Craft Notes
To what do you aspire?
Probably everyone tries hard when writing. But how hard? Glenn Gould hard? I don’t think we should settle for anything less.
Or why not aim to achieve the greatness shown here, by Miles Davis’s tuba player, Bill Barber (it’s okay, you can cry):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8qLjuJV7aI
You know, sometimes people think odd and quirky is good enough, like this:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7D8aDp3RUs
Fuck that. It is good, but it isn’t good enough. This is much better. Strive for this:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ls_MdlSXQ
That 9-yr-old girl is better at football than I am at writing. I guess what I’m saying is always do your best and never, ever give up. Or give up now because you’re never going to be Glenn Gould, Bill Barber, or Little Carly.
Tags: bill barber, glenn gould, little carly
What about artistic aspiration vs. the ability to do what you love and what you are good at as a means of supporting yourself? Little Carly is better at football than you are at writing, but Little Carly will soon no longer be allowed to play football. Her “One Moment in Time” is fleeting and nearly done. You, though, can hustle hard enough to write for a (spare, quiet, difficult) living.
Run on, Little Carly.
What about artistic aspiration vs. the ability to do what you love and what you are good at as a means of supporting yourself? Little Carly is better at football than you are at writing, but Little Carly will soon no longer be allowed to play football. Her “One Moment in Time” is fleeting and nearly done. You, though, can hustle hard enough to write for a (spare, quiet, difficult) living.
Run on, Little Carly.
Yeah, good point. But if I could edit my work like the cut she makes at 1:25 I’d be Shakespeare is what I’m saying.
Yeah, good point. But if I could edit my work like the cut she makes at 1:25 I’d be Shakespeare is what I’m saying.
yes x 1000.
yes x 1000.
Bernhard wanted to be Gould – didn’t work out for him. So he wrote a book about it. A masterpiece of literature, not piano performance.
Bernhard wanted to be Gould – didn’t work out for him. So he wrote a book about it. A masterpiece of literature, not piano performance.
True. Bit of a tangent from the post’s intent.
Walter Payton.
True. Bit of a tangent from the post’s intent.
Walter Payton.
I love the idea that one of the best ways to succeed at one art is to fail at a different one. I want so badly to be a musician but can’t play a lick of anything. I barely understand how most instruments work. People often tell me I’m not too old to learn, and even though I sort of doubt that, the truth is that if I believed them I’d be even more afraid. I feel like there’s a direct and unambiguous relationship between my frustrated ambition and desire re music and whatever measure of success I’ve achieved as a writer. At least that’s the myth I’m selling.
I love the idea that one of the best ways to succeed at one art is to fail at a different one. I want so badly to be a musician but can’t play a lick of anything. I barely understand how most instruments work. People often tell me I’m not too old to learn, and even though I sort of doubt that, the truth is that if I believed them I’d be even more afraid. I feel like there’s a direct and unambiguous relationship between my frustrated ambition and desire re music and whatever measure of success I’ve achieved as a writer. At least that’s the myth I’m selling.
I think, like most high yardage running backs, Little Carly is getting credit for what is in reality quality blocking by a stellar flag football O-line.
I think, like most high yardage running backs, Little Carly is getting credit for what is in reality quality blocking by a stellar flag football O-line.
really want to tackle that little girl
really want to tackle that little girl
“I barely understand how most instruments work.”
Ah, but thanks to Half-Japanese, we all know how to play guitar:
How to play Guitar
by David Fair
“I taught myself to play guitar. It’s incredibly easy when you understand the science of it. The skinny strings play the high sounds, and the fat strings play the low sounds. If you put your finger on the string farther out by the tuning end it makes a lower sound. If you want to play fast, move your hand fast and if you want to play slower move your hand slower. That’s all there is to it. You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that’s pretty limiting. Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you’d still have a limited number of options. If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.
“Traditionally, guitars have a fat string on the top and they get skinnier and skinnier as they go down. But the thing to remember is it’s your guitar and you can put whatever you want on it. I like to put six different sized strings on it because that gives the most variety, but my brother used to put all of the same thickness on so he wouldn’t have so much to worry about. What ever string he hit had to be the right one because they were all the same.
