Thu Sep 25 2014

Rain continues. I’m liking it. I’ll be tired of it eventually, but right now I’m liking it. It makes me want to hunker down inside, and yesterday I got a whole lot of practicing done. Breakthrough in being able to play the new Wang Dang Doodle arrangement and sing at the same time. That alone is good news. Also worked on Muddy’s Don’t Go No Farther and found my way to a great lick for the intro. Practiced it pretty relentlessly, in part so I wouldn’t forget it, but also because it needs to be dead reliable. I was maniacally practicing it with the metronome when one of my middle school aged students arrived, and that became a useful a discussion not just of the need to practice (even when you are old like me) but also a look at what we are actually aiming for when we practice.

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At the last minute, two of my students had to reschedule for later in the week due to unexpected work commitments. I’m pretty easy going about these situations, unless they become chronic. And I’m not losing anything, we just found another slot in the calendar. This opened up a sizeable chunk of my afternoon. Good! More time to practice. Then, inexplicably, I felt the undeniable urge to do some overdue major cleaning in the kitchen. Hands and knees on the floor with a scrub brush-level cleaning. Not my favorite pastime, but I do love the result. Also took care of a few errands including a swing by the vet’s to drop off a little something for them to examine. The sun has come out. Temptation.

But now I still have time to practice.

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Coincidentally, a reference popped up on my twitter feed about a BBC article entitled “Was Jimi Hendrix born a genius?” Obviously caught my eye, given the question on the table about natural talent. The part of the lead line that reads, “myths about his talent do him a disservice,” is what specifically got my attention. The article itself turns out to be pretty lightweight, and focuses more on the fact that he did his homework. The fact that he practiced all the time doesn’t really come up. Still, it’s relevant.

Moving away from Jimi and back to us mortals, because… you know… what am I going to say about Jimi Hendrix?

Quick sidetrack: Sometimes I’m blunt. I do my best to only pull that out when I think it is going to be effective in a positive way, but sometimes shit just comes out of my mouth. Like the time I was pointing out to a student that mashing his palm up against the back of the neck with his thumb waving around in the air was seriously slowing him down. His response was “but Jimi held the guitar that way,” and before the last word had completely left his mouth I heard a voice that sounded an awful lot like me saying, “you ain’t him.”

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“Myths about his talent do him a disservice,” is something that is applicable across the entire spectrum. The people I know, who I would describe as “talented” (yes, I do use the word all the time, the current discussion notwithstanding) are also the hardest working humans I know. So I always wince a bit when I hear one of them described in terms of their gifts or natural abilities. The implication is that “if I was born with their talent, I’d be that good.” No, but if you worked as hard as they do you’d be a lot better than you are now.

Between a student with aptitude who doesn’t want to do the work and the one with no particular gifts who is engaged, I’ll take the latter every time. Partly, because I am the latter.