Virtuosity vs. Usability

We go to a small church, at least compared to the church we went to in Galveston.  A big Sunday is maybe 150 people.  Today, I'm guessing there were about 75.  Like most Methodist churches, our church has a choir.  A pretty good one, too, even though it's small.   And we have a very accomplished organist.  Serious organ credentials.  Extremely. Serious. Creds.

When it comes to hymns, there's a pattern I recognize from most Methodist churches I've attended:  There are always one or two hymns you know really well.  They've been around forever, and you've been singing them since you were a kid, so they're burned into your memory.  Like that time when your mom pinched you (hard) for laughing silently but uncontrollably with your cousin about something very un-church-like (and kinda smelly,) when you were supposed to be singing those very hymns.  Or something like that.  I don't remember, exactly.

Then, every Sunday, in addition to the two known hymns, there's always the Wild Card Hymn.  The Wild Card Hymn, you've never, ever heard before.  Either because it was written last week and kind of fits the sermon, or it's very old and very obscure and kind of fits the sermon.  It usually has something to do with the sermon.  But you've never heard it, and neither has anyone else.  The choir, maybe. If they got around to it in rehearsal.  But sometimes even the choir fakes it through the Wild Card Hymn.

Now, from what I can tell, the Baptists don't use the Wild Card Hymn much.  And they sing pretty loud.  But we Methodists, we're kinda quiet.  We let the choir sing loud.  On the Wild Card, we just read.  For the ones we know, we kind of hum, or sing to ourselves, following the tune the organ plays.  Which brings me back to the Organist with Serious Organ Creds.

She has a pattern, too.  On the first couple of verses of any given hymn (including -- no, especially -- the Wild Card,) she pretty much plays it the way most organists play it -- which means you can sing (or hum) along with a melody you recognize.  But then she gets experimental.  By the last verse, she's getting downright medieval on the thing -- with baroque and intricate virtuosity, she lashes and hammers at the keys, producing a thunderous and beautiful recital piece that has absolutely nothing to do with the tune of the song, as far as I -- or anyone else anywhere near me -- can tell.  She can turn Amazing Grace into the Prelude and Fugue in D Minor.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir would sound great singing along. 

Did I mention we're Methodists?  Did I mention there were 75 (quiet) Methodists in church today?

Don't get me wrong.  She's an amazing organist.  Serious Organ Creds.  But when you see that even the choir can't quite follow, and are actually snickering, perhaps there's a problem with the usability of your virtuosity.  Just because you can do it, doesn't always mean you should.

Which brings me, at long last, to the advertising point here.  And it's the same:  Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.  Are the things you make the right things for the people you're making them for?  Will they be able to use the site?  Will they get the joke in the headline?  Or are you simply showing your virtuosity, because you can?

This is not a post about religion.  Nor is it a post about doing bad work.  Don't do bad work.  Do good work.  Just, do good work people can use. That, actually, makes it better.

 

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Comments

[webcowgirl]

Ernie,

You absolutely crack me up. I'm Baptist, but have never liked to sing along, whether I know the hymn or not. It's just "not" a comfort zone for me.

I was telling a lead UI director that exact same thing today "just because you can doesn't mean you should" when he asked me my opinion on redesigning a major portal by using just a blog style interface. I think there is a place and a audience for blogs, and it isn't necessarily for every site or every audience. Everyone likes to consume content in "their own" way. While someone of my parents' generation may prefer to sit in front of the 10 o'clock news every night; I prefer to read the news online each day via RSS feed. On busy days I prefer to download a podcast on my metro ride home. To each is his own, and as long as we never lose site of that we can have a better opportunity at pleasing the masses...if that is in fact what we strive to do..which in of itself is another question to ponder.