“Tuning the guitar is kind of a ridiculous notion. If you have to wind the tuning pegs to just a certain place, that implies that every other place would be wrong. But that’s absurd. How could it be wrong? It’s your guitar and you’re the one playing it. It’s completely up to you to decide how it should sound. In fact I don’t tune by the sound at all. I wind the strings until they’re all about the same tightness. I highly recommend electric guitars for a couple of reasons. First of all they don’t depend on body resonating for the sound so it doesn’t matter if you paint them. As also, if you put all the knobs on your amplifier on 10 you can get a much higher reaction to effort ratio with an electric guitar than you can with an acoustic. Just a tiny tap on the strings can rattle your windows, and when you slam the strings, with your amp on 10, you can strip the paint off the walls.
“The first guitar I bought was a Silvertone. Later I bought a Fender Telecaster, but it really doesn’t matter what kind you buy as long as the tuning pegs are on the end of the neck where they belong. A few years back someone came out with a guitar that tunes at the other end. I’ve never tried one. I guess they sound alright but they look ridiculous and I imagine you’d feel pretty foolish holding one. That would affect your playing. The idea isn’t to feel foolish. The idea is to put a pick in one hand and a guitar in the other and with a tiny movement rule the world.”
“I barely understand how most instruments work.”
Ah, but thanks to Half-Japanese, we all know how to play guitar:
How to play Guitar
by David Fair
“I taught myself to play guitar. It’s incredibly easy when you understand the science of it. The skinny strings play the high sounds, and the fat strings play the low sounds. If you put your finger on the string farther out by the tuning end it makes a lower sound. If you want to play fast, move your hand fast and if you want to play slower move your hand slower. That’s all there is to it. You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that’s pretty limiting. Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you’d still have a limited number of options. If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.
“Traditionally, guitars have a fat string on the top and they get skinnier and skinnier as they go down. But the thing to remember is it’s your guitar and you can put whatever you want on it. I like to put six different sized strings on it because that gives the most variety, but my brother used to put all of the same thickness on so he wouldn’t have so much to worry about. What ever string he hit had to be the right one because they were all the same.
“Tuning the guitar is kind of a ridiculous notion. If you have to wind the tuning pegs to just a certain place, that implies that every other place would be wrong. But that’s absurd. How could it be wrong? It’s your guitar and you’re the one playing it. It’s completely up to you to decide how it should sound. In fact I don’t tune by the sound at all. I wind the strings until they’re all about the same tightness. I highly recommend electric guitars for a couple of reasons. First of all they don’t depend on body resonating for the sound so it doesn’t matter if you paint them. As also, if you put all the knobs on your amplifier on 10 you can get a much higher reaction to effort ratio with an electric guitar than you can with an acoustic. Just a tiny tap on the strings can rattle your windows, and when you slam the strings, with your amp on 10, you can strip the paint off the walls.
“The first guitar I bought was a Silvertone. Later I bought a Fender Telecaster, but it really doesn’t matter what kind you buy as long as the tuning pegs are on the end of the neck where they belong. A few years back someone came out with a guitar that tunes at the other end. I’ve never tried one. I guess they sound alright but they look ridiculous and I imagine you’d feel pretty foolish holding one. That would affect your playing. The idea isn’t to feel foolish. The idea is to put a pick in one hand and a guitar in the other and with a tiny movement rule the world.”
The two Korean baseball teams are doing this thing from a gameshow–here are some Korean celebrities doing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEGgUSVhZfU&feature=PlayList&p=3A2C8D5516B05E5D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=38
It’s an old traditional game. Apparently (so says the wife) they’re doing this because if they have a real fight, they’ll be suspended.
Hilarious.
That little girl is a star.
The two Korean baseball teams are doing this thing from a gameshow–here are some Korean celebrities doing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEGgUSVhZfU&feature=PlayList&p=3A2C8D5516B05E5D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=38
It’s an old traditional game. Apparently (so says the wife) they’re doing this because if they have a real fight, they’ll be suspended.
Hilarious.
That little girl is a star.
