With enough time and dedication, can anyone learn to master anything?
Or can some people naturally do some things, and some people can't, and thats just the way it is? No amount of forcing the issue will make them a master of a chosen craft?
There are going to be exceptions, physical barriers, someone with severe asthma probably won't win the 100M sprint in the Olympics for example. For the purposes of this discussion I am not talking about those examples.
There are clearly people with natural ability, for instance people who can learn to play an instrument quicker than others, but everyone has to learn in order to play that instrument. With enough time and dedication, could those people to whom it doesn't come naturally, the slow learners, become a master?
Could you pick a person at random in the street, and could they become fluent in Cantonese if they wanted to? Or become a master boat builder? Wood turner? Swimmer? Racing driver? Queen wasp killer? MAC10 acquirer? Can anyone learn how to give a lady the full Tony Williams Experience?
You get the idea.
Is the barrier the natural ability, or the dedication, the persistance, the practice?
Perhaps we all have the natural ability to do one thing really well, and the people who become masters are the people whos interests happen to align with that ability?
My personal experiences which provoked these thoughts in spoiler, because they aren't strictly helpful for the discussion! Read if you wish!
Or can some people naturally do some things, and some people can't, and thats just the way it is? No amount of forcing the issue will make them a master of a chosen craft?
There are going to be exceptions, physical barriers, someone with severe asthma probably won't win the 100M sprint in the Olympics for example. For the purposes of this discussion I am not talking about those examples.
There are clearly people with natural ability, for instance people who can learn to play an instrument quicker than others, but everyone has to learn in order to play that instrument. With enough time and dedication, could those people to whom it doesn't come naturally, the slow learners, become a master?
Could you pick a person at random in the street, and could they become fluent in Cantonese if they wanted to? Or become a master boat builder? Wood turner? Swimmer? Racing driver? Queen wasp killer? MAC10 acquirer? Can anyone learn how to give a lady the full Tony Williams Experience?
You get the idea.
Is the barrier the natural ability, or the dedication, the persistance, the practice?
Perhaps we all have the natural ability to do one thing really well, and the people who become masters are the people whos interests happen to align with that ability?
My personal experiences which provoked these thoughts in spoiler, because they aren't strictly helpful for the discussion! Read if you wish!
I started to play guitar when I was about 9 years old (I'm now 24) - I plucked away for a few years, had tuition on and off, that sort of thing. I gradually played less and less and at some point when I was about 15 or 16 I stopped playing. I just recently picked up the guitar again, and I haven't forgotten much of what I learned. It makes me wonder. If I had stuck with it... If I had forced myself to practice day in day out... You know?
But it doesn't come naturally to me, I can tell. I am definitely learning slowly. There are people who have only been playing a year who have long since surpassed my ability.
On the other hand I borrowed a drum kit from a friend a few years ago, and I felt like that did come naturally to me, I am very good at keeping rhytm, I always tap away at my desk or my thighs at particular bits in songs, and I could do drum covers of some songs within days if not hours. I'm sure it would take some people months to reach the point I reached (and I'm not claiming I was good!)
I didn't stick with it because it isn't the instrument I wanted to learn to play.
A couple of years ago I won £60 by rapping faster than Eminem did in Rap God. I am a pound-shop Jack Black lookalike who had never listened to a rap song in his life, and the bet was put to me because I appeared to be the farthest thing from a rapper, but I stuck with it, I got reasonably good at it, and I won the bet.
No I will not post a recording...
But it doesn't come naturally to me, I can tell. I am definitely learning slowly. There are people who have only been playing a year who have long since surpassed my ability.
On the other hand I borrowed a drum kit from a friend a few years ago, and I felt like that did come naturally to me, I am very good at keeping rhytm, I always tap away at my desk or my thighs at particular bits in songs, and I could do drum covers of some songs within days if not hours. I'm sure it would take some people months to reach the point I reached (and I'm not claiming I was good!)
I didn't stick with it because it isn't the instrument I wanted to learn to play.
A couple of years ago I won £60 by rapping faster than Eminem did in Rap God. I am a pound-shop Jack Black lookalike who had never listened to a rap song in his life, and the bet was put to me because I appeared to be the farthest thing from a rapper, but I stuck with it, I got reasonably good at it, and I won the bet.
No I will not post a recording...
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