Intimidating!

Recently I posted on Facebook, “I am NOT intimidating.” Then a day or two later, I posted, “Do I have to respond to emails from students addressed to ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’?” At that point one person posted back, “Is there, perchance, a subtle and unnoticed connection between this rhetorical question and the earlier assertion that Thou art not intimidating?”

Busted.

So now I’ll amend my first statement to say, “I may BE intimidating, but I never FEEL intimidating.” Then upon further reflection, one has to determine if the intimidation is coming from the person or from the musician. But then again, I don’t feel intimidating playing either role. So what is it? I do have a rather exacting work ethic in my performing. Is that it? I have exacting procedures I want students to follow in their practicing at first. That? I keep the office clean. That? I don’t live out of my car. That? I dress to impress. That? I remember dates, names, facts, jokes. That?

And I do NOT enjoy being addressed as “Hi” in an email. That much respect I do demand, but it’s related more to good grammar and writing skills than to personal/professional respect. After all, I’ll still respond to the email and not even mention the faux pas of calling me “Hello.”

I remember one choir member saying upon my departure from a certain church that she respected me so very much as a musician. I remember how moved I was to hear that from her, and I appreciated it so much. In a lot of ways, I’m just doing as I was taught. But in others, I suppose there is some innate prowess that can’t be explained. And I certainly don’t want to assume the shucks-folks-I’m-speechless persona nonsense I bewailed in an earlier post.

Well. All this won’t be solved here today. But it has put into motion a closer look at this accusation of “intimidating” I have received over the years. Meanwhile, don’t worry. I’ll never bite your head off, unless your name is <names withheld>.