Ted, I’m glad to hear how that setback was overcome, and note that even while your love of music remains intact you have succeeded in making a career in (at least) one other field that favours creativity. I have another, only slightly different narrative to tell. I was bitten by the same music bug in my late teenage years, and that led m…
Ted, I’m glad to hear how that setback was overcome, and note that even while your love of music remains intact you have succeeded in making a career in (at least) one other field that favours creativity. I have another, only slightly different narrative to tell. I was bitten by the same music bug in my late teenage years, and that led me into playing the saxophone and the flute. However whether due to my inherent level of talent, or to the various circumstances of my life, I didn’t get near the standard required to become a professional jazz musician. Or classical musician for that matter and I tried both. I carried the frustration with me for many years, at least into the age of 50, and beyond to diminishing degree. So I had the other lifelong frustration of listening to my idols from the music of the 1940s onwards, but despite all the practice I did I never got anywhere near the standard of these idols.
Even in retirement, I played classical music with a friend who is an excellent pianist and I practised diligently to raise the standard of my fluteplaying . That friend eventually moved to another region, leaving me with no music partner. I still tried to keep practising but somehow practising never ever took me to the realm of intensely enjoying music. And whether or not I was in a playing situation the practice seem like a chore that I had to endure to justify my presenting myself as a musician.
I won’t go on forever elaborating on this theme, but I’m just observing that one can have the same love of music at whatever level one engages. That too is something I never learned from my music teachers in all my years of learning and studying and practising.
Ted, I’m glad to hear how that setback was overcome, and note that even while your love of music remains intact you have succeeded in making a career in (at least) one other field that favours creativity. I have another, only slightly different narrative to tell. I was bitten by the same music bug in my late teenage years, and that led me into playing the saxophone and the flute. However whether due to my inherent level of talent, or to the various circumstances of my life, I didn’t get near the standard required to become a professional jazz musician. Or classical musician for that matter and I tried both. I carried the frustration with me for many years, at least into the age of 50, and beyond to diminishing degree. So I had the other lifelong frustration of listening to my idols from the music of the 1940s onwards, but despite all the practice I did I never got anywhere near the standard of these idols.
Even in retirement, I played classical music with a friend who is an excellent pianist and I practised diligently to raise the standard of my fluteplaying . That friend eventually moved to another region, leaving me with no music partner. I still tried to keep practising but somehow practising never ever took me to the realm of intensely enjoying music. And whether or not I was in a playing situation the practice seem like a chore that I had to endure to justify my presenting myself as a musician.
I won’t go on forever elaborating on this theme, but I’m just observing that one can have the same love of music at whatever level one engages. That too is something I never learned from my music teachers in all my years of learning and studying and practising.
Regards, Peter Warne from Nimbin, Australia.