The end justifies the means

Once there was an old book-keeper in an accounts department. He is well respected for his well kept and balanced accounts. Any accounts staff who was not sure which account to post a certain entry would ask for his help.

Somehow, the rest of the staff realized that whenever a question had to do with whether to debit or credit, he would open one of his drawers and looked in.

Unable to control their curiosity, one of them peeked into his drawer when he went to the washroom. He found an old piece of paper written: Debit: where the door is. Credit: where the window is.

In spite of his years of experience, the book-keeper had problem remembering which side was debit or credit.

It may seem hard to believe but it is true that some people have problems over remembering basic left or right.

We knew a man from Hong Kong who had a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. He failed the UK driving tests a few times mainly because he took the wrong turn when the examiner gave instruction to turn!

Some musicians learned the music notes the old-fashioned way. Old-timers will know the OK songbooks using 123 to signify do-re-mi.

Recently, I have seen a man in his fifties playing bass. He was Chinese educated and plays mainly Chinese songs. But his familiarity with the scales on the frets of the guitar was impressive. He has reached a stage where so long as he knows the tune, he can play the bass that goes with it, not necessarily by the book.

In other words, we can learn anything by any method that suits us. He might not be suitable for an orchestra but he impresses whenever he performs in a band playing popular tunes. In fact he could easily adapt and play popular tunes for an orchestra so long as the conductor is not particular, which happens sometimes and can be entertaining as one-off event.

I can still remember how one band member mentioned “Words” by the Bee Gees and after hearing a few notes, he said, “Oh! Smile” because he remembered the lyrics start with “Smile…”

For jamming purposes, it is better to have someone who can adapt than another with music credentials but unwilling to play any other way but according to song pieces.