In music, we can roughly define the “contrattempo” or “controtempo” (backbeat syncopation) as a beat that occurs when there should be a pause. An event that happens unexpectedly, where there should actually be linearity and regularity.
This is exactly what happens when we have a setback in life (in fact, “contrattempo” in Italian also means “setback, unforeseen difficulty”.) Everything seems to be in order, we make our plans, we get organized, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, we are faced with a setback that ruins our plans, forces us to rethink the situation, causes us to waste time and immediately generates on our part a reaction of refusal: “darn, I didn’t need that!”
While writing the book Your Renaissance – as it contains many images of works of art – I took great care in planning the final print quality of the book. I chose to publish with Lulu.com because, from the extensive research I had done, it offered excellent quality of inks, paper and printing, both for the full-color edition and black and white edition of the book. I wanted everything to be at its best.
Once the book was published, despite the information from the launch campaign and the links to the Lulu store, I discovered that people were looking for Your Renaissance on Amazon, where I hadn’t made the book available. First setback. I hadn’t expected this possibility. “What now?” I thought. I decided to quickly correct the format of the book and publish it also with Amazon. And I thought, maybe it’s better, you see, from a setback I was able to learn something, expand my vision and distribute the book to a wider audience. However, after ordering a copy of the book from Amazon, HORROR! second setback. I discovered that there was a printing error caused by Amazon. Every single “a” in italics had become a black dot creating a funny musical score effect but also a reading disturbance. I had to start a long process with Amazon to solve the technical printing problem.
What can I say? Setbacks are what generates the music and rhythm of life, sometimes creating unexpected situations that can interrupt but also improve our life. We often don’t realize if a setback was actually an opportunity until much later.
Now, I am happy to announce that, after two months, Amazon has managed to solve the problem and the hard copy of Your Renaissance is printing correctly.
In addition, Your Renaissance is also available as an ebook on Amazon kindle!
Read the introduction and chapter 1.
So let’s keep making plans, let’s keep breathing, and let’s enjoy the following videos:
1. a piece of music full of backbeat syncopations (Este es el rey, by the great Italian-Argentine musician D’Arienzo) with two talented tango dancers who interpret for us the concept of rest, rush, and the different rhythms of life
2. the TedTalk by musician Cyrille Aimee on improvisation; what happens when we are not prepared and our plans are changed by life.
Enjoy the music of life!