[blackhole]

Carpe Diem - "Seize the Day"

People fall head over heels about talent. "So-and-so is so talented!" "I'm an artist!" "Wow, check out this guy's work, he's so talented!" "Do you think I have talent?" Everyone wants to be talented. Everyone wishes they were this magical word called Talented. Everyone labels themselves as being talented at something. It's not about having a profession anymore, it's a matter of whose talented at what, and for some reason, people believe that you can only be good at something your talented at. There's no such thing as an artist without talent, right?

What kind of crap is this? Since when did we have the entire rest of our lives dictated by whatever we happen to be "talented" at? Here's a newsflash - Talented artists aren't the only ones who can draw. I compose music, and some people think it's really good and that I've got "talent." So, does this mean I'm just really good at music? Is it because I was banging on an electric piano before I could talk? That I've been making things up on the piano ever since I could talk?

This isn't some magical ability to make music; it's merely a predisposition to it. Me making stuff up on a piano means absolutely nothing. All I was doing, when I had that little electric piano sitting in front of me, with its 2 octave keyboard and totally lame sound effects, was hitting keys. I would hit this key, and I thought, wow, that sounds cool! So then I hit another key, but that didn't sound good. I tried again - still no dice. I kept trying until I found another key I liked. Wow, these two keys hit together sound nice! Maybe I should hit another one - oh wait, that didn't sound good. Let's try again!

And it continued. Through many, many repetitions of this, I built up a knowledge base of what worked and what didn't work. Before I had my first theory lesson I had figured out that there were certain combinations of notes that always sounded good (I had just discovered the basic Keys, A minor and C major). I distinctly remember A minor bugging me, because I felt there needed to be something in it. It was a minor key, right? So I kept trying things, and eventually I hit the harmonic note. Bingo, I thought, that must be it! Little did I know that the entire time I really had been playing in A minor, and that now I was playing in A harmonic minor.

In my later years, I would discover that my music was relatively boring. My songs were not interesting, and they really weren't that creative. So, I began to study other songs, and noted that they almost always did something that I never would have thought sounded good. As I kept on trying to improve, I found that the more and more I let go of what I felt I should do, and instead simply put down seemingly random notes, the more interesting the songs became. When my friend asked me if I could finish his melody for him, I told him "Just put down random notes!" He did. It worked.

Talent, my friends, is not a magical energy. It is the ability of that individual to think outside the box, to let go of common sense and to try completely counter-intuitive ideas until they find something that works. It is through this process that they improve. Just because some people can do it more easily than others shouldn't dictate what people can and cannot do.

There is an important distinction between being talented at something and being very good at something. People who are very good at drawing are good at it because of practice, they know where to put lines, they know how to shade things, which colors to use, which scenery items to put in. And then there are people who are talented. People who don't really know what they're doing, but for some reason, their artwork is still good looking and attractive.

Talent does not automatically make someone good at drawing. People become good at drawing through practice and hard work - talent makes it easier for some. Talent is meaningless without hard work, but talent itself isn't a prerequisite to being able to do something. I challenge this absurd notion that some people "just can't draw." Hogwash; anyone can draw. Anyone can compose music. Anyone can animate. Anyone can write a story.

Anyone can be good at anything they want; they just need to look over to left field to spot the homerun ball that everyone else missed. Have you tried animating? Can't get a scene to look right? Stop trying to get that one guys head to look good, and work on his feet. Who knows? Maybe that will solve the problem. Can't get a nice sounding melody? Put down random notes. Just stick a note down, and then stick another note down. Play them. Do they go together?  If they do, continue. If they don't, try a different one. Before you know it, you will have a melody. Can't think of a world to write a story about? Think about an idea, and then extrapolate on it in a completely absurd way. Think of the craziest things that could possibly come out of it. Then, snip and trim away those ideas until your left with the cream of the crop, and do it again, and again, until you finally have something to be proud of.

