#7 Divergent Thinking

For the in-class activity, I was in a group of three, and we wanted to try to incorporate one of each of our interests into one idea. Our signature idea was playing piano backwards while riding a bike as a theater show. The way we described it, however, is very vague because for it to be feasible, either the bike or the piano would have to be replaced with a similar counterpart since a true piano is stationary and a bike is supposed to move. Either the bike would have to be a stationary exercise bike, or the piano would have to be a portable keyboard that can be attached to the back of a bike.

I believe we wanted a moving bike with a keyboard attached to the back of it, but that idea seems very impractical because there would be issues of balance and safety if we wanted a standard five-octave keyboard (61 keys) in the design. We wanted the piano to be played backwards because one of my interests is playing the piano in unique, non-traditional ways like playing blindfolded, playing with my arms crossed, playing backwards (with my hands behind my back), or playing with my back on the piano bench and my head underneath the piano. However, it just doesn't seem feasible or safe for the keyboard to be played in any of these ways while riding a bike. On the other hand, if the keyboard were placed on the front of the bike, it would be much more safe and balanced as well as feasible. Surprisingly, I've found out that someone actually makes a living off this idea: http://www.pianopeddler.com/

#6 Listening

For this assignment I decided to call my friend, whom I haven't talked to in over two months. He is a very talkative person, so with just a simple "How is everything?" my friend immediately talked about pretty much everything concerning his current classes, dorm, and situation. Throughout the conversation, I noticed that I tended to mirror and ask questions, but I didn't prime or paraphrase his thoughts at all. Because he is such a talkative person, there simply was no need to prime, and because I generally soak in everything I hear, I really didn't need to paraphrase his thoughts to confirm them. I instead showed that I understood what he was saying by mirroring him and asking him questions to expand on the subject. As a result, I also used the ABC's of responding well throughout the conversation. The necessity of each learning tool depends on both the talker and the listener. In this case, my friend's clarity restricted the usefullness of the prime and paraphrase tools.

In terms of listening, I don't think I need to improve anything because I've found that the only major difference between this conversation and previous conversations I've had with my friend is that in this one, I didn't really talk about myself. By nature, I like to expand my understanding of other people through active listening. Even if they were to talk about a subject in which I have no interest, I would still attentively listen for at least ten minutes, though how long I would remember certain parts of what was said would be compromised. Perhaps what I need to work on is not listening, but sharing. The limitations of this assignment prevented me from actively sharing my own experiences, but even without those limitations, I don't think I would have shared nearly as much information as what my friend shared.