19/7/05

Band teaching isnt' that much fun in the morning. Someone pissed me off again. Must be a girl ha. I meet female member that gave me problem last year. After one big scolding session, she became a great member. I wonder if this new problem girl would behave in a same way, that is to change for the good.

Afternoon band was fun ha. I taught a horn player how to play a whole 16 bars of melody. And surprisingly, I find my sound on the horn damn good. Ha I managed to borrow the horn to demonstrate. Wow. I like the sound.

During the prac, my teacher and another assistant instructor chat about the things that happened in the WASBE conference. I guess organizing an event is really bad. I've also learnt about the things regarding fundraising and some things about family, relationships and other things. I just wonder why they wanna talk about those things haha. Then I told them about my thoughts too.

After band, my teacher drove me to delifrance to have a little drink there. Met my secondary school teacher, who was also very active in band scenes. So they chat, and I listen again. Nothing much actually.

Will I conduct a band on my own in the future? Ha. Dream.

Oh ya, those students are really playful. Now they are calling me by my name now. Omg, getting bad haha. But i don't mind, cuz I'm a friend to them. Its fun playing with them ha. They also called me SC Bug. Those who know me will know what it stands for.

Slice of Life

The Lost Art of Listening (Part 1)

I once heard the story of a man who was having lunch at a bistro in St. Paul de Vence, a picturesque hilltown in the south of France. In his fractured French, he tried to order a bottle of beer.

"Je voudrais une bouteille de biere, sil vous plait." He intoned to the waitress.

"In a can?" she asked.

"Non," he said, "En bouteille!" No, not "in a can" as she said; "in a bottle", he reiterated.

With her hands on her hips and a sneer on her face, the waitress repeated, "In a can!"

Now the customer was really getting mad. "Not in a can," he insisted. "In a bottle. En bouteille. EN BOUTEILLE!"

She threw her hands up in despair. "Monsieur, IN A CAN!"

"All right," he said finally. "Have it your way. Give it to me in a can. Anything. Just give me a beer!"

She stormed off and returned with a bottle of Heineken. It was at that point that the customer realised what had happened and laughed so hard he nearly fell off his chair.

You see, when you say "Heineken" in French, it loses the "H" and sounds like, "In a can."

These days, effective listening is almost a lost art. We hear mostly what we want to hear, not what the other person is trying to communicate to us. Many conflicts can be resolved easily if we learn how to listen.

The problem is that we've forgotten how to listen. We are so busy making sure that people hear what we have to say that we forget to listen. But the key to communication, to negotiating, to selling, is keeping your mouth shut and truly listening to what people have to say.

Your prospects will tell you everything you need to know in order to make the sale. People love talking about themselves. The hard part for you is to keep your mouth shut long enough for you to get the required information.

Join me in the next programme when we'll look at some ways to refine your art of listening.