Re: [Harp-L] Rostropovich and practice

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I could be dead wrong about plenty of people who
> are fabulous players but are just gunning for #1.  IF so, somewhere
> in there there's a mixture I'd guess of joy of the doing and
> competitiveness.  Being #1 is ok in darts, maybe even surgery, but
> there's just too much range of expression in art/music to choose a
> "best".   Most popular, sure.  Any particular quantifiable factor, sure.

I also think there's a kind of line we cross where you can't possibly say 
who is #1.

(I came up with a weisenheimer answer for my wife the other day when she 
asked what was my favorite Jazz recording.  I told her I could make a list 
of the Jazz recordings that would be my #1 favorite if the other recordings 
on the list didn't exist.)

Recalling that I wasn't talking about being #1, (nor that you actually 
suggested that I was), I am more interested by far in constant exploration 
of the harp, of my second instrument (the guitar, big surprise) and as a 
songwriter.  I like hearing what I come up with next, as it will be 
something I never heard before.  I've trained myself to get unduly excited 
when I hit a wall or encounter any skill or learning that is hard to 
conquer so as to not Give Up.

But the urge to be #1, while it misses the point about music is supposed to 
be fun for you and your audience, is not the worst thing a young 
musician.  Or to say exactly what I mean, I'm a big advocate of competition 
among near equals, as it can make everyone much better than they would have 
been without it.

When I was 15 I was a local hotshot player, and I thought so, too.  My 
mentor intentionally introduced me to a 14 year old kid whose harp playing 
made me sound like an idiot.  I was furious that someone could be that much 
better than me.  I made up to hang out with the kid as much as possible and 
we became really good friends and had many adventures around the city of 
NY, and played in Washington Square together every Sunday.  All the while I 
soaked up his licks and his whole approach.

At the same time, there was a boy about two years younger than me who had 
asked for lessons, and he was talented, and very quickly he decided to go 
gunning for me - and I knew it.

Well, I WAS going to catch that first guy, and there was no way on earth I 
was going to let the other guy catch me.  I wound up getting WAY better 
than I would have gotten if those two guys hadn't been around.  One night 
about two years after I started hanging around the fabulous young player he 
said the coolest thing to me.  He said "Ken, when I met you you thought you 
were hot stuff, but you couldn't play s__t.  Now you've passed me by."

And I had, too, because I worked like a monster to do so.  Importantly, to 
your point, part of the reason that this guy was so good was that he really 
made magic.  It wasn't just licks, and I knew that, he really entertained 
an audience with his playing, there was real musical content.  He had 
amazing licks, and I grabbed every single one, along with all the other 
stuff I was inventing and appropriating, but his best lesson was that his 
music really got to people, and I was able to create my own way of doing 
that by creating what was essentially an imaginary competition between us.

And the guy who was chasing me?  That was great for both of us, because I 
couldn't let up and he just kept getting better and better while trying to 
catch me.  Almost 30 years later I heard a CD he made, and he had certainly 
crossed into that set of players who would be at the top of the heap if the 
rest of us in the set had take up banjo instead of harmonica.