Roll over Bethoven.
- Thread starter neptune
- Start date
It always amuses me when people describe Westlife and similar outfits as boybands. When I were a lad, people in bands played instruments, it was de rigeur. I think that one thing that puts people off classical music is the snobbery involved. I am a working class lad and proud of it. I will admit to being an inverted snob.
On Tv last night I watched an interview with Sir Simon Rattle. He was considering coming back to UK, but was put off because our concert halls were apparently not up to standard. It is strange how those guys playing out in the street in Austria didn`t have a problem. Incidentally, why did all those musicians have to wear clawhammer jackets? To me, it would have been just as exciting if they had worn boiler suits, or jeans and Tee shirts. In fact I think I would have preferred it, but that is just me. The posh attire seems to say, " We are a breed apart, we are not just peasants like you, we are the elite, and our music is not for common people." I admit that this problem maybe exists only inside my head.
Why is the violin considered to be a better instrument than the guitar? A guitar has frets, making it harder to play a wrong note. It also has geared tuning pegs, making tuning easier, as opposed to the violin which has crude wooden pegs stuffed into tapered holes. Perhaps it is because the violin takes years to master, indeed so much time that anyone who has to work for a living would find it hard to spare the time? These are just my thoughts, and I would love to hear what others think.
On Tv last night I watched an interview with Sir Simon Rattle. He was considering coming back to UK, but was put off because our concert halls were apparently not up to standard. It is strange how those guys playing out in the street in Austria didn`t have a problem. Incidentally, why did all those musicians have to wear clawhammer jackets? To me, it would have been just as exciting if they had worn boiler suits, or jeans and Tee shirts. In fact I think I would have preferred it, but that is just me. The posh attire seems to say, " We are a breed apart, we are not just peasants like you, we are the elite, and our music is not for common people." I admit that this problem maybe exists only inside my head.
Why is the violin considered to be a better instrument than the guitar? A guitar has frets, making it harder to play a wrong note. It also has geared tuning pegs, making tuning easier, as opposed to the violin which has crude wooden pegs stuffed into tapered holes. Perhaps it is because the violin takes years to master, indeed so much time that anyone who has to work for a living would find it hard to spare the time? These are just my thoughts, and I would love to hear what others think.
Simon is right about many of our concert hall acoustics, London's in particular, the open air doesn't suffer in the same way. The problem with buildings is the way sound bounces around off the walls and other fitments, and since sound is waves of air pressure, when they meet fully out of phase they cancel each other to create areas of relative silence. When they meet to a more partial degree they can create odd harmonics spoiling sound quality. As Simon said, the science of these acoustics is very recent, so many older halls are very poor, though some have been happy accidents.
London has been very unlucky, the Albert Hall is a round structure, the worst possible shape for accoustic quality and has been subject to various treatments to alleviate the worst effects. Chief of there was the addition of what look like flying saucers high up and shown here, their sizes and positions being by design to break up the most harmful reverberations.
London's Barbican Centre Hall is another acoustic failure, it can be like listening in a tunnel in some of the seating positions. The Festival Hall is another with many problems, so severe that some years ago it had a number of amplifiers and speakers added onto the sides in many positions to fill in the dead spots. Thus those going there to listen to live music can be in seating positions listening to electronically reproduced sound. London's best acoustic hall is Croydon's Fairfield Hall, and it's been used for some well known classical recordings in consequence. It was once the home of the Royal Philharmonic orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham's own, but the decline in classical concert popularity means that it more recently was down to being the home of the London Mozart Players.
Nationally we have the odd outstanding halls. Birmingham's modern perfectly designed hall is excellent and why Simon is such a good judge, since he was the conductor of the CBSO there before taking over from Herbert Von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic. The Halle and other orchestras at Manchester are similarly blessed, we have a number of other good ones so not all is bad here.
Now to the violin. Tradition plays a part in classical practice of course so there is resistance to change, but it's also true that no matter hard we try, we have been unable to improve on many instruments. The violin in particular reached a point of perfection three hundred years ago, and it's sound depends on two things, the instrument and the skill of the player. As such, the sound of a violin and player or a group of violins together can vary from agonising to ethereal beauty.
It's that imprecision which allows the finest performer and instrument to transcend to such a degree, something that could not happen if the instrument were to be "improved" to make it easier to play. That would have a levelling effect to a middling quality, ok in the world of mass production but not for achieving the greatest in any field of the arts.
