Talent

The concept of "talent" has annoyed me ever since I gained a measurable amount of musical skill. Every once in a while someone will comment on how talented I must be, and I never really understand what they mean by that. It's as if they're implying that skills are inherited, even though we all know this isn't the case. I don't even believe that physical characteristics play as large a part as most people think they do. Sure, if you're born to tall parents and wind up being 7 foot 3, you'll probably be talented at basketball, but that's not everything (and if you think it is everything, talk to this mofo).

Yeah, it could be that I'm talented. It could also have something to do with the fact that I've worked at music almost every day of the last (almost) 20 years. I've brought this up to several people, and someone pointed out to me that a lot of people simply lack the desire to work really hard at anything, and therefore would rather chalk up their "talents" (or lack thereof) to some kind of nebulous concept of fate/genetic inheritance. It seems that people are always willing to hand over their power over their own lives... that fame, money, skills, happiness, health, and innumerable other things are administered by some unknowable governing body - victims of fate and circumstance.

Some things are beyond our control. Scientific studies have shown that certain brains have certain neural pathways that are stronger than the same pathways in others, and obviously no one has much control over their early childhood (where much formative knowledge occurs). This might be the entire kernel of the concept of "talent". But ask yourself, are you really going to let your neural pathways tell you what you can and cannot do? I don't believe I've ever been talented at music. It's very, very difficult for me, and I've seriously contemplated giving it up many times. I continue to persevere in spite of my sorry brain which, despite my utmost desire, absolutely refused to make me a Mozart-level prodigy, will never give me the ability of perfect pitch, and continues to laugh at my efforts to understand Stravinsky.

Other scientific studies have shown that you can create new neural pathways for yourself with enough conditioning. Maybe that's what it takes. Either way, you're going to be in for a lot of work if you want to get good enough at something to appear talented at it. Despite my lack of talent, my brain is reacting to the work I have done to keep it in shape, and if I keep practicing, I might really have something here. I think I figured something out about Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin today, so that's not a bad start.