Re: [Harp-L] Virtuosity--Michael Phelps

[Will Vogtman <will_vogtman@xxxxxxxxx>]

During one interview this pat summer, Michael Phelps was asked about how he felt about the possibility of being the next Mark Spitz.  
 
Mr. Phelps responded by saying that he did not want to be the next Mark Spitz.  He said he was happy being the first Michael Phelps.
 
That's virtuosity.  
 
I am no where near the best that I can be.  If I ever get there . . . If I ever reach my full potential on my instrument . . . If I can ever remove the boundary between intellect and emotion and seemlessly project that state of being through my instrument to my audience . . . I MIGHT be a virtuoso.  Even then, I must do something innovative on top of all of that.
 
Will

Pierre <slavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I sent this to Michael last night in response to his post as I was under the impression he had posted it offlist.
So I am reposting it. BTW, I can see people have very different definitions of virtuosity. My initial definition prior to this post was along the lines of "extremely skilled" but I realize now from your vasious post that "extreme musicality" can be included with less emphasis on skill (the reason I thought Adler was a virtuoso). That was a pretty big lapsus on my part. Thanks for educating me.

My response to Michael:

Michael Peloquin said:

>OK-enough with the sweeping generalizations!

I really deserved that one (extreme shame)

Who is the official person in charge of declaring virtuosity and natural
> talent?

Not me, too ignorant to do a good job of this.

I have seen players websites that declare them a virtuoso.
> What is an unnatural talent? Is the unnatural talent false or less than 
> the natural talent?

To me a natural talent in the context of music is someone with a rare gift 
for music. I would say Stevie was a natural talent given that he released 
his first CDs at the age of 12. Now I don't really know if it was talent or 
just that he played 18 hours a day for 6 years.

Here is a definition of virtuoso I found on the net:

Adj. 1. virtuoso - having or revealing supreme mastery or skill; "a 
consummate artist"; "consummate skill"; "a masterful speaker"; "masterful 
technique"; "a masterly performance of the sonata"; "a virtuoso performance"

When I say virtuoso I mean: "supreme mastery or skill" from the above 
definition. A virtuoso by definition (IMO) is very very rare, no more than 
50 in the world in this century. I am not sure Adler is a virtusoso nor am I 
sure that Stevie is not. Probably neither of them are (see reasons below). I think I got a bit 
carried away when I listened to my new Adler CD.

Artist I know who IMO are worthy of being called virtuoso's:

The Guitar Trio, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola based on 
their live performance - Guitar Trio: Paco de Lucia/John McLaughlin/Al Di 
Meola CD.

(If you don't own this CD, you need to get it)

I used to think that Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci were 
virtuoso's but it seems there are so many skilled guitar players today that 
I'm starting to doubt it.

Which probably means a virtuoso must be so far above the rest, that nobody 
can play (or even tries to play) at their level for years to come.

Sorry about the generalisations, I tend to do that sometimes. I used to have 
a friend who would call me on it, but I don't work with him anymore so I 
think I'm getting bad again.

Thanks,

Pierre






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