I certainly don’t mind when someone “compliments” me about my “talents”, but I don’t particular like the nuances of the word “talent”. Like many performing musicians (and artists and athletes), I am constantly being applauded for my “talents”, whether for performing a jazz improvisational solo or conducting a symphonic band concert. Whether referring to me or any other musician or their “talent”, I don’t believe most people realize that the majority of the “talent” they see is not really “talent” at all. What they are really witnessing is the product of countless years of work, intense mental discipline and the end result of both tremendous and rigorous physical labor.
Personally, I often have wondered that when people talk about someone as being “gifted” or “talented” that they aren’t padding their own self sense of worth (consciously or unconsciously) by putting the “talented” people off into the category of having “natural abilities” and “innate tendencies”. The very definition of talent is “something that lacks labor to acquire” and is “naturally given or innate”. Certainly being “good at music” is not innate nor does it come without toil but rather, it comes with the culmination of intense focus and mastery of ones field!
Most people do not realize that to be accepted into a music program, at a university, the student must already be adept, proficient and show a significant level of mastery over their instrument and music in general. This includes reading music, understanding rhythms, tonality, intonation, a diversity of words in multiple foreign languages and confidence in front of people and audiences. One cannot simply choose to major in music on a whim no more than one can be selected to play football for a major college team without having played for years previously in high school (or even longer). There are also many great musicians who have mastered music without attending the university but rather have “schooled” themselves by studying for endless hours and years on their own. No matter what the “vehicle” may be, extensive time is involved. Thomas Edison’s axiom of genius being “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” applies to the good musician all the same.
You don’t often hear of someone who scores an “800” on the math portion of the SAT being applauded for their “talent”. When looking back at the great composers and musicians of the past, you will find that every single one of them toiled and labored as much as any other great person in any other “untalented” field. Not unlike those students who have mastered math, writing and verbal skills.
Although, people can have greater aptitudes than others with relation to success in a particular field, the components of effort, achievements and hard work cannot be ignored or dismissed. To dismiss the good musicians of our time, and those currently in our schools and communities as simply- “talented” would be to ignore the entire process of what was done to accomplish that level of mastery. This process should be recognized in addition to any of the perceived aptitudes and “talents” that they also may have.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could easily perceive the mastery of one’s subject in every field like we are able to with music? If that were the case, it would make the both the hiring and voting processes much more simple and the determination of what and who is mediocre and what and who is good, crystal clear.
~J. Pisano
I never really thought of it that way, but you are 100% correct. I really don’t think that non musicians realize that what looks easy now took 8 hrs. a day in the practice room in college! I remember a conversation with a teacher friend who was impressed with the fact that I had a christmas “gig” where I was getting paid to play. I told him that it hardly made up for the work I put in on my horn for free over the past 25 years.
[…] In summary, Joshua Bell (a child prodigy!), made in sum and total $32.00 in change and “tips”. A far cry from the $100.00 “middle-of the road” cost of the seat prices to see him in concert! You won’t believe the humility of this man as he goes through 45 minutes of this “experiment” Few people even acknowledged his existence, let alone his skill (I wrote an interesting article about the skill of a musician, Talented Musicians? Are We Simply Talented Or Is It Visible Mastery? ). […]
Joe,
After considering this discussion again while at the PMEA Conference last week, I agree whole heartedly with your article.
As we discussed this very topic over lunch, two of the greatest examples of musicians with work ethic who made the most of their “talent” took place between a Fuddruckers cheeseburger for me.
First of all, kudos to the Kiski HS Jazz Ensemble for their performance (which included guest soloist Sean Jones). Their 11:00 a.m. concert was one of the finest jazz performances I have ever attended. Second of all, how proud I am to be a Grove City College Alumn as Dr. Arnold completed the afternoon concert with the Wind Ensemble. The quality and diversity of the literature each group presented was exemplary. Both performances were enthusiastically received by the audience and were certainly highlights of the entire conference.
But to get to that level, to perform for other music educators – this is not the work of talent alone. This is the work of elementary teachers who planted the seeds of loving music at an early age. This is the work of elementary band directors giving each student their first lesson, and continually encouraging them to develop at every lesson that followed. This is the work of middle school and junior high directors who challenged their technique and kept them from dropping out for the wrong reasons. This is the work of the students as their high school challenged them from the podium for an adjudication or a competition. This is the work of Sean Pytik and Dr. Edwin P. Arnold who pushed their groups to achieve more and made excellence the manner in which the students worked.
The Lone Ranger needed Tonto, beer needs deep-fried chicken wings, and talent needs work ethic. There is no such thing as musician without a work ethic. That is probably the biggest attribute for student attrition rates in public school band programs. We live in a microwave society that wants everything right now and it had better be great. The work of musicians to make the most of any innate “talent” is not rezlized for many years. Many students will not buy into the hard work, years of developing and refining their craft for the eventual payoff. If more parents would realized the great discipline that music students gain through study in addition to knowledge of a unique subject our (as a profession) retention rates would increase as would the quality of our groups.