I too detest the snobbishness connected to classical music and happily wear jeans when going to concerts. The attire of orchestral players though is simply due to tradition rather than any snobbishness, reflecting the long history of classical performance. There are often concerts where the players do sometimes wear different attire, open air in summer, special events etc.
Fascinatingly as I've typed, following Simon's comments, the BBC Radio 4 PM news program has had a feature on hall acoustics with a clarinet being played in three concert halls for listeners to compare the quality. They took care not to include any London halls, telling it's own story! The differences are quite dramatic, so you might like to listen to that on the i-player on this link, starting at 49 minutes 10 seconds.
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London has been very unlucky, the Albert Hall is a round structure, the worst possible shape for accoustic quality and has been subject to various treatments to alleviate the worst effects. Chief of there was the addition of what look like flying saucers high up and shown here, their sizes and positions being by design to break up the most harmful reverberations.
London's Barbican Centre Hall is another acoustic failure, it can be like listening in a tunnel in some of the seating positions. The Festival Hall is another with many problems, so severe that some years ago it had a number of amplifiers and speakers added onto the sides in many positions to fill in the dead spots. Thus those going there to listen to live music can be in seating positions listening to electronically reproduced sound. London's best acoustic hall is Croydon's Fairfield Hall, and it's been used for some well known classical recordings in consequence. It was once the home of the Royal Philharmonic orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham's own, but the decline in classical concert popularity means that it more recently was down to being the home of the London Mozart Players.
Nationally we have the odd outstanding halls. Birmingham's modern perfectly designed hall is excellent and why Simon is such a good judge, since he was the conductor of the CBSO there before taking over from Herbert Von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic. The Halle and other orchestras at Manchester are similarly blessed, we have a number of other good ones so not all is bad here.
Now to the violin. Tradition plays a part in classical practice of course so there is resistance to change, but it's also true that no matter hard we try, we have been unable to improve on many instruments. The violin in particular reached a point of perfection three hundred years ago, and it's sound depends on two things, the instrument and the skill of the player. As such, the sound of a violin and player or a group of violins together can vary from agonising to ethereal beauty.
It's that imprecision which allows the finest performer and instrument to transcend to such a degree, something that could not happen if the instrument were to be "improved" to make it easier to play. That would have a levelling effect to a middling quality, ok in the world of mass production but not for achieving the greatest in any field of the arts.
I too detest the snobbishness connected to classical music and happily wear jeans when going to concerts. The attire of orchestral players though is simply due to tradition rather than any snobbishness, reflecting the long history of classical performance. There are often concerts where the players do sometimes wear different attire, open air in summer, special events etc.
Fascinatingly as I've typed, following Simon's comments, the BBC Radio 4 PM news program has had a feature on hall acoustics with a clarinet being played in three concert halls for listeners to compare the quality. They took care not to include any London halls, telling it's own story! The differences are quite dramatic, so you might like to listen to that on the i-player on this link, starting at 49 minutes 10 seconds.
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Flecc, many thanks for going to all that trouble. You know, in spite of the differences we have, we have an awful lot in common. First , accoustics. Back in the day, when I played in a rock band, I remember a gig we played in a local village hall. The hall was newly built, and had only been open a few weeks. We were the first, or one of the first live bands to play there. The village was proud of its new hall. It consisted of two sections, each circular with a domed roof, and the sections were of slightly different diameters.
From the air, it would look like a figure eight. The gig was an unmitigated disaster. Firstly, we could not hear ourselves. Half the audience complained we were too loud, and half said they could hardly hear us. I was well pleased when it was all over, and pitied anyone else performing there.
Re clawhammer jackets, [I just love that term.] As you say it is all tradition. Also if you were going for a job in an orchestra, or pretty much any job, you would wear your best clothes.Even if it was for a job as a mechanic or a lorry driver, you would put on clean overalls. As I said, the problem is mainly in my head.
Violins and guitars. They are different instruments, work differently, and do different jobs. If you pluck a guitar string, the note will sustain for several seconds. If you finger a violin string against the fingerboard, and pluck the string, there is very little sustain, and the amplitude decays rapidly. A damped oscillator. In a guitar, the string is free to vibrate between a fret and the bridge. In a violin, one end is held by the pad of the finger tip, which is a lot softer than a fret.The only way to get sustain is to continually excite the string with the bow. I think of it like this. The guitar is a glider, and the violin is a powered aircraft.