Don't delude yourself - you can't write Shakespeare by sitting down and writing random words. This takes time - you just need the patience to work on it and to keep trying. If you're already good at drawing, think back to when you started. No matter how badly you drew, you thought "wow, I made that!" and kept going. Think about people who inspired you to keep going. If you're trying something new, it's going to suck. The trick is to ignore that and keep on practicing until it doesn't.

Some people have brains that are wired to understand certain concepts better than others. This does not make it impossible for others to understand those concepts. Talent does not dictate what you can do; it merely gives you an advantage in some places. It's always possible to learn new things.

"We must constantly look at things in a different way." - Mr. Keatings, the Dead Poets Society

Because everything else in this board is painful to read.

[Mika]

The thought in the essay is good, but writing is too long and suffers from repetition. At least from my point of view.

Anyways, the thing with talent is that I partly believe that anyone can basically do anything if they want. But, this is probably not so. Generally anyone can do anything if they train hard enough, but then there are some exceptions. There are people who really don't do well in some areas, while might excel in others. I'm thinking of autistic persons, or persons having Asperger's syndrome, there are surprisingly many of people who suffer from these in the universities. They tend to be incredibly annoying, simply by asking unrelated questions from the lecturer or the assistent. It will probably be extraodinarily difficult for them to go-along with other people.

Mika

btw. Who does the assitant assist in the university? Professor or students?

[Dark Hunter]

The way I read "talent" is a person's affinity for something. Let's say Bob is talented at writing, and Steve is less so.*
Now, both of them go into writing, and produce equally good papers. I'm willing to bet that Bob had a much easier time of it than Steve. In other words, they both produced a good paper, but Steve had to work harder at it than Bob to achieve the same quality.

Is this basically what you're getting at, Blackhole?



*I chose these names at random; they make no reference to any real-life people.

[Kosh]

They tend to be incredibly annoying, simply by asking unrelated questions from the lecturer or the assistent.

I never did that. How do you know they actually have Aspergers and not just being assholes?

[TrashMan]

Talent is nothing without practice.

Practice is something even without talent.

Talent and practice create truly wonderful things.




"Just throw random notes" doesn't really work. You don't have to have the whole song in your head before you start composing, but you have to have some general idea, really good hearing and talent.

[WMCoolmon]

I don't feel like the essay really says anything. I mean, it seems like it could be summed up with:

"Some people are talented at certain things. But you still need to work hard, and people who aren't talented can still become good at things with hard work."

[NGTM-1R]

Someone has mastered the art of bs'ing college writing, and spending pages saying nothing...

[blackhole]

Half the problem with this essay is that i kept changing my mind about it and rewriting it halfway through, so now its lost its point entirely. That said, its not a homework assignment, its just a motivational essay I wrote for no apparent reason. Its more interesting than having pointless religious flamewars, right?

"Just throw random notes" doesn't really work. You don't have to have the whole song in your head before you start composing, but you have to have some general idea, really good hearing and talent.

To create a melody? No. There are only so many combinations of notes that sound good in a certain key in a certain way. Even a basic melody can be pleasing to the ear, and it can be formulated by trying random notes until they sound right. Heck, even I do that occasionally to put forward a melody. Sometimes I just put down random notes completely. A note here, a note there, a note here, oh maybe a note here. It works amazingly well, and its really not that hard. How do we know which notes sound good and which don't? Well, if your listening to music, I'm willing to bet you know what sounds good and what doesn't. Its called having 'Musical taste.'

[Inquisitor]

Oh, you actually wrote it

This isn't some magical ability to make music; it's merely a predisposition to it.

I think you ended up making the point I am about to make: That kinda defines talent, some pre-existing inclination towards a subject. That germ of "I don't suck at this" that leads us to work at something.

Which is, I think, the majority of the point that piece seems to be trying to make, no? And for the record, Ithink its pretty well written, even if it wanders a bit. Refreshing to read something decidely not painful.

[Ghostavo]

Geniuses are made, not born.