If I sent a recording of myself playing now, back through time, to myself when I just started I'm sure past me would think "wow I'll be able to play the fiddle in three years".
BUT, after three years of learning to listen as well as play I know better.
Why is it, the better I get at playing the better I also get at hearing how much further I have to go. BAH experience. Sometimes I think I would prefer to be ignorant and think I'm brilliant.
Good idea! Then one of your session mates can come here and post a thread about you. "There's this eejit at my session who is totally ignorant and plays awfully, yet he thinks he's brilliant..."
"History teaches us how far we have come, but also how far we have to go." Can't remember who, but some famous historian (is that an oxymoron) said that. It works on the personal level too.
Plus, most of us mere mortals have an inner Voice Of Doubt that likes to chime in at the most inopportune moments (and especially when we're trying to fall asleep the night before some big to-do), reminding us of all our shortcomings.
Or is this just me?
In my own (purely anecdotal, limited, probably irrelevant, and surely stupid) experience (see how that inner voice works?), my self doubts are extremely adept at staying several steps ahead of any headway I may chance to make in my playing. So no matter how much better I am than I once was, there are still a hundred nagging flaws that still need work. It never ends.
On the face of it, that sounds depressing and defeatist.
But on the bright side (thanks to SWFL for the tune now stuck in my head), flaws are our friends. Without them, or at least without noticing them, we wouldn't be spurred on to further improvements.
My new mantra is: "The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is in how we use them."
If it wasn't for the bliss of youthful ignorance, how many of us would jump into marriage and parenthood? Surely, the fate of the human race depends on that ignorance!
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." - Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
I think that's true up to a point savage. But in this type of music
I think it's possible to get too good - where the playing ends up
being so smooth that it goes over to the other side of the hump
and it's good music, but not good Trad music. You can probably
guess which fiddler/s I'm talking about.
I've just taken a break from playing in sessions for about 18 months. Although I didn't think I was that great when I was playing regularly I now think I'm even worse. Playing the fiddle well seems like such a long journey I don't think I'll ever get there, but I intend to go as far as I get and enjoy the craic on the way.
Ignorance would be bliss
Ignorance would be bliss
If I sent a recording of myself playing now, back through time, to myself when I just started I'm sure past me would think "wow I'll be able to play the fiddle in three years".
BUT, after three years of learning to listen as well as play I know better.
Why is it, the better I get at playing the better I also get at hearing how much further I have to go. BAH experience. Sometimes I think I would prefer to be ignorant and think I'm brilliant.
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by session savage
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
And you know, it only gets worse over time.
The more you know, the more you realise you don't know.
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Good idea! Then one of your session mates can come here and post a thread about you. "There's this eejit at my session who is totally ignorant and plays awfully, yet he thinks he's brilliant..."
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
...and from the Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life department:
Just think of how much better you've become over those three years!
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
"History teaches us how far we have come, but also how far we have to go." Can't remember who, but some famous historian (is that an oxymoron) said that. It works on the personal level too.
Plus, most of us mere mortals have an inner Voice Of Doubt that likes to chime in at the most inopportune moments (and especially when we're trying to fall asleep the night before some big to-do), reminding us of all our shortcomings.
Or is this just me?
In my own (purely anecdotal, limited, probably irrelevant, and surely stupid) experience (see how that inner voice works?), my self doubts are extremely adept at staying several steps ahead of any headway I may chance to make in my playing. So no matter how much better I am than I once was, there are still a hundred nagging flaws that still need work. It never ends.
On the face of it, that sounds depressing and defeatist.
But on the bright side (thanks to SWFL for the tune now stuck in my head), flaws are our friends. Without them, or at least without noticing them, we wouldn't be spurred on to further improvements.
My new mantra is: "The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is in how we use them."
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by Will Harmon
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Listening to recordings of yourself is always a humbling experience. And something that every musician should do on a regular basis.
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by skreech
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
You'd be better off sending a recording to your future self with the message: "see how shight you used to be... keep it up, babe-magnet."
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by gam
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
That sounds sooooo familiar. The more I learn, the worse I play. LOL! At least I know lots of ways to improve my playing.
# Posted on July 16th 2010 by ElaineT
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
If it wasn't for the bliss of youthful ignorance, how many of us would jump into marriage and parenthood? Surely, the fate of the human race depends on that ignorance!
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by AlBrown
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
When I was 18, I knew everything.
I just get more stupid as I grow older and I realise how smart my parents were.
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by Gone to work
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
I used to tell my parents how proud I was of them. They just kept getting smarter and smarter as the years went by......
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by shanty
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Or as Bob Dylan put it: "Ah but I was so much older then -- I'm younger than that now."
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by gam
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Or as the saying goes - Employ a teenager while they still know everything!
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by Tarrantella
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
A not-quite-related quote but I like it anyway:
Every generation thinks it's more intelligent than those who have gone before, and wiser than those who come after...
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by Mark Harmer
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Ir's when you enter your anecdotage that you have to worry.
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by Scorpion de Rooftrouser
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Anecdotage. I like that! Which worries me...
# Posted on July 17th 2010 by AlBrown
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Hahaa! My parents sure got smarter when I hit my early twenties.
# Posted on July 18th 2010 by ElaineT
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." - Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
# Posted on July 18th 2010 by Will Harmon
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
I think that's true up to a point savage. But in this type of music
I think it's possible to get too good - where the playing ends up
being so smooth that it goes over to the other side of the hump
and it's good music, but not good Trad music. You can probably
guess which fiddler/s I'm talking about.
# Posted on July 18th 2010 by Hup
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Is that how you spell "shight"?
# Posted on July 18th 2010 by dlunney
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
indeed hup. indeed.
# Posted on July 18th 2010 by session savage
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
I've just taken a break from playing in sessions for about 18 months. Although I didn't think I was that great when I was playing regularly I now think I'm even worse. Playing the fiddle well seems like such a long journey I don't think I'll ever get there, but I intend to go as far as I get and enjoy the craic on the way.
# Posted on July 19th 2010 by bowburner
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
The journey's the whole point.
# Posted on July 19th 2010 by ElaineT
Re: Ignorance would be bliss
Elaine is right, there is no destination, just enjoy the ride!
# Posted on July 20th 2010 by AlBrown