How Important Is "Relativity?"

Relativity is everything in music, in studying, in performing, in composing, and in teaching. Issues like technique and theory are completely secondary and sometimes meaningless if not related to the goal of the individual. Many of us are guilty of losing sight of this fact. And it can become a real problem, especially in the educational field, when a student places full confidence in a path that's often not related closely enough to their desired destination. Pllayers should consider where they're going and what they're doing to get there. /QM

Taike,
That is good � deep, but good. How many times do we tell or teach something that is not really wanted by the person we are talking to.
Can you imagine if we understood the goals of an individual how helpful we would be to that person.

John C.

Relatively.......

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 05-22-2007).]

Einstein liked it.....at least in theory.

chas

Ask your brother, or your cousins, or your parents....

Chas, you're really SOMETHING!

Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 05-23-2007).]

And back on topic...

The thing is, how often do we get taught something that, at the time, doesn't seem entirely relevant, but eventually turns out to be the main link in the chain of learning...?

Instant gratification rarely turns out to be the best (most efficient) path towards a goal, unless you have little will-power. Perhaps, as adults, we look back in a kind of horror at the amount of study, homework and forced focus we had to do at school and college, and go 'There HAS to be a better way'. Unfortunately, the facts seem to indicate otherwise....

One thing for sure about music is that our goals often change. What we initially set out to achieve isn't necessarily the place we end up wanting to be. So choosing a form of education that only narrowly focuses our skill-set may not be the best way to give ourselves options down the line. But equally important is choosing an education path that addresses your current needs AS WELL as the traditional skills. There are many teachers out there that can add your goals to the general one of 'learning to play'..... But beware of those that are willing to just acquiesce to whatever you want, without pointing out that