Delivery

I was at a music festival this weekend. It was a lot of fun and I got to see a bunch of bands that I like and some bands that make you think "Hey, I didn't know that song was by them!" It rained and I got wet but that's life right?

On his excellent blog that maybe if we prod him some he'll keep writing, Sartaj spends at lot of time talking about delivery. Delivery is when you hear a band on the radio and love the song. It speaks to you, it's got all the components of a great song: rhythm, beat, melody everything. You get excited about it and buy the album. The album is alright, there's some other reasonable songs but nothing that quite grabs you like the first one did.

Then a friend says they're going to the concert and you agree to go along. The supporting band is a bit odd and forgettable but then your band comes on. It doesn't sound anything like the album version, while it's the same song it's lacking all the polish. The lead singer is yelling a bit more than singing and the guitarist is too early into each verse.

This is delivery. At their best, carefully guided in a studio by an expert producer this band can craft an amazing song but in the real world they struggle to hold it together. I can see squeezes, throw ins and even the scissors coup when someone gives me a problem and tells me to be careful but in the real world I take the finesse and go down.

Serious bridge is all delivery. It depends not on your technical skill or imaginative defense, everyone in the tournament can do these problems on paper. Winning is the art of applying the best of yourself to the hand you're playing.