Re: [Harp-L] Rostropovich and practice

[Garry Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> When my son was about 15 and was taking guitar lessons, I had owned a guitar
> and had played it since I was 15.  I thought that I should have some sort of
> musical advantage.  I would practice a piece for maybe 4 or 5 hours to learn
> to play it tolerably well.  Then I would hand him the sheet music.  After
> about an hour's practice, he could play it better than I could!
> 
> Subsequently, I have taken more lessons and have put in many more hours of
> practice than he has.  He can still play rings around me.
> 
> My point is that there is such a thing as innate musical talent.

while it's certainly possible that he has some innate talent that you don't have, 
i would note that, at 15, he was also at a stage in his life where he was 
developmentally more capable of learning.  his brain was still developing, 
and there are some predispositions to learning at that point.  as a high school
student, he was also more practiced in the activity of learning, which may've
helped.

my youngest daughter, when she was around kindergarten or first grade age,
used to blow us adults away playing the game "concentration", where you turn
over two cards looking for matches.  same with "where's waldo?", in which she'd
spot waldo in an instant every time.  at that developmental stage, she was just
wired for stuff like that, and we no longer were.

of course, your son may also just be a better musician than his dad.  but i suspect
these other factors may've played a part.


----
Garry Hodgson, Senior Software Geek, AT&T CSO

nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
do something.