Who Qualifies?

As a professional musician, I enjoy using my "musical intuition" from a background in jazz, understanding what to play and when to play it from years of playing experience, interacting with other musicians with the same (if not much better) talents, and being able to help people experience the true power of music.

All this being said, I should note an important detail: I'm a drummer.

Let me break the ice this way with one of my favorite drummer jokes: Upon arriving at a party, the host answered the door and asked me, "What's your  I.Q.?"

I replied, "125... I think."

He directed me to a room where other people with similar intelligence quotients were carrying on conversations. In love with this simple idea, I decided to watch who else came to the door and where they were directed. The person after me was asked the same question and replied, "188."

"My goodness," remarked the host. "You might find some interesting conversations in the dining room. I believe they are discussing string theory."

The next person to knock on the door was asked the same question again, "And what is your I.Q.?"

"37," replied the man.

"Oh! What kind of drumsticks do you use?"

Understanding that all musicians have their own idiosyncrasies, different personality types and varying degrees of musical intelligence no matter what the instrument, I can proceed. Actually, the above joke is not far off from the reason I'm writing.

Rather than asking someone their I.Q., what if you asked a musician, "What's your M.Q. or 'Musical Quotient'?" How would this be measured? Talent alone is a good start, but training, practice and experience have a great deal to do with proficiency on any musical instrument (including the voice). Evaluation without some sort of guideline leads to subjective outcomes. It could be said that a bad musician can't adequately evaluate other musicians' talent because of his inherent lack of musical skill. But what if this bad musician observed a world-class musician? Would he recognize world-class talent?

Let's take the I.Q. to a higher level. What's your S.Q. or 'Spiritual Quotient'? Seriously now, think what you would give yourself on a scale of 1-100, 100 being Jesus Christ and 1 being a die-hard atheist. What score would someone else give you? Again, this measurement is difficult and very subjective.

What about worship, though? Who qualifies to lead a congregation in worshipping the Master of the Universe? Who gets to say they are talented enough or spiritual enough and who can question them? All of the sudden, we have to consider who's M.Q. and S.Q. adequately fills the position, otherwise we're left with un-musical, un-spiritual and uninspiring worship.

Interested in more of my thoughts? Look for my next post!