After reading the first four chapters of Art and Fear and discussing them in class, the idea that resonated strongest with me was the concept that, while talent is great for getting people a head start, there is no substitute for hard work. Personally, I have never been the smartest, most athletic, or most talented at anything, but I have always had a strong work ethic. As a result, my perspective about anything skill related is that it can be learned and eventually mastered through persistence and practice. One of my favorite lines from Art and Fear occurred on page 26, “whatever you have is exactly what you need to produce your best work” (Bayles and Orland). Moreover, there have been numerous books and articles written bolstering that very idea. This Is Your Brain on Music The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin explains why 10,000 hours of practice, not talent, makes virtuosos, or Raw Talent v. Hard Work a blog by Christopher Sung which can be found at https://www.activemusician.com/Raw-Talent-vs-Hard-Work--t11i1.
There are numerous examples of people now consider innovators, masters and virtuosos struggling with music. For example, John Coltrane was by no means a child prodigy. In fact, he didn’t even begin playing the saxophone until he was twenty years old. Another well documented story is of a young Charlie Parker having no idea that there was even such thing as different keys, and playing the song Honeysuckle Suckle Rose in Bb while the band was in another key.
The bottom line regarding talent v. hard work is that practice makes perfect, and there’s no way around it.
Really good points, Will. The hard work stories among top musicians are legendary (Bobby McFerrin, Eddie Van Halen, to connect to two recent examples) and inspiring. Guess it ultimately comes down to how badly you want "it." Thanks for the link--interesting. Check out the Your Brain on Music site--there's a whole page of musical examples that align with the book. http://www.yourbrainonmusic.com/
ReplyDelete