Benefits to being in good company - #lakewoodnews

- Aesop

This restatement of one of Solomon's proverbs was one of hundreds of thoughts that my father tried to impress upon me as I was growing up. And it wasn't that I made a habit of hanging out with boneheads or troublemakers --; he just knew and tried his best to give all of us the best chance we could have. He knew that the people you surround yourself either help you achieve or they distract you from achieving.

And, in a surprise development, my dad was right.

When I went to college, I knew nothing. I mean, like most 18-year-olds, I thought I knew everything, but, in reality, I was clueless. I had come from a fairly small pond, musically speaking, one in which I could usually get by on my limited natural abilities and a minimum of effort. So, when I arrived at the University of Colorado, I started drowning in the culture shock within days.

Luckily for me, fate had chosen great company for me. My roommate my freshman year was a young man that I had never met before, but who was, also, a music student. And not just any music student --; Matt was a bassoon player.

Now, I must digress. For those of you who aren't musicians, most of the different instruments have their own, shall we say, personalities. Trumpet players are like fighter pilots --; everything has to be higher, faster, louder. And, yes --; we have the egos to match. Drummers are, typically, like the Sweat Hogs from "Welcome Back, Kotter" --; boisterous, inappropriate and obnoxious (though, it must be noted, really good percussionists are among the truly brilliant in the world). And tuba players tend to be a little like offensive lineman --; subdued, team-oriented, sometimes a little slow, but absolutely priceless.

Bassoonists, and their cousins, the oboe players, tend to be like uptight engineers: precise, meticulous, disciplined, and tireless. My roommate Matt was all of those things. The first week of classes, Matt got very excited because he got a shipment of raw sugar cane.

I know --; thrilling, right?

What I didn't know at that time --; because, remember, I knew nothing --; was that cane is the raw material that woodwinds make their reeds out of. And, since the reed is actually the thing that makes the initial sound, it's a pretty important thing.

I then watched Matt proceed to evaluate every single piece of cane in the batch, sort them, make a few initial carvings of them, and then set them aside to be worked on later. That took two hours. Why was he setting them aside for later? Because it was time for him to practice. Three hours. Which led up to a rehearsal --; two more hours. After rehearsal and dinner, two more hours of practice.

Then Matt got to work making his reeds out of the raw cane.

Sure, I watched all this, and thought it was a bit psychotic. Then I watched him repeat this routine every day for the next two weeks. And I understood: Being good at something is nothing more than the repeated pursuit of good habits, applied over time. I started practicing more, studying more, listening more, building habits, and, after a while, I knew a few things. One of these days, I'll be good at it.

So, young people, as you are gearing up to start a new school year, and especially those of you off on the new adventure of college, my one piece of advice to you is this: Choose well the people you surround yourself with. It doesn't mean don't have any fun --; it means the smart people will show you how and when to have fun. Preferably, in celebration of something great!

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