Group passion

Ahh, this video brings back many good memories! (:
As I was thinking about the topic for this week's blog entry, I once again came across this favourite video of mine that triggered me to think about my good ol' band days in school. Incidentally, I think it can be rather associated with what we have learnt about Group Communications in class.

I have been in a concert band ever since my secondary school days till junior college. Not only has band incited in me a greater passion for music, it has also taught me the synergy and effectiveness of a group.

I remember joining the band at Secondary One (age of 13), not really knowing what was in store for me. Other than picking up a new skill of playing the saxophone, I would say that I have learnt much about working in a group and the roles we play in a group.

If you were from a concert band, I am sure you would have heard of this phrase "The band is as good as its weakest player." Being in the band, one of the most important qualities constantly emphasised (implicitly or explicitly) was always "teamwork". If each individual chose to be selfish and play the music with their own interpretation, or chose not to even practice their parts..the band will not be able to achieve the music the conductor has intended for the band. Ultimately, everyone in the band will suffer from the effects of this selfish individual. What I'm trying to say here is that in a group like a band, the group's needs become first priority compared to each member's individual needs. I remember there were several incidents when I did not agree with the interpretations by the conductor, or agreed with how the teachers/band leaders handled certain situations, but I still chose to follow along with them believing that it was for the good of the band. (Or maybe I was afraid to be rejected by them due to my opposing views?)

Although initially joining the band was just another CCA to us, over time we build great rapport and dependance on each other. Through the ups and downs of preparations for competitions and performances, we learnt more about the how the band functioned and how to work with each members weaknesses and strengths to perform optimally. You probably never realised, but the more you work within the group, we begin to subconciously recognise written and unwritten norms to be followed and we will gradually follow a certain pattern of communication. Along the time that we spend with one another, the band (esp among batchmates) tend to form a collective identity and will share common views and behavioural standards.

All in all, I think i enjoyed my time in the band not only because of being able to enjoy and play music with like-minded musicians, I also had fun times with my fellow band members that I have grown to love and depend on through our the many obstacles we overcame together. (:

Valentine's day special~

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there!! (whether or not you have a valentine or not haha) :D

Well, what an apt way to start the week of valentine's with a lesson on interpersonal communication! To start the ball rolling, just a little info about what is interpersonal communication: Interpersonal communication occurs when there is an established relationship with the other party (usually two parties). This kind of two-person, face-to-face communication can also be termed as "dyadic communication".

In our daily interpersonal/dyadic communication with others, you must have noticed that we react to and behave differently when interacting with different individuals. This does not mean we're schizophrenic or have split personalities; rather, we have different degrees (or stages) of relational development with each individual.
For example, you would talk about the weather with a schoolmate you bumped into on the bus, but you wouldn't be caught talking about how you had serious diarrhea over the weekend, or that your family is running into some bad financial situation (unless you're really open about such things!) to them.

The Mark Knapp's Relational Development Model draws out the various stages relationships go through. It may probably be very technical to break relationships down into such dry and predictable stages, yet often than not this model has been proven true over time.

(Just picture yourself going the steps on the left and coming down on the right.)
And yes, since Valentine's day is around the corner it would only be suitable to use a romantic relationship to exemplify the stages, right? :p
Jack and Rose from the movie Titanic..This movie has always remained one of my favorite movies of all times probably because of the love story behind it! I'm sure many of you are also familiar with the story of the Titanic lovers (:

The initiating stage came when they had the opportunity to meet on the Titanic of course, when Rose had wanted to jump off the ship and Jack managed to stop her in time.
Experimenting came next when they began spending time with each other and learning about each other through those times when Rose would steal over to the lower class deck to find Jack.
Intensifying came when Jack and Rose were seen together more often and Jack was introduced to Rose's family and friends. This is also where one of the famous Titanic scene happened

Integrating was probably one of the most memorable scenes of the movie, which is Jack drawing a nude picture of Rose and thereafter both of them running away from Rose's fiance. Of course, one could never forget the car scene which made that "hand sliding down the misted windows" scene such a hit
Bonding sadly never came for them both as they were separated before they could tie the knot.
And then their relationship was tragically (Dissolution) terminated when Jack died in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
As you can see, relationships do not necessarily follow the Knapp's model strictly. Some may be stuck at one stage, while other flunctuate between stages. There are of course the coming apart stages that also progressively show how couples eventually become separate individuals.
Each stage signifies a different communication pattern and behaviour towards one another. Hopefully after reading this post, you may be more successful in sussing out if your valentine's day date is worth future dates. haha

Language.

First things first, please pardon the vulgar language being used in the commercial above! =x (Disclaimer: If you know me, I am not a vulgar person at all! All for the purposes of illustrating my point only!)
Thanks to my internet-savvy brother, I first viewed this commercial a few years back and was initially rather irked by the concept being used in the advertisement. While surfing the net recently, I was surprised to see it still around on YouTube (even ganering one of the highest viewer hits today!). This time around however, the commercial somehow prompted me to recognise how vital language is in our human communication today.

No one can deny that everyday we need to use language to converse our thoughts and feelings to the people around us. The spoken language is used as a medium for verbal communication with others. Even in our subconcious minds, we use language to verbalise our thoughts and aid us in storing our memories.
The spoken language or "speech" has been the dividing line between humans and animals and has given us a leg-up in communicating to one another.

And just as the commercial above has shown, although language has been useful in making communication effective, it has also created barriers among people - more commonly between groups of people (rather than individuals). How so?

There are millions of languages present in our world today - some recognised and some not so commonly used among people. In this context, language not only serves the purpose of conveying our thoughts and ideas to others, but also has created a exclusionary group of people with its unique culture and traditions. This has created a limit to human to human communication with what we call "language barriers".

Going beyond the boundaries of different languages, limits in comunication arise even within the same language, people tend to create their own set of "lingo" to set themselves apart from the crowd. Sort of like a defining trait. Just like how the younger generation today have a set of language like "LOL", "emo" and "imba" to say just a few. These expressions or words do not actually exist in the English language, but most youngsters in Singapore would be able to understand the meaning of the words if they were used along with our English language. Such "lingo" or better known as "slang", help people within the same group relate easily to one another, as well as segregate people that do not belong to the group (in this case, it may be adults/parents).

Such variations to language in addition to the vast number of languages applied by humans today have added on to additional barriers and possible miscommunications among people, as much as it has helped us communication today. What kind of roles do you think language plays in our communication and has it aided in making our human communication more effecient?