more effectively and efficiently serve our staff and our membership across all of the Americas. Watch this space for updates!

Our organization’s resilience emanates from the humility of a “mission over ego” focus. Dr. Suzuki’s anticipation of developing “beautiful people with beautiful hearts through music” is a journey to the next consonance through the dissonances of differing perspectives and disagreement. On this journey, we weather storms when we take the time to “see” and respect our differences as well as our similarities. We progress, together, not in uniformity, but connected in our individual distinctiveness. Anticipation—hope—is a powerful motivator.