January 10, 2008 at 2:17 AM
(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.)
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.
:-)
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.
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