Mensa is an international organization open to all… There is only one requirement to get in, you must have an IQ in the top 2% of the population. Piece a cake! You can do the test online, it’s fun, it’s easy! Only 30 questions. Here is a sample question.
Four years ago, Jane was twice as old as Sam. Four years on from now, Sam will be 3/4 of Jane's age. How old is Jane now?
My answer: Dead
Their Answer: 4 years ago Jane was 8, Sam was 4. In 4 years from now, Jane will be 16 and Sam will be 12.
Duh.
I got 53% and ran out of time. 53%! …and I’m a percussionist! I know that must be shocking.
I can see you running to the website, so cocky and sure of yourself…anyway, go ahead, knock yourself out. (www.mensa.org)
When I was on the site doing the test I got bored and started looking around and I found this little promotional blurb: “Mensa has many events for members including leadership workshops and dances…"
Dances? Did they say dances?
So it struck us that if smart people, really smart people like to dance they must have special dance needs. Which means, there’s a niche market in music no one else is serving! So we started writing music for this exclusive group of smart asses, music that uses odd time signatures, music that is constructed in unconventional forms, music that screams “give this one a whirl Einstein !”
We were getting more and more excited about this idea, so we presented it to our record company. The marketing department wanted to know if we thought that given how the record business is these days, was it really that smart to target a CD to only 2% of the population. Well, I told them, “Smart? like I got 53% on the freakin’ test how do you expect me to answer a question like that?
Once the CD was written we wondered where our music might be played, where do smart people hang out? I mean a smart person wouldn’t book a Ball Room at the Ramada, would they? Right! There must be a Mensa Disco. And if there is a Mensa disco there must be a doorman. And if there is a doorman at the Mensa Disco he would no doubt say; “yeah, I can let you in, but I’m gonna have to see some IQ.“
Matt Zimbel
Montreal July 2013
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