More detail...

Says the instructor... This course is driving me just a little nuts, I won't lie. I think I spend more time trying to find my homework that I spend actually doing it. That aside, I have a gigantic report due today. It doesn't have to be complete, I'm supposed to submit it 'unfinished'. Now, that whole concept is rather foreign to my very nature, but that's beside the point.

More importantly, I have the entire report done except for the detailed musical descriptions. Since the assignment is a musical review, that would be the 'meat' of the report. Sweet. Despite knowing that my last review was lacking in the details department, I was feeling halfway confident about this report. I actually completed most of it before the concert, as specified by the (vague) instructions.

However, the day before this second report is due, the instructor hands back the graded copy of the first one. "More detail", he says. I might add here, that I'm not the biggest fan of 'details'. To me, they seem to be minute, passing little observations that don't serve much purpose. I would generally rather solve the puzzle as a whole all at once than pick out little bits to analyze individually. Picking things to bits makes little sense to me. I can zero in on bits that have an apparent purpose, but not usually intentionally. For example, if I'm talking to you, I *will* notice if you have a cut on your hand. I will probably remember most of what you've said, and can often recite it many years later. I will not notice what time it is, what the weather is like, what you're wearing, etc. Those things don't matter much to me. What difference does it really make if it was raining when you said, "______"??? The point is what you said, right? Who cares what day it was? For that matter, the words you use can convey an entirely different meaning than what you are actually trying to communicate...

I'm *sure* this isn't making sense to anyone but me at this point, but I can accept that. My point is this: from the perspective of someone who is naturally attuned to the whole picture, what is the best way to suddenly shift your entire thought process onto minute details that would normally slip right past you? I realize the necessity in it, given the assignment... but how? I need to pick out (and correctly identify) every little shift of every little thing that I'm hearing? To include what the composer's intent was? Really? "There is an incomplete cadence at 'blah blah blah' time... which supports the composer's intention of ___ " I guess I'd better get started then.