Likeable Humans’ Realm of Peaceful Worldness

January 10, 2008 at 2:17 AM

I could never see myself becoming an arrogant person because I never view anything I do as perfect or even close to it. Ms. Self-criticism can be a real horror, but despite that, she kind of keeps me in check and pops whatever bubble that starts to inflate on my head.
Which leads me to the question, how do some artists, who are amazing, stay so humble? With all the attention they receive and their own playing as a testament to their special abilities, I am so surprised when I come across such humility. I think these “humble giants,” as one might call them, deserve praise, not only for their extraordinary awesomeness, but also for their capacity to remain within the likeable humans’ realm of peaceful worldness. :0)

(May they never deviate from that beautiful characteristic in their personality, no matter how good they get, or how much attention they receive. In Madeline Bruser's book The Art of Practicing, it says once an artist loses the humble quality, they immediately misplace a big chunk of their ability to communicate MUSIC effectively to the audience. I would hate to see artists who could once communicate with an audience through music lose that ability just because Mr. Ultra Rays of Magnified Ego enters their lives.)

From Drew Lecher
Posted on January 10, 2008 at 5:37 AM

Jaz,

Maybe the truly “humble giants” realize how close to the edge of the cliff their lives are, how much work, dedication and sacrifice it took to get there, and how very fortunate and blessed they are to be given the opportunities at the right time — not too much too soon, just enough in time.

:-)

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on January 10, 2008 at 2:33 PM

People who are very good at what they do often have a touch of arrogance that goes along with it. That's par for the course. But they will be a lot more than that. Your gut will always tell you what's hocum and what's not. It'll never fail you.

From Jasmine Reese
Posted on January 10, 2008 at 4:58 PM

I guess you can look at arrogance in degrees.

1st degree arrogance is an enviable self-confidence that I think all musicians, professional and amateur, hope to reach some day, in order to be better performers.

2nd Degree arrogance is when you start to believe that you are above everyone in your audience and your fellow peers. Annoying, but tolerable as long as the performer still is humble to the music and composer's purpose, in order to communicate music effectively.

3rd degree is when you not only think you are above people and their skills, but also above the music and the composer. These performers who suffer from 3rd degree arrogance are always trying to showboat and put themselves on a pedestal instead of thinking of the music.

So, if you want to think of arrogance in levels like that, I hope to some day acheive the 1st degree arrogance (if you will even pair self-confidence with arrogance) where I am confident enough in myself to believe that I can communicate the music effectively and I have confidence in my skills to be able to do that.

Yeah, so I believe in that sense, that most great performers are a little arrogant but only for the benefit that they have total confidence that they can rely on their skills to communicate the music in a great way. Gosh, I can't wait to be that kind of arrogant.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on January 10, 2008 at 8:10 PM

To me, the difference between confidence and arrogance is that arrogance doesn't care about other peoples' feelings. Confidence though belongs to a different realm. Maybe the thing to shoot for is what you might call arrogance, but combined with an equal amount of regard for other people. My favorite people are like that. And like Drew said, they do seem to be aware of their position, and I would add aware of their responsibilites too. I know one super-duper ultra concert violinist, and she happens to be that way.

From Samuel Thompson
Posted on January 11, 2008 at 12:35 PM

YEAH - well said by all...thanks.

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Likeable Humans’ Realm of Peaceful Worldness

Laurie's Books

Subscribe