“Can You Hear Me Now?” or the Need for Clear Messages

Abstract

Television viewers would agree that the level of creativity is often higher in the commercials than in the programming. My current favorite promotes Sprint by poking fun at a user of a cell phone service with a poor-quality signal, who places an order for 200 head of oxen and receives instead 200 dachshunds, viewed stampeding around the corral. This has less to do with my admiration for Sprint and more with my personal devotion to dachshunds. The lesson on the importance of clear messages can be used in a larger context than cell phones, however. When messages are unclear, for whatever reason, behaviors based on or motivated by them cannot be expected to have the desired results. In this editorial, I examine the importance of providing clear information to parents who are making even the first decisions concerning their children’s study of music and dance. In a subsequent issue of MPPA, we will critique the relative clarity of communication about health and performance of a different sort, that from the many recent performing artists turned authors addressing their colleagues.