Can the violin be improved? You can now buy geared tuning pegs which make tuning easier. Also most violins, including my cheapie, are fitted with fine tuners behind the bridge to facilitate fine adjustments. I don`t think such aids degrade the instrument, and may even make it accessible to a wider audience.
As I see it[ as avery experienced fiddle player of eight days standing} a good violin would be one that produces all notes at the same level. I think this was achieved traditionally, by varying the thickness of the wood of the front and back of the istrument in strategic places.In other words, the wood thickness varies across the front or the back. Traditional craftsmen achieved this by a lifetime of trial and error. Results were unknown until the instrument was finished and varnished.
Today we have frequency generators to vibrate a panel on its own at any given frequency. We can monitor the vibration by sensors, and plot the results with an oscilloscope. We no longer stumble blindly in the dark. I find it hard to believe that we can not do a better job.
Recently some blind tests were conducted with twenty accomplished violinists, and three violins. One violin was a Stradivarius, one was a modern $40,000 job, and one was a cheap mail order special. In blind tests, only three musicians correctly identified the Strad. What does it prove? I am not sure but I sure found it interesting.
Incidentally there are two places that stick in my mind as having brilliant acoustics for singing and playing acoustic guitar. One was a room in the local arts center, which was originally the dining room [Refectory?] of a Dominican Friary, built in the 1300s. The other was a pedestrian underpass in the city of Lincoln.
From the air, it would look like a figure eight. The gig was an unmitigated disaster. Firstly, we could not hear ourselves. Half the audience complained we were too loud, and half said they could hardly hear us. I was well pleased when it was all over, and pitied anyone else performing there.
Re clawhammer jackets, [I just love that term.] As you say it is all tradition. Also if you were going for a job in an orchestra, or pretty much any job, you would wear your best clothes.Even if it was for a job as a mechanic or a lorry driver, you would put on clean overalls. As I said, the problem is mainly in my head.
Violins and guitars. They are different instruments, work differently, and do different jobs. If you pluck a guitar string, the note will sustain for several seconds. If you finger a violin string against the fingerboard, and pluck the string, there is very little sustain, and the amplitude decays rapidly. A damped oscillator. In a guitar, the string is free to vibrate between a fret and the bridge. In a violin, one end is held by the pad of the finger tip, which is a lot softer than a fret.The only way to get sustain is to continually excite the string with the bow. I think of it like this. The guitar is a glider, and the violin is a powered aircraft.
Can the violin be improved? You can now buy geared tuning pegs which make tuning easier. Also most violins, including my cheapie, are fitted with fine tuners behind the bridge to facilitate fine adjustments. I don`t think such aids degrade the instrument, and may even make it accessible to a wider audience.
As I see it[ as avery experienced fiddle player of eight days standing} a good violin would be one that produces all notes at the same level. I think this was achieved traditionally, by varying the thickness of the wood of the front and back of the istrument in strategic places.In other words, the wood thickness varies across the front or the back. Traditional craftsmen achieved this by a lifetime of trial and error. Results were unknown until the instrument was finished and varnished.
Today we have frequency generators to vibrate a panel on its own at any given frequency. We can monitor the vibration by sensors, and plot the results with an oscilloscope. We no longer stumble blindly in the dark. I find it hard to believe that we can not do a better job.
Recently some blind tests were conducted with twenty accomplished violinists, and three violins. One violin was a Stradivarius, one was a modern $40,000 job, and one was a cheap mail order special. In blind tests, only three musicians correctly identified the Strad. What does it prove? I am not sure but I sure found it interesting.
Incidentally there are two places that stick in my mind as having brilliant acoustics for singing and playing acoustic guitar. One was a room in the local arts center, which was originally the dining room [Refectory?] of a Dominican Friary, built in the 1300s. The other was a pedestrian underpass in the city of Lincoln.
I think I may have heard that particular violin test, I've certainly heard many, but none have convinced me that an "improved" instrument reaches the heights of the best. Many newer instruments I've found horrible sounding at times.
I found your account of that disastrous village hall interesting, once again incorporating some circular spaces within the shape which are well known to never reproduce good even sound. I'm reminded of Sir Thomas Beecham's comment on the new Royal Pavilion in Brighton which apparently had poor acoustics. He'd been invited to conduct an orchestra there and was expected to give a speech afterwards, something he hated doing.
After the performance he addressed the audience to give his speech which was:
"Congratulations on your new hall, I hope you find a use for it".