I myself am nothing more than a farmer, planting seeds, growing plants that I may never see truly blossom. But someday a student of mine might be able to say they conducted their own group at a music conference, they debuted a piece they composed, or even traded fours with Sean Jones in front of a live audience. A person with “talent” but no work ethic and is in the music world does not deserve to be called a musician – but hey, we can’t all be Marilyn Manson or Milli Vanilli. Of course that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
TheTweller,
Well said! How often we take for granted the “coaches” that are/were our teachers. I too was proud to be a GCC alumni, as we were well represented both by the college and its graduates.
It was a banner year for GCC at PMEA as we had our first GCC booth at the event, the GCC college wind ensemble performed and Eric (also an alumn) had his choral group selected to perform and a world premier of an arrangement of “Salute to PMEA” by another, humble, graduate of ours.
Let’s hope that as music educators we can/will continue to instill the “fire” and great work ethic into our students and our colleagues. Events like PMEA help all of us to get “out of the box” and get a glimpse of what can be if we work hard and aspire to something beyond our “four walls”.
J. Pisano
It is interesting that you have the definition of talent to mean “something that lacks labor to acquire”. In the New South Wales, Australia, Education system, the word Gift is attributed this meaning (as well as “naturally given or innate”) and the word talent is ascribed the meaning of “the result of diligence, practice and effort in developing a gift”. So when I substitute the word gift for talent in your article I get the same sense of dissappointment.
For me, though, the basic problem remains. Music is largely reserved for the gifted or talented, rather than open to anyone who wants to give it a go. Yes, I know the arguments about no real musical ability leading to less than satisfactory performances and so on, but as with most endeavours, it is not enough to be naturally disposed to success. Without work and commitment, natural skills and gifts can stagnate quickly, much to the detriment of the individual and the program.
In Australia for the most part, Music teachers do not teach instruments in the classroom. Nor do they take band or orchestra or choir as part of their main teaching load. Rather they teach a generalised, integrated program that emphasises listening, composition (applied theory), performace and musicology. Band programs and others run as extra-curricular and membership is voluntary. Instruction in isntrumental technique is not seen as the classroom teacher’s responsibility but rahter that of privately paid individuals, further constraining access and progress for certain students.
I have worked in several small schools where the band is made up of maybe a dozen or so musicians who have ceased their private teaching and are continuing in the band out of pressure from their parents or the administration. In some cases these students are engaged in the band because of their belief in the repertoire, which is deliberately modern to capture and maintain enthusiasm. Admittedly in some cases, the private teachers are not available for these students. However, my exoerience shows that unless all students are actively engaged in learning their instruments, the quality of the band cannot be progressed very far. This is beacuse students are coasting on their “gift or talent”. In these situations, I will occasionally run a rehearsal that is aimed at addressing note building, articulation building or knowledge building for specific instruments in an attempt to improve the quality of their instrument knowledge. Of course our biggest problem now is the “feed me now” syndrome common amongst most youth; the desire for instant feedback and instant success. It is only through coaching analogies that I am getting through to kids in my classroom about the need to practice certain skills; these “discussions” generally take the form of “What are you good at?”-“many different responses”, “How did you get good at it?”-“worked at it, practised it, did it for XXX hours till I got it right, etc”, “How can you get good at this ?”-“Ooooh……”. Only by revisiting this discussion often do I seem to get any commitment to a practice/review regime of any sort.
It is often said that teachers teach and that students learn. It is also frequently forgotten that there are at least two steps between these two points:
* Students practice the information or skill
* Students apply the information or skill
at which point we can say that
* Students learn and know the information or skill.
An extension to this is students who are able to synthesise new uses or applications for the information or skill based on their knowledge and understanding of the same.
For me this is the end result of and true description of talent: Students are able to apply a skill or information in existing or new contexts. This therefore leaves gift firmly where it belongs as the natural predisposition to success in a field of endeavour.
Shane,
Thank you for the well thought and informative reply. I was not aware of the Austrailian music system operations and this reply certainly was eye openining for me.
I think that the understanding of the word “gift” or “talent” is perhaps a matter of semantics but I agree that without out hard work and diligence there is the matter of coasting and forward movement only as a result of previously gathered “inertia”.
There are many good thoughts in your article with which for all of us to take forward with us as our school year rapidly approaches. Thank you again and by all means please continue to contribute your knowledge to our global conversation about music, technology and education here!
Out of curiosity, what is the basic music curriculum for public schools (in summary)?
P.S.
Shane please provide me with an email so that I can ask you a couple of related questions. You can email me via the contact tab here or send an email to jpisano@jpisano.com. I would appreciate it! :)
J. Pisano