Bob Dubery wrote:
DNC wrote:
Bob Dubery wrote:
There's technique and then there's art. I think you can have loads of technique but still not create anything lasting or interesting. I'm less sure about the opposite - I think you can have things to say and artistic urges without good technical skills, but at some point the lack of skills will constrain the expression.
Yeah i think the whole point is that technique is actually suppose to open you up so you can be creative....
Years ago I read an interview with Robert Fripp where he touched on this. He talked about technique as "vocabulary". He was quite self effacing, saying that he thought that he himself had a large vocabulary but not an awful lot to say. He went on to say that Hendrix was the opposite - a man who did not have enough words in his vocabulary to portray what he was feeling or wanted to say.
So there are the two things - what you have to say, and the vocabulary (thanks Mr Fripp) that you have to say it with. Different artists have these in different ratios. The worst, IMO, comes when you have lots of words and nothing to say. Those with lots to say but insufficient words/colors in their palette to express it also run into problems.
Vocabulary provides a vehicle for the expression of creatitivity, but I don't think that it makes one creative. There will always be people with loads of words but nothing worth saying, or who can play fantastic numbers of notes a minute and have mastered modes and scales and stretches and physical techniques beyond most of us but who still do not make compelling art.
Very well said, and i agree completely.
But i have wondered about this for years. It's never been clear to me exactly what generates a talent. Part of me has come to the conclusion it is more a natural function of our personalities than anything else. We are naturally inclined to be better at some things rather than others because our particular personality traits produce emphasis which could be called strengths and weaknesses.
I think the saying, "perception is reality" is probably the best way to look at it. i've found that how you view something decides how you will choose to interact with it, and it is this play out of our choices which generate the results.
You will notice people who are good at certain things generally approach their problem in a similar way, or alteast, they "are" a certain way in their minds. With this in mind i think if you can get into the mind of someone, and try and view things from their perspective, and thus attack the problem with their view and approach, you will generally pick up many of their strengths and weaknesses, and thus what potentially could be viewed as their talents.
Obviously, this is lmited, but i think what i am saying hold many truths.
Being a Christian means i believe the bible is an impeccable source of knowledge for the "nature of thigns". There is alot in there i have yet to explore, and i think it will provide a definite answer for what a talent is. Maybe my views on what a talent is will change after a study, i'm not sure.