Yes…
In discussion of ‘aesthetic skill,’ there seems to be two camps. One is more traditional and says that to be “good” you need to practice a lot and have mastery over your craft, you need to get degrees from the best universities and win the most prestigious awards. The best art is supposed to be immortal and “difficult.” (Think Wagner, Schoenberg, etc.) The other camp celebrates outsider and folk artists. They say that you just to have to put your heart and soul into it and you don’t need to be technically proficient, you don’t need to be respected by the elite cultural institutions; they are old and out of touch with the Real People and Real Life. The best art is supposed to be immediate and vigorous. (Think of any popular music, especially punk and golden-age-and-earlier hip hop.)
I’m not sure who is right, really. I think my tastes are pretty middlebrow. I don’t like classical music. I tried to read Ulysses and I could barely understand it. Part of me thinks that I’m too stupid or untrained to see its greatness. The other part of me thinks that it’s all obscurantist bullshit anyway. I don’t know what is believe. If you read sociological books, they will tell you that there is no such thing as “good art” and “bad art,’ but I can’t quite believe that. I’m very concerned with what exactly “good art” is and what one has to do to become a “great artist.” I think my obsession is mostly just a manifestation of some inferiority complex. I want to make “good art” because then people will think that I am smart and important and people will like me and want to fuck me. What drives a person to want to be “Great”? Maybe only people will a certain mental disposition would want such a thing. Maybe perfectionism is pathology.
I try to think about about it from a statistical perspective. Out of any generational group, only 1% of 1% of 1% (or somesuch figure) will ever be “Great” at anything. For any individual, it is obscene hubris to think that one will be able to make it into the pantheon of any discipline. It is statistically impossible. It is delusion. I think this is can be more easily seen today. Probably many people here have a blog. How pathetic does it feel? No one reads it. It’s just another boring blog in a sea of boring blogs. An artist of band may get some shine, but by 5 years later they are completely forgotten. The era of the rockstar is over. So, one has to accept mediocrity and try to move forward from this premise. Then, the goal becomes “personal satisfaction” and “to do one’s best.” I think the desire to be a rockstar might derive from the desire to achieve immortality, to escape death. This is impossible, of course. To accept mediocrity is to accept death and impermanence and the fact that you will someday be forgotten, effaced from history. The Buddhists had it right all along, you know? The world is nothing. Everything you do is inconsequential. Soon this planet will be like all the others.
Yes…
In discussion of ‘aesthetic skill,’ there seems to be two camps. One is more traditional and says that to be “good” you need to practice a lot and have mastery over your craft, you need to get degrees from the best universities and win the most prestigious awards. The best art is supposed to be immortal and “difficult.” (Think Wagner, Schoenberg, etc.) The other camp celebrates outsider and folk artists. They say that you just to have to put your heart and soul into it and you don’t need to be technically proficient, you don’t need to be respected by the elite cultural institutions; they are old and out of touch with the Real People and Real Life. The best art is supposed to be immediate and vigorous. (Think of any popular music, especially punk and golden-age-and-earlier hip hop.)
I’m not sure who is right, really. I think my tastes are pretty middlebrow. I don’t like classical music. I tried to read Ulysses and I could barely understand it. Part of me thinks that I’m too stupid or untrained to see its greatness. The other part of me thinks that it’s all obscurantist bullshit anyway. I don’t know what is believe. If you read sociological books, they will tell you that there is no such thing as “good art” and “bad art,’ but I can’t quite believe that. I’m very concerned with what exactly “good art” is and what one has to do to become a “great artist.” I think my obsession is mostly just a manifestation of some inferiority complex. I want to make “good art” because then people will think that I am smart and important and people will like me and want to fuck me. What drives a person to want to be “Great”? Maybe only people will a certain mental disposition would want such a thing. Maybe perfectionism is pathology.
I try to think about about it from a statistical perspective. Out of any generational group, only 1% of 1% of 1% (or somesuch figure) will ever be “Great” at anything. For any individual, it is obscene hubris to think that one will be able to make it into the pantheon of any discipline. It is statistically impossible. It is delusion. I think this is can be more easily seen today. Probably many people here have a blog. How pathetic does it feel? No one reads it. It’s just another boring blog in a sea of boring blogs. An artist of band may get some shine, but by 5 years later they are completely forgotten. The era of the rockstar is over. So, one has to accept mediocrity and try to move forward from this premise. Then, the goal becomes “personal satisfaction” and “to do one’s best.” I think the desire to be a rockstar might derive from the desire to achieve immortality, to escape death. This is impossible, of course. To accept mediocrity is to accept death and impermanence and the fact that you will someday be forgotten, effaced from history. The Buddhists had it right all along, you know? The world is nothing. Everything you do is inconsequential. Soon this planet will be like all the others.
