Kevin, I've never even thought of how some of us may be applying our training to our lyric critiques. I have always considered the arts, including music, as seperate from my job which like yours involves troubleshooting. I am a broadcast television engineer and much of what I do at work is look for what is wrong and try to fix it. Sometimes when the cost to repair is too high, I "junk it". Sometimes I will look at a lyric, even my own, and conclude, "it isn't worth the repair".

But a lyric is not a piece of hardware and Harriet's chapter helps me realize I should treat the creative work of others respectfully, as I would, for instance, treat art or poetry that my child brought home. I wouldn't in a million years tell one of my children that their poem didn't make sense or that their picture didn't really look like a kangaroo- I would praise it and tell them what I liked about it and then I would earnestly ask them to talk about what they were expressing- because I would be truely interested- in short respectful; and if I thought I could say something to help them do better next time, I might show them how to look for new rhymes or explain what "perspective" is. We are all children when it comes to our feelings about our creative products.

I remember listening to Jason Bloom do several live reviews of songs presented to him at our FWSA workshop a few years ago. Some of the songs in my opinion were so "god awful" that I was embarrassed that the writer even presented the songs to him. But Jason cheerfully pulled out what sometimes must have been the only redeeming thing in the song and talked about that first. I thought he was copping out but now I see what he was doing. He was doing the same thing Harriet is talking about. He looked first for the positive and then gently pointed out the areas of weakness without giving offence. He was formost "encouraging". I can't think of a single songwriter who went home that day with any reason to say, "Oh my God, that was awful- I should just quit".

And it only makes sense. If I were getting paid for the reviews I have been giving, I would be broke because nobody just wants to hear what is wrong. They want to hear what is right. The trick for me will be: How do I stay honest and positive at the same time.

Harriet appears to be teaching us more than how to critique a song. She is teaching us how to be constructive and civil citizens of this forum.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein