Ranked high on my list of things I want to do before I was fifty happened last night. A fifth grade band concert. My daughter just had her first one last night. How did she do? I couldn’t tell you.

The top of her head was barely seen in the second row. The group ripped through 5 songs that lasted a total of about 2 minutes. On the way out I asked her how she did. (This of course is a stupid parent question to an eleven year old) “Dad you were there, why would you want to know how I did when you just saw the whole thing?” I couldn’t really here the flute amongst the other noise, so I thought it to be a logical question.

She began to then school me in the art of team play. I tell people all the time Together Everyone Achieves More, but at this point I wanted to take TEAM out of the equation. I wanted individual stats. Did she hit the notes? Did she really nail a certain song? Did she do better than the kid next to her?

Concerts, as we know, are not individual activities but team ones. The individual contribution of each person is vital, but the how the group sounds as a whole is what is most important. It didn’t matter to my daughter how she did, it only mattered how the group did. And that could only be heard from my vantage point.

If that was me last night on the stage I would have held a note out a bit longer. I would have really played one song louder than the other students. I would have stood and taken the bow before the rest of the group got up. Not her, walk in…sit down…sit up straight…play the songs…stand up…sit down…go home. No fanfare.

How are you doing on your team? Do you need people to hear you? Or are you fine with just being a vital part of the team? Do you need to be recognized for your individual contributions or are you most happy when the group gets recognized?

Man I really like 5^th grade band concerts.