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I found your account of that disastrous village hall interesting, once again incorporating some circular spaces within the shape which are well known to never reproduce good even sound. I'm reminded of Sir Thomas Beecham's comment on the new Royal Pavilion in Brighton which apparently had poor acoustics. He'd been invited to conduct an orchestra there and was expected to give a speech afterwards, something he hated doing.
After the performance he addressed the audience to give his speech which was:
"Congratulations on your new hall, I hope you find a use for it".
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Sir Thomas Beecham`s comment made me literally laugh out loud. As regards instrument tests, I wonder if there are differences in the way people hear things. There are people who have perfect pitch. Others, including myself have relative pitch. There are people who are tone deaf, which statistically includes more women than men. some people can hear higher than average frequencies, especially the young.
I honestly do not pretend to be able to hear the difference between a brilliant violin and a mediocre one. If you bought me a Stradivarius, it would be a case of pearls before swine. Maybe that is my nature. I am a half a loaf is better than no bread kind of guy. And there are other aspects to sound. My sister is a keyboard player. [All our family is musical, even the sewing machine is a singer]. She insists that the key of B flat is a more melodic key than C. To me, you can play a tune in any key, and it is no better or worse than any other.
Maybe there is an aural equivalent to colour blindness.
The other thing that amazes me is that people can tune an instrument by ear, and get two notes within a few Hertz of each other. The human frequency counter.What possible survival value can such an ability have? When we sing [in tune] we produce a long complicated list of different frequencies in a specific order, and even have spare brain cells left to include some words.How? Why?
Flecc you obviously have a deep knowledge of music , composers and so on. I would be curious to know if you read music, or play music. At the moment, I am practising at least two hours a day on my fiddle, and can now play a few tunes, although I still make lots of mistakes. Mistakes are how you learn. My favourite tune today has been a traditional folk song called "The Ash grove". I like it because, to use a technical term, its got lots of twiddly bits in it!
I honestly do not pretend to be able to hear the difference between a brilliant violin and a mediocre one. If you bought me a Stradivarius, it would be a case of pearls before swine. Maybe that is my nature. I am a half a loaf is better than no bread kind of guy. And there are other aspects to sound. My sister is a keyboard player. [All our family is musical, even the sewing machine is a singer]. She insists that the key of B flat is a more melodic key than C. To me, you can play a tune in any key, and it is no better or worse than any other.
Maybe there is an aural equivalent to colour blindness.
The other thing that amazes me is that people can tune an instrument by ear, and get two notes within a few Hertz of each other. The human frequency counter.What possible survival value can such an ability have? When we sing [in tune] we produce a long complicated list of different frequencies in a specific order, and even have spare brain cells left to include some words.How? Why?
Flecc you obviously have a deep knowledge of music , composers and so on. I would be curious to know if you read music, or play music. At the moment, I am practising at least two hours a day on my fiddle, and can now play a few tunes, although I still make lots of mistakes. Mistakes are how you learn. My favourite tune today has been a traditional folk song called "The Ash grove". I like it because, to use a technical term, its got lots of twiddly bits in it!
No, I don't play and have no natural ability in that respect. I also dislike reading music and cannot understand those who enjoy reading a score during a performance.
But when it comes to instrumental differences, playing errors and the like, I'm hypersensitive, so the difference is more in my hearing than anything else like academic factors. Even at the age of ten I remember being unhappy at the acoustics of the Winter Gardens hall in which the Bournemouth Symphony orchestra performed at the time.
It's for these reasons that I just don't want to play, if it's not near to perfect I can't accept the result, though I can easily listen to others who are far from perfect. The first is too personal the second isn't. As an aside, my favourite instruments are the piano and the violin.
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But when it comes to instrumental differences, playing errors and the like, I'm hypersensitive, so the difference is more in my hearing than anything else like academic factors. Even at the age of ten I remember being unhappy at the acoustics of the Winter Gardens hall in which the Bournemouth Symphony orchestra performed at the time.
It's for these reasons that I just don't want to play, if it's not near to perfect I can't accept the result, though I can easily listen to others who are far from perfect. The first is too personal the second isn't. As an aside, my favourite instruments are the piano and the violin.
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Guitar vs violin is an unfair comparison to make in many ways. The strings on a violin are at least half the length of the strings on a guitar and tightened to a much higher tension to achieve the notes it plays. It is this tension and length that is the reason for the lack of prolonged (audible) vibration when plucked. It is far more fair to compare the cello with the guitar and the double bass with the bass guitar.
