Being more exact it’s an iTunes feature I love and it is called iTunes U. This educationally intense section is all the way to the right in the header of the iTunes store.
In the past three weeks I have downloaded presentations on Social Media from Stanford and Yale Universities and one on “Asking Questions” from the University of Cambridge. Today however, I was listening to Dr. Gordon Vernick, from his Jazz Insights series. Dr. Vernick is a professor at Georgia State University. I initially downloaded the piece he had on Miles Davis “Kind of Blue“, the jazz classic from the late 1950’s. After listening I went back for more, including History of the Jazz Guitar. In listening to that series I was struck by how the role of the guitar has changed in American Popular music. The banjo was supplanted by the Guitar as much for the technology surrounding the consumption of music as the sound produced. It was the banjo that was the featured string instrument in Jazz bands at the dawn of the last century because it was a perfect complement to the Jazz bands of the day. As recording and sound amplification evolved the guitar, once used as a soft contributor to the rhythm section, moved forward to front the band. Where band were once led by Trumpet, Saxophone, or Piano players (Armstrong, Coltrane, Ellington) they more and more were led by Guitarists (Elvis, Lennon, Springsteen).
What does this have to do with real estate? Nothing and everything. Listening to The Ink Spots (yes they ALL played Guitar) may not help you in your personal real estate business. Seeing how changes in the outside world impact your world and acting on that change keeps you in the band. Just as people want, and in some cases need music, there is always a need for real estate and the people who can deliver it. Instead of going to hear music at the concert hall, music comes with us on our phone. Real estate agents can “go with” their customers on the home search via the new tools of the industry. In the way that MLS books have given way to a new form of information distribution via the internet, agents must adapt and adopt new and emerging tools for information distribution. Over the next year incorporating instruments like a smartphone apps, geotagging, and online document storage will help separate you from the other practitioners in the market. Success in Jazz and Business is all about improvising on a theme whether it’s the notes you play or the instrument you play them on.
robertmbyrne 