You might want to get comfortable. I'm going to take a circuitous route in introducing this one...
I took piano lessons for about 12 years when I was a kid. I started when I was in the second grade and continued on through my sophomore year in college. You'd think I would have gotten really good in all that time. But, no. I would have if I'd had even the smallest bit of aptitude. Alas, all the musical talent in my family went to a few of my siblings. When it came to musical genius, I got the shaft.
But I like to think all that time spent trying to be talented gives me a heightened appreciation for those among us who are truly gifted. I wanted it so badly and it just. wasn't. there. Talent is not something you can acquire. It's not for sale. You can't beat up the smaller kids and steal their brilliance from them. You can't get it by being the smartest in the class or dressing like a slut. It's either there or it's not. A birthmark. A bestowal.
OK. So, I'm going to shift gears for a minute here (bear with me).
I've been working on an audio archiving project lately (and spent quite a bit of time on it today). I've got some reel-to-reel tapes from my parents' attic that date back to anywhere from 30 to 50 years ago. I'm digitizing the recordings, in their entirety, without placing judgment on what I might find there. I may not be entranced listening to my cousin, who was 10-ish in 1957, read the Gettysburg Address, but for all I know, someone else might be thrilled to hear it. Further, in order to get optimal sound levels in my transfers, I have to listen to each track as I'm transferring it from the trusty Voice of Music Tape-O-Matic to my Mac's audio client. I've discovered some potential treasures on those tapes (how many recordings of early-60s Eugene Carson Blake speeches are floating around out there?), but have also been exposed to sounds only a mother could love.
That's a long and round-about way of saying I've listened to some pretty awful stuff today, including my own 8-year-old efforts at piano playing. It therefore filled me with even more joy than might otherwise be expected when I ran across this incredible collection of talent on Scholars and Rogues this evening. Whew. Wow. Beautiful stuff.
4 comments:
Nice project you've got going. A labor of love, it looks like. :-)
Little kids playing classical perfectly on the piano creep me out a little, because it sounds and looks like they memorized the correct way to play. #4 wasn't creepy. To my ears, he played with a true understanding of the music, with feeling as well as technical perfection. And he was so cute with his yellow footstool. :-)
Eight years on the keyboard for me. My one masterpiece was the theme from "Exodus"...Da dah . DA DAH! da dah dah dah dah dah ^j^
*takes a bow*
Who is the 10 year old (born in 47 ??)
Enjoyed reading the blog esp. the truth in the beginning about talent (sad but true !!)
That would be Judy, though I'm not sure about the date -- I did say 10-ish!
She does a great Lincoln impression! ;-D
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