As for the frets, they are as limiting as they are simplifying. On a guitar there is that fret strap to play in a different key for a long time. On the violin/viola/cello/double bass, the player just moves their hand position on the neck and can stay there until moving again. ( more flexible, but more difficult.)
As to what advantage being able to tell the frequency of a noise gives us, does it have to be evolutionary (as implied by survival value) - cannot it not be a God given ability for the purpose of delight and worship?
As for the frets, they are as limiting as they are simplifying. On a guitar there is that fret strap to play in a different key for a long time. On the violin/viola/cello/double bass, the player just moves their hand position on the neck and can stay there until moving again. ( more flexible, but more difficult.)
As to what advantage being able to tell the frequency of a noise gives us, does it have to be evolutionary (as implied by survival value) - cannot it not be a God given ability for the purpose of delight and worship?
This thread has turned into a very intellectual discussion, a thing I enjoy. By sharing the opinions and views of others we can often see a subject from a different angle. So flecc, as |I see it you are more a musicologist than a musician. Theres nowt wrong with that. You admit to being a bit of a perfectionist, whereas I am more of a half a loaf is better than no bread. I always try to be the best I can, which is not the same as trying to be the best. My life has been based on have a try at everything. Incidentally, I feel that really listening to music, or anything, is an art in itself.
James W, I compared a guitar to a violin, simply because these are both instruments I own and play. The lack of sustain in a violin string is nor due to its short length, because when a guitar is player high up the neck, the effective string length can be similar to a violin string. Nor can we blame the tension, because I have just found that I can reproduce the high note on the violin E string, by fretting the E string on the guitar at a similar length.
Si I still say that the lack of sustain on a plucked violin note is due to finger damping. In practise, it is no problem, because we do not usually pluck a violin, we bow it, and can thus get more sustain than a guitar can produce.
On the guitar, the fret strap, or capodastro can be used to play in different keys, but is usually only used on acoustic guitars fo folk music, and similar. The guitar can play chords, consisting of several notes played simultaneously, whereas a violin can play a max of two notes together. The use of a capodastro takes the place of the first finger left hand, thus freeing that finger to do other stuff. The capo is rarely used on electric guitar when playing rock/blues/ jazz.
James W, I compared a guitar to a violin, simply because these are both instruments I own and play. The lack of sustain in a violin string is nor due to its short length, because when a guitar is player high up the neck, the effective string length can be similar to a violin string. Nor can we blame the tension, because I have just found that I can reproduce the high note on the violin E string, by fretting the E string on the guitar at a similar length.
Si I still say that the lack of sustain on a plucked violin note is due to finger damping. In practise, it is no problem, because we do not usually pluck a violin, we bow it, and can thus get more sustain than a guitar can produce.
On the guitar, the fret strap, or capodastro can be used to play in different keys, but is usually only used on acoustic guitars fo folk music, and similar. The guitar can play chords, consisting of several notes played simultaneously, whereas a violin can play a max of two notes together. The use of a capodastro takes the place of the first finger left hand, thus freeing that finger to do other stuff. The capo is rarely used on electric guitar when playing rock/blues/ jazz.
One major reason for not adopting frets on a violin is that it prevents the essential glissando ability, only the substitute of portamento being possible on fretted instruments which is by no means the same thing since the individual notes can be distinguished in portamento.
Have a listen to all nearly five minutes of this piece of music that I've uploaded to my website for you Neptune. Though the recording quality is far from perfect, it illustrates the extraordinary range of a violin's ability in skilled hands:
Kupkovic, Souvenir. mp3
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Have a listen to all nearly five minutes of this piece of music that I've uploaded to my website for you Neptune. Though the recording quality is far from perfect, it illustrates the extraordinary range of a violin's ability in skilled hands:
Kupkovic, Souvenir. mp3
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Flecc. Thanks for downloading that for me. I did listen to it, and I did enjoy it. The glissando technique put me in mind of a well known fiddle tune called Orange Blossom Special. {well dang my britches]. I don`t actually recall saying that a violin should be fitted with frets. It is just that having played on frets most of my life, I find that i have to use my mental frequency counter as a fret substitute. fretted or fretless are just different. One is not better than the other.
