Re: [Harp-L] Re: Genius? LOL

[Ev630 <eviltweed@xxxxxxxxx>]

>
> After playing the violin for the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, Albert
> Einstein asked, "Did I play well?"
>
> "You played relatively well," replied Piatigorsky.
>

;)


Einstein's [violin] playing is excellent, but he does not deserve his world
fame; there are many others just as good.
      -- A Berlin music critic on an early 1920s performance, unaware that
     Einstein's fame did not derive from music.



On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Ev630 <eviltweed@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Rick in NZ,
>
> Isaac Newton and Einstein didn't appear fully able either. They studied and
> acquired knowledge. What they had was a greater potential, which was
> realised, due to their inquiring minds - and their intellectual creativity
> or capacity. This is no different to someone like Miles Davis (and other
> jazz greats I could name). Davis studied, acquired knowledge, but also had a
> creative genius (a creative IQ) that surpassed others and made him stand out
> in his field. Davis was as much of a musical genius by his twenties as
> Einstein was a scientific phenom - but in both cases their skills related to
> their fields of endeavour weren't innate. Davis didn't emerge from the womb
> able to play the horn and Einstein didn't emerge able to balance complex
> physical equations. They just had the intellectual capacity to extend their
> specialisations beyond their peers. Davis was therefore as much a genius as
> Einstein or Newton, though he may never have had a flair for calculus.
> Equally, Einstein was a keen amateur violinist who through his fame was able
> to play with some of the true greats. But in a quote from one of those
> greats (I forget which) it was clear that Einstein was much loved as an
> enthusiast but he had no genius for music - much as he wished for it.
>
> Mastery of OB techniques, therefore, and making the effort to cop phrasing
> from other instruments isn't a product of genius, but merely of hard work.
> Total mastery of the instrument leads to virtuosity, but NOT to genius.
> Genius cannot be acquired through hard work. Though of course I respect
> anyone who strives and achieves a level of mastery in any field.
>
> EV
>
>
>
>