Admittedly, most people in the world claim to be, and I have no reason not to believe them, visual learners. Not entirely sure what this means but students have often told me they respond better to pictures or visual descriptions than just hearing. Obviously this augers against what it means to be a musician in that music is an auditory endeavor. Yet it is true that many musicians are "locked" into the printed music and how to translate that into sound. Despite the push toward more improvisatory experiences, this is difficult for many musicians who prefer to interpret that which is precisely presented on the printed page.
All this to say, I have never felt entirely obligated to stick to the printed page of music and, instead, have often felt the personal freedom to expand sound when needed or at least inspired. Does this make me an auditory learner more than a visual one? I believe so. I continue to be fascinated with sound in all its complexity and I am well attuned to different sounds I hear around me whether indoors or outdoors. Sounds of birds, wind, cars, laughing, scraping, steps, all intrigue me and I find myself quickly processing sounds and categorizing them. It is my way of learning my world.
I guess this provides the best explanation for my lack of interest in Christmas Lights. Going back to childhood, I recall the inevitable night of driving around El Paso looking at Christmas Lights. Ooing and Aahing while marveling at the effort and the beauty. Many houses went all out for this including luminaries, various colors, yard lights, trees, rooftops, and every type of lights available. I recall my Dad working hard to put lights on our house and many years later I became my Dad! And now driving around Abilene, Brownwood, and San Angelo I still see lights everywhere. We recently took a trip to San Angelo to see their city display of the 12 days of Christmas along the Concho river. Beautiful lights and shapes and fun ways of presenting the Christmas story adorned the banks of the river and we drove slowly in admiration while smiling and expressing pleasantries.
Knowing this is important to my wife, family, and friends, it seems to happen every year. Drive around the city and look at lights. Being a "team" player, I have taught myself to drive slowly and ooh and aah with the best of them. But I really do not get it and do not really enjoy it that much. Disdain is not exactly the term for my emotion but it does come close. No, this does not make me a Grinch or a grouchy Christmas person. I actually love Christmas and am always glad for the festivities and family time. Decorations are special and give Christmas a shine and an aura, making it a wonderful time for everyone. Trees, bulbs, garland, and lots of jingles and jangles along the way. Although slightly weary of the same Christmas music, I still do enjoy it and find much of it to be nearly magical.
But I really do not enjoy driving around looking at Christmas Lights. Just not my thing. I can think of 100 things I would rather do. Apathy is a negative emotion and the word "indifference" is a little more palatable; yet whatever word one chooses, in the end I really do not care about the lights. Whether there are few, none, thousands, many colors, big, small, high or low, I don't have any emotion for them. They are there, most people love them and they serve a purpose of making people happy. In that respect, I am glad we have them. But I still would prefer to do something else with my time.
Next year? Probably will drive around looking at lights. After all, it is a time of year to think about others and to sacrifice our selfishness. It is the least I can do. But I think I will retain my auditory learning approach and let others be the visual learners.
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