Blues and rock guitarists can to some extent escape the confines of frets by "bending the strings" . BB King is a master of the art. Then of course there is the ultimate iteration of fretlessness, the pedal steel guitar.
It is of course a given that I shall never be a master violin player, but due to my personality, that is just fine. How many top violinists can drive an artic, communicate in morse code, and ride a unicycle? I am not a specialists, I am a Jack of all trades and master of none. To me, that is just fine, I am happy.
James W commented on our mental frequency counter and its purpose. I am an atheist so I can not quite share your view. Not all our abilities have to be for survival I suppose. The ability to produce and appreciate art does not have much survival, but we enjoy it.
Blues and rock guitarists can to some extent escape the confines of frets by "bending the strings" . BB King is a master of the art. Then of course there is the ultimate iteration of fretlessness, the pedal steel guitar.
It is of course a given that I shall never be a master violin player, but due to my personality, that is just fine. How many top violinists can drive an artic, communicate in morse code, and ride a unicycle? I am not a specialists, I am a Jack of all trades and master of none. To me, that is just fine, I am happy.
James W commented on our mental frequency counter and its purpose. I am an atheist so I can not quite share your view. Not all our abilities have to be for survival I suppose. The ability to produce and appreciate art does not have much survival, but we enjoy it.
It's only in classical music that I'm a bit of a purist, in all other things I also only claim to be a jack of all trades and master of none. I've always felt that is the most sensible course and the best way of sufficiently understanding the widest possible range of world's complexities.
As you remarked earlier in the thread, we do indeed have much in common, such as being truck driving, music loving atheists!
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. There is no guitar to hear, the pizzicato was on the solo violin.Here's the instrumentation that also applied to that recording of Gidon Kremer's performance, on this link
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I did think you were, but with no smiley and being caught out before when some haven't been joking, I replied just in case.
However, now i know with certainty you were joking, I now don't know if you did actually enjoy the music or hated it!
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Escape the tyrants’ chains,
Generosity also to the villain,
Hope upon the deathbeds,
Mercy from the high court!
The dead, too, shall live!
Brothers, drink and chime in,
All sinners shall be forgiven,
And hell shall be no more.
Chorus
A serene departing hour!
Sweet sleep in the shroud!
Brothers—a mild sentence
From the final judge!
These are the last of about 120 similar lines of the poem - taken from the full Wikipedia version. Maybe encouragement to vote Green?
I'll get me coat .....
Generosity also to the villain,
Hope upon the deathbeds,
Mercy from the high court!
The dead, too, shall live!
Brothers, drink and chime in,
All sinners shall be forgiven,
And hell shall be no more.
Chorus
A serene departing hour!
Sweet sleep in the shroud!
Brothers—a mild sentence
From the final judge!
These are the last of about 120 similar lines of the poem - taken from the full Wikipedia version. Maybe encouragement to vote Green?
I'll get me coat .....
Well if you can't see God in music even as it is speaking to your soul and you can't tell why you enjoy it I pity you and hope that you find Him one day. I've just come back from a weekend away with Church and found it very enlightening, challenging and parts of it scary as I saw the power of God at work but at the end, after not enough sleep, I come away more at peace and rested than when I went. (And music played a large part in the weekend at points.)
On this planet, there are 2, 557 different religions practiced, Strangely, each and every one of them tells us that theirs is the only true religion. Therefore, 2,556 of them are lying. So even if I wanted to choose one, the odds on picking the right one are not much better than winning the lottery. If you want to know what effect religion has on peoples lives, simply look at the middle east. I respect your right to believe in whatever you like. Me, I think I`ll pass.
Yesterday, I was thinking about perfection. In anything we attempt in life we strive to be as good as we can be. However good we are, there will be someone better than us, unless we are the best, and only one person can be the best. In my book, the fact that others will always be better, does not discourage me from having a go. I will probably end up being the worst fiddle player this side of the Smoky Mountains .
Does it matter? Not much. I would guess that probably only one percent of people play a musical instrument So if I can play one tune, however badly, I am still in the one percent club.
Yesterday, I was thinking about perfection. In anything we attempt in life we strive to be as good as we can be. However good we are, there will be someone better than us, unless we are the best, and only one person can be the best. In my book, the fact that others will always be better, does not discourage me from having a go. I will probably end up being the worst fiddle player this side of the Smoky Mountains .
Does it matter? Not much. I would guess that probably only one percent of people play a musical instrument So if I can play one tune, however badly, I am still in the one percent club.