{"id":99,"date":"2015-02-05T21:07:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T21:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawrencedavis.org\/?p=99"},"modified":"2015-02-14T16:09:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-14T16:09:32","slug":"trusting-your-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/2015\/02\/trusting-your-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Trusting Your Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Originally published by Lawrence Davis on March 9, 2012]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Just what is talent, anyway? \u00a0The dictionary defines it as a \u201cnatural\u00a0aptitude or skill.\u201d \u00a0The idea of talent permeates the study of the\u00a0arts at all levels. \u00a0It\u2019s one of those ideas that some people use to\u00a0pigeon-hole others, or, even worse, it\u2019s an idea that some people use\u00a0to limit themselves. All manner of achievement is attributed to\u00a0having talent and any number of shortcomings are blamed on the lack\u00a0of talent.<\/p>\n

I have been working with young talented people since 1973. \u00a0Some of\u00a0them were more talented than others, of course. A few who thought they\u00a0were talented, were surprisingly limited. Others were amazingly\u00a0talented, yet completely unconvinced that they could achieve as an\u00a0artist. \u00a0Others have been incredibly talented but it meant nothing to\u00a0them. \u00a0Something inside of them kept them from fully understanding\u00a0what talent really is and the importance of making the most out of it.<\/p>\n

How much talent do you have and how much do you need? \u00a0I love the\u00a0quotation attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, \u201cThe harder I work, the\u00a0luckier I get.\u201d \u00a0With a very small change, that idea sums up my feeling about talent. \u00a0\u201cThe harder I work, the more talented I\u00a0become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago I worked with a young string player named Robert (not his real name).\u00a0 Robert was\u00a0a hard worker, very musical (lyrical player), he also worked\u00a0beautifully with other players. Being a good collaborator is quite a\u00a0gift. \u00a0One day I asked him if he was considering making music a career. \u00a0He told me, with some sadness, he wished he had that ability.\u00a0I was stunned. If any student had that ability it was he, yet his\u00a0own vision of himself was not big enough to include his talent.<\/p>\n

The biggest mistake I have seen young artists make is to censor their\u00a0own talent. \u00a0An artist’s life is about hard work and also about\u00a0expectations. \u00a0When a player asks me if they are sharp or flat on a\u00a0given note, I always turn the question back to them. \u00a090% of the time,\u00a0when I make them answer, they are correct. \u00a0They have the ability but\u00a0they are not fully aware they have it.<\/p>\n

If you have a powerful motivation to be a musician, trust that.\u00a0Something about it resonates within you. Listen to that. \u00a0Believe in your\u00a0ability to master your craft and then work really hard at it. \u00a0No time\u00a0will be wasted. Every bit of work you put into it you will get back\u00a0ten-fold.<\/p>\n

That’s it. \u00a0That’s my pitch. \u00a0I hope you will forgive my presumption\u00a0in offering it to you. \u00a0I hope your journey of self-discovery offers\u00a0abundant personal rewards and satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Davis<\/p>\n

______________<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the third essay that <\/span><\/em>Lawrence<\/em> posted on his blog “Reaching In.”\u00a0 It originally appeared at lawrence-davis.blogspot.com. – <\/em>CHC<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Originally published by Lawrence Davis on March 9, 2012] Just what is talent, anyway? \u00a0The dictionary defines it as a \u201cnatural\u00a0aptitude or skill.\u201d \u00a0The idea of talent permeates the study of the\u00a0arts at all levels. \u00a0It\u2019s one of those ideas that some people use to\u00a0pigeon-hole others, or, even worse, it\u2019s an idea that some people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reaching-in-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/ldavis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}