Re: [Harp-L] Projection




But like Robert says : do the work !

I'm with Chris and Robert.


At every stage of one's development as a musician (or in any other endeavor for that matter) it's the stuff that's HARD to learn that provides the great breakthroughs to the next level.

When you hear people say they're in a rut, or bored stiff or that there's nothing left to learn, it is because they no longer want to experience the great discomfort of trying to learn something that's so hard to learn that your first impulse is to throw whatever it is out the car window. After you get pretty good at something, lots of stuff is alot easier to learn, and your self-image brightens up, and tells you you're talented enough to have had those breakthroughs that you've made already, and you're not having a rough time getting better. Now, when you identify something that is hard to learn, it is very nearly an experience of revulsion: 'I thought I was past the hard stuff! I'm outta here before I get really depressed.'

This is one of the few ubiquitous human situations, as far as I can tell. I have never met a person who doesn't hit those comfort-zone stages all through their lives, me more than most. But I have come to relish the sensation that I'm not smart enough or talented enough to learn a thing without a great deal of unpleasant effort, because I'm now fully aware that that's the prelude to a breakthrough - the perfect time to plow on.

It's the people who really, REALLY, want to excel that learn to not duck away from the unending surprise appearances of Hard Stuff To Learn. I love those stages where I seem to grow and learn effortlessly, just by practicing every day, but I get really suspicious after a while, that I have entered a rut even if it doesn't feel like one yet.

I didn't really follow this thread when it was about something mechanical-sounding in chromatic harmonica, I think, as that observation seemed pretty subjective, and was in an area where I had nothing to contribute.

But now that it seems to be about learning how to play one's instrument so that it doesn't sound mechanical, well I've thrown my hat in the fire, as Ted Baxter once said.





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