Just feel the music

"STOP RIGHT THERE. What did you just say?!"

"I just feel the music. I mean, trying to learn steps sort of just gets in the way."

This guy studied ballet in Russia, and he was about to go Yakubovsky on me.

"You better hope that the band isn't 'just feeling the music.' There is a structure to the music. A very specific structure. If they stray from that structure, you won't hear anything worth dancing to."


I couldn't accept this. Anger and frustration built up within me. The dancers I had seen were definitely "feeling the music," so what could be wrong about that?


That was five years ago. I was stubborn in acknowledging it, but my dance instructor was right. Without fail, anyone I've met who said they "just feel the music," has been an unpleasant dance partner.

It's not that "feeling the music" isn't important. That is, after all, what dancing is all about: a connection with, and expression of, the music.


But if you're going to do something with intention, you can't rely entirely upon improvisation.


Ever heard a client say "I'll know the right design when I see it?" Dancing with someone who "just feels the music," is a lot like that. There's no common structure that's agreed upon, so it's just two people stepping all over each other's toes.

"Just feeling the music" is fine for an artist. But for a designer – someone who is communicating visually with a business objective in mind – it's a sure path to frustration and failure.


Unfortunately, in life, business, and design, the structure that guides everything is much harder to see. It's not like dancing, where you can at least get started just by counting.


Sometimes you HAVE TO "feel the music." Christine is experiencing it as she pivots into a design position at her small start-up:

"Without a degree in Graphic Design, I could be getting in over my head if I try to fill the role needed at that company. And yet, this opportunity is what I have always wanted. I still have a lot to learn about what makes great design. (I am cramming with your resources though!) I am hoping the best way to learn is by doing. I won't let myself shrink away as if 'I'm not worthy' as I have done in the past under different circumstances."


Patricia has to "just feel the music" to keep contributing to her team:

"[I'm] the only person in a small non-profit office who has the slightest interest in learning how to use PageMaker, then InDesign, and [I'm] just jumping into the pool, holding my nose, and swimming with all my might."


And Sid has been "just feeling the music" in his job for a decade!:

"During the interview, I answered every question I could in the affirmative but only told one actual lie...It was: 'Are you used to working with vector graphics?'. A more truthful answer would have been: 'I have no idea what you're talking about'. I was, up until that point largely self-taught on Photoshop only and it had never really come up.

"So, on the first day of my new job I was presented with about a dozen watercolours of complex, historical military crests and asked to re-draw them in Corel Draw. And that was when I had my 'here we go...' moment. I knew then that my chosen career was going to be full of exactly the sort of moments you describe. And it has been, on an almost daily basis, for the last decade."


These people persevered because there was a force at play strong enough to make it worth "certain (repeated) failure and humiliation." They each took deep breaths and said "here we go...."

The amazing thing is they've made it this far without a guide to the "steps" that they've been dancing.

We do this every day with all sorts of much smaller things than trying to tackle an entirely new skill set.


We "just feel the music" until the structure starts to reveal itself.

While growing up, my morning routine would change every quarter of school. Maybe class was starting at a different time, or I'd be taking the bus instead of walking, or it would be winter, instead of summer.

At the beginning of each quarter, I'd have to set my alarm for two hours before class started. By the end of the quarter, I'd be setting my alarm for just one hour before class started.

I still had to do all of the same things each morning, but somehow I'd manage to do all of those things in less time.

Through repetition, I'd learn that I'd need two 9-minute "snooze bars" to get out of bed. I'd learn that the morning radio show would announce the weather at 6:54am. I'd learn, once again, that I should brush my teeth AFTER my morning orange juice.

A structure would emerge, and it would make me more efficient. It was all programmed into my basal ganglia. I could do it without thinking.


Sometimes, it seems we have no choice but to "just feel the music," but if we last long enough for a structure to emerge, everything starts to work.


When did you "just feel the music," and eventually figure things out? How did you do it? What did you learn? Just hit "reply," and I'll read every response.


-David