It's About Playing Music!

[coberst]

It’s About Playing Music!

The goal of an intellectual life is similar to the goal of the artist. Understanding is the goal of the intellectual and understanding happens when “you pass from playing the piano to playing music”.

Bloch observed "the artist chooses the media and the goal of every artist is to become fluent enough with the media to transcend it. At some point you pass from playing the piano to playing music."

[Rincewind]

And in the same context, it is a great privilege to work with a music student as they make the move from playing the notes to playing the music. It is the truly joyful part of teaching an instrument when they realise for themselves that that is the transition they must and can make to fully become a musician.

[coberst]

Originally Posted by Rincewind

And in the same context, it is a great privilege to work with a music student as they make the move from playing the notes to playing the music. It is the truly joyful part of teaching an instrument when they realise for themselves that that is the transition they must and can make to fully become a musician.

I have very little talent in the arts but I have tried to comprehend the nature of understanding as regards studying books. It appears that you agree with me that understanding is a tipping point, it is like when water becomes ice and it is something that few people experience. Is that correct?

I am also interested in the Douglas Adams quote “"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

I have been trying for two years to acquaint people with some ideas that I think of as important but I have gotten the feeling that young people especially have a very negative attitude toward learning. I assumed that this was because of the way that I went about things but the quote indicates this is a universal situation. Is this a universal situation and to what do you attribute it?

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by coberst

it is like when water becomes ice and it is something that few people experience. Is that correct?

Yep, I reckon it's like shifting into a higher gear. Something happens in your head -- I'm not sure what, but you seem to speed through thought at a higher pace with the same enrgy input, if that makes sense.

Originally Posted by coberst

I am also interested in the Douglas Adams quote “"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

I have been trying for two years to acquaint people with some ideas that I think of as important but I have gotten the feeling that young people especially have a very negative attitude toward learning. I assumed that this was because of the way that I went about things but the quote indicates this is a universal situation. Is this a universal situation and to what do you attribute it?

It is a part of maturing as an individual, and different individuals come to it at different times of their lives -- often it is the "mid-life crisis" in the mid-thirties. Of course, it never happens for some people, and in others it happens in a way that is not recognisable to yourself as an individual.

Douglas Adams was a very astute observer of the human condition, and had a great talent for writing about it. Have you read any of his work?

[orbsycli]

wow I have to totally agree with you that "it's all about playing music."

they way I see it,
I take everything I've ever learned, ever
and incorporate all the possibilities of all of my thoughts
into my mediums
and with motion i transcend the music thru me,
whether it's alone or in a group of people all feeling the same rhythm
it gets my heart racing
and it is so automatic and beatiful . .