Critically Thinking about Skills
We all have some talents!
Some people have amazing skills — like in the case I’ll show you shortly.
The question is: how did they come about? Were they:
1 - naturally God-given, so that the person had to do little,
2 - the result of thousands of hours of work, or
3 - some combination of the above.
I believe that we all have some talents — but it’s up to us what we do with them. Our choice ranges from letting them wither on the vine, to fertilizing them so that they profusely blossom…
I started playing the piano when I was about 8. Mrs. Magendanz was my teacher. On my first day, she remarked that my thumbs were different — which (she said) is a sign of genius… I enjoyed playing a piece that was fun, but it never came “naturally.” (Today I have a high-quality digital piano — but it is getting dusty.)
I then took up the trombone — believe it or not, partly because of Clarabelle. (If you have to ask who that is, then never mind.) I played in a citizens’ band in the Summer, and that was actually fun. Oh yes, there were girls in the band.
In any case, I came across this video of Cili Marshall playing the piano. I’d say that she is fab. Here she is playing a public piano in a shopping center setting. ( The man is Brendon Kavanaugh.) You decide whether she’s good... (Don’t forget to click the expand arrows in the upper left-hand corner.) …
Here’s a closeup pix of Cili…
If you’d like more, Instagram has the biggest collection of her playing — like below. (Don’t forget to click the expand arrows in the upper left-hand corner.) …
So is her talent something she was just born with, or the result of thousands of hours of practice?…
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Dr. Droz, What a treat to hear lively piano jazz first day today. She is very good, especially compared to my efforts at the piano. I have never understood how piano players' hands can play so independently of each other as if one hand either had its own brain, or belonged to someone else. I admire gifted creators of anything, especially in the arts. To create something beautiful from absolutely nothing that others can enjoy is the greatest gift to me. That applies to science too.
I was born with a talent for drawing and I was leaps better than most of my peers. My family couldn’t afford art school and I needed to support myself so I went to work from my teens through my thirties mostly doing clerical work which actually liked. I was always berating myself for neglecting my talent so I would keep a hand in doing illustration work on the side. Long story short I have spent the last thirty years (I am now 70) immersed in fine art but it is thanks to the organization skills I honed over decades in the workplace that allowed my to schedule my time (ha) keep track of expenses and promote my work!