ha, that’s awesome. doing that, it seems like you immediately go from “really pissed” to “looking really stupid, having a lot of fun”
ha, that’s awesome. doing that, it seems like you immediately go from “really pissed” to “looking really stupid, having a lot of fun”
that’s the spirit, man
that’s the spirit, man
i like the glenn gould video. here’s the crazy lang lang similar..
i like the glenn gould video. here’s the crazy lang lang similar..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b85hn8rJvgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b85hn8rJvgw
definately some well-coached blocking but man does she have feet. and then in that last clip, she gives her blocker room to work for her and then decides she doesn’t need him and just outruns everybody.
definately some well-coached blocking but man does she have feet. and then in that last clip, she gives her blocker room to work for her and then decides she doesn’t need him and just outruns everybody.
neither shakespeare nor little carly (nor glenn gould) were made by trying hard. none of them would be those things if they didn’t try hard, but that’s not first.
neither shakespeare nor little carly (nor glenn gould) were made by trying hard. none of them would be those things if they didn’t try hard, but that’s not first.
This post wins. It’s something I’ve been beating myself up about a lot lately, wanting the drive I had back in school to write and to create time for writing. My buddy, Peter, left a great comment on my blog a couple weeks back when I posted about it:
“i thought that if you didn’t at least work as hard as the guy who runs a gas station then you had no right to hope for achievement.” -tom mcguane
This post wins. It’s something I’ve been beating myself up about a lot lately, wanting the drive I had back in school to write and to create time for writing. My buddy, Peter, left a great comment on my blog a couple weeks back when I posted about it:
“i thought that if you didn’t at least work as hard as the guy who runs a gas station then you had no right to hope for achievement.” -tom mcguane
fortunately there’s a half japanese song about it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPs5-2TnQKM
fortunately there’s a half japanese song about it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPs5-2TnQKM
that mcguane comment is great. never loved his work but damn that comment is good so may have to go re-read his book upstairs
that mcguane comment is great. never loved his work but damn that comment is good so may have to go re-read his book upstairs
Yes, yes! Same for me. If I could be a painter, I would in a second. I tried so hard but my lack of talent was just enormous. I has to instead try to paint pictures with my words. I firmly believe my early failure at painting hugely shaped not only my style of writing (highly visual, descriptive), but also my determination to work really, really hard at the thing that DOES come naturally–never to take it for granted.
Yes, yes! Same for me. If I could be a painter, I would in a second. I tried so hard but my lack of talent was just enormous. I has to instead try to paint pictures with my words. I firmly believe my early failure at painting hugely shaped not only my style of writing (highly visual, descriptive), but also my determination to work really, really hard at the thing that DOES come naturally–never to take it for granted.
i agree with joseph and think that’s an important thing. its never *just* trying hard. i’m not speaking for joe now, just myself. i’ve worked with people who try hard at something for years, their dedication blows me away but they never even get close to succeeding, and others who succeed at the same thing naturally. i know this post is suppost to be inspirational, sorry, but its naive to think you can succeed or be great at anything if you just work hard at it. its more about understanding yourself and the limits of your abilities and not kidding yourself about it. find the thing that you do so well that working hard at it seems not that hard, or becomes just a thing that you do, then when you really work hard at it, it is on another level.
i agree with joseph and think that’s an important thing. its never *just* trying hard. i’m not speaking for joe now, just myself. i’ve worked with people who try hard at something for years, their dedication blows me away but they never even get close to succeeding, and others who succeed at the same thing naturally. i know this post is suppost to be inspirational, sorry, but its naive to think you can succeed or be great at anything if you just work hard at it. its more about understanding yourself and the limits of your abilities and not kidding yourself about it. find the thing that you do so well that working hard at it seems not that hard, or becomes just a thing that you do, then when you really work hard at it, it is on another level.
human: writing and to be half like mary from its a wonderful life and half like june carter cash when i grow up
human: writing and to be half like mary from its a wonderful life and half like june carter cash when i grow up