Posted by Rick Denney on May 27, 2003 at 11:01:45:
In Reply to: Re: a dumb post here posted by On the other hand .. on May 23, 2003 at 15:14:47:
How is a hobbyist (which I prefer to "amateur") supposed to rank his skills so that he can be objective about them?
I've heard Joe play a Mozart horn concerto. I can't do that. I've heard many players play the Vaughan Williams, and for me that is practice-room material only. Most pros think the Hindemith is fairly easy (at least technically), but I can't play the last lick of the second movement at all, and many of the rhythms of the third are beyond my comprehension, as is the musical interpretation. Most decent high-school kids can play the Marcello Sonatas easily, but I struggle with parts of them even though I've been playing them for many years. Most pros and many amateurs can transpose to some extent, and most can play jazz--neither of which I can do at all (I can play jazz if it's written down--but then it ain't jazz).
There are things I can do as a tuba player, and things I struggle with. This is true for all players. But there are things that I struggle with that are easily within the range of even many amateurs with whom I've played, though many of those amateurs are more than hobbyists and have degrees in music or other advanced training. That said, I'm not unhappy with my playing given the amount of time I have to devote to it.
So, it would only be sensible for me to minimize my own playing skills in front of many on this board who can do things I can't do. I think it is within my rhetorical skill to construct an image of myself as a musician that would be the envy of most amateurs and even some pros. But why would I want to do that only to have it dashed by the definite example? I'd much rather listeners be pleasantly surprised.
As far as people like me over-praising professionals and exaggerating their skills, there are two mechanisms at work. One is that our perceptions of those skills are limited by our own musicianship. If I'm a 3, and I listen to two pros who are an 8 and a 10, then from my perspective they both sound impossibly better than me. I may not even be able to tell the difference between 8 and 10, but even if I could, it would seem minor. But the player who is a 9 will see those differences in sharp relief.
The other mechanism is that we don't want to be seen as being critical of the 8, when everyone knows we are a 3. We hobbyists feel that such declarations are highly presumptuous. We feel this way even if we are more than able to tell the difference between an 8 and a 10.
Professionals are not self-critical because they are not paid to declare their weaknesses. They are paid to let their playing to the talking. You will not find me talking about my limitations on a engineering forum, or at engineering conferences, for two reasons: 1.) it is my obligation to avoid work for which I'm not qualified; thus I don't talk about it at all, and 2.) in my area of expertise, I don't have those limitations.
I have had pro tuba players scold me for being too modest about my abilities, but I'd much rather suffer that complaint than have them think I'm arrogant about my playing. But expressions of modesty aside, like most people I know what I can and can't do. It has been shown that incompetent people are incompetent to realize their own incompetence, but that sin I do not wish to commit in regards to playing the tuba.
Rick "who agrees that pros and hobbyists have different views of their craft" Denney