KALEIDOSCOPE the song--Chorus

Chorus:
And the world needs the passion of our sound
And the world waits for this treasure to be found
When we pour out our souls, we bring the world alive
With all the colors of hope
And together we find inspiration
In the heart of this KALEIDOSCOPE

Wow, that just about sums it up! I am once again humbled by this sentiment. It's a high calling and seems a tad pretentious to attach such a power to your enterprise by saying, "the WORLD needs what I have to offer!" But as the famous Margaret Mead quote says, a small group of people can literally change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever really has changed the world.

If you had the cure for cancer, you wouldn't hesitate to share it. If you had the remedy for our overbloated out-of-control national budget deficit, you wouldn't hesitate to share it. If you believe so strongly in the benefits of anything you have to offer, to the point that you view it as one of the main reasons you were put on the planet, and it's one of the things that brings you alive at the very core of your being, you wouldn't hesitate to shout loud and sacrifice long for the sake of this deeply-resonating destiny.

These lyrics, and the rest of the whole song, aren't just about our own business and dreams. They are for you. Whatever it is in your life that you naturally think of when you read words like those above, we hope you are reaching out and taking the steps toward it; so that you can, in the words of Mama Cass, "make your own kind of music, and sing your own special song!" And if you are, then know that you have kindred spirits at a place called KALEIDOSCOPE.

KALEIDOSCOPE the song--Bridge

Bridge:
Can you hear the vision, can you see the song,
Can you walk in faith to the place where we belong
It's a road of sacrifice on an uphill climb
But it'll be so worth it when we get it right this time

Here's where it starts to get hard, and good! No pain, no gain (or as I prefer to say: pain, GAIN!). The turbulence after the takeoff, the home morning after the honeymoon, the reality after the fantasy. In business, pleasure, art, relationships, you name it, the principle applies across the board of gut-wrenching sacrifice preceding the golden pot at the rainbow's end.

In a recent vocal coaching session, one of my students sang the first part of "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston from "The Bodyguard" movie (which by the way, was written by Dolly Parton, whose own version, complete with her famous talking part in the middle, will always be the I Will Always Love You that I will always love the most!). Anyway, we talked about how some non-perceptive people mistake that song as a lovey-dovey gooey love song, when in reality, it is about the angst of making sacrificial choices for the sake of the greater long-term good.

At KALEIDOSCOPE, we regularly face plenty of situations; artistically, managerially, and otherwise, that call upon us to make those extra-tough kinds of decisions. But reminding ourselves of what this lyric represents makes it a little easier, and helps us keep the faith perspective ever-present as we work, play, struggle, and succeed!

If you can relate, tell us all about it now...

KALEIDOSCOPE the song--verse 2

Verse 2:
Change is always a wondrous thing
As the faith of old becomes a brand new sight
And life overflows with the music of love
As the color overtakes the black and white

This is of utmost encouragement today. Facing small business challenges, especially financial, as well as just trying to be the juggler you have to be in order to make it all work, and cover all the bases of an entrepreneurial venture, as excruciating as it seems, CHANGE = LIFE. In fact, that's really the medical definition of physical life and death. Death, in doctor's terms, equals "a body that does not change." So no matter what the change, it symbolizes aliveness, growth, a force at work taking the venture (sometimes kicking and screaming) from where you are to where you need to be. In the book "The Dance of Change", author Peter Senge says wisely, "there is no movement without constraint." That's the dance, and as hard as it seems to be thankful for constraints, they inevitably provoke the very best kinds of change. And that's when "the color overtakes the black and white."

KALEIDOSCOPE the song - Verse 1

Let's do a mini-series that takes a closer look at our business through the lyrics of our company song (words and music by THF):

Verse 1:
Change is never an easy thing
As it carries us into a grand design
Farewell to the mysteries that break our hearts
As the morning dawn awakens the divine

Wow, what does this have to do with wheeling and dealing in our local music/audio world? Aside from being the composer of these words, while I read them now as an entrepreneurial businessperson, I see transition, creativity, personal growth. So many times when people come to us with their music and audio needs, their specific situation is somehow related to a life crossroads, a significant special occasion, some catalytic event or phase that has given birth to new music, etc. As we at KALEIDOSCOPE relate to our customers, we are mindful of these personal details, and followthrough with executing the customer's needs accordingly, making strategic use of our technical and artistic expertise in ways that are sensitive to both the person and the product.

Back when I worked in customer service at The Principal Financial Group when my daughter was a toddler, I was trained with a little motto that still serves me well today in this work: person first, problem second; feelings first, facts second. A purely technical approach might work for a plumber coming to fix your sink. But "fixing a song" is different, whether in the studio or on the stage. Those charged with this task must meet the customer where they're at. On some rare occasions I've seen customers come in, usually for some high-speed emergency need, and pass through with a fairly non-relational process. But way more often than not, it's in conjunction with a milestone, an achievement, some personal angle that is pertinent to the product, that we would be foolish not to be aware of and provide support for. Just another example of the many things we're learning as we seek to improve our services and ourselves.

What are YOU learning these days...?