Applied Science

Source: http://www.xkcd.com/435/

I met some of the fellow classmates yesterday, and I mentioned about this particular comic strip to them while having an discussion about science. So here it is! =)

Enjoy!

Why Professional Communication?

Hello everyone!

During the first week of the course we have covered the possible barriers of communication, the general flow of how communication will be carried out (see diagram below) and the essential qualities required to be an active listener. We also discussed about the various non verbal communications and their interpretation.

Source: http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm

For the rest of the weeks, we will be covering the important skills needed to build up interpersonal and intercultural communication, the 7Cs in writing, as well as writing effective business letters. We will then proceed to learn the essentials of job hunt, covering a range of topics from writing resumes to handling job interviews. Finally, we will make use of Wikis for our collaborative project work.

After the short preview on the course in the above paragraph I cannot help but to think about the amount of life skills that I will (hopefully) learn and acquire by the end of these 12 weeks.

Personally, being able to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills that one should acquire at any point in life. By being able to relate and convey the message as intended, it will help to reduce most of the unnecessary misunderstandings due to miscommunication. From my personal experience, such miscommunication though most of the times can be resolved fairly quickly, it may however at times create irreversible damage to the parties involved. I will elaborate on this point in my next blog entry.

As a musician, effective communication also comes into play in conveying the intended message with regards to the playing of music. In an orchestra, we often have to standardise the various styles of music playing, for instance the bowing for strings instruments, the phrasing of the sentence of the melody, the intonation and the dynamics of the music. Hence, it becomes very important that such information can be conveyed clearly to all the other fellow musicians so that everyone of us will be playing the same thing, without too much variations in terms of style between individuals.

Having mentioned the importance of effective communication, I am full of anticipation about how the next 12 weeks will unfold. I certainly look forward to the weekly 4 hours of learning through a hybrid of serious and fun activities and also hope that I will gain more insight about effective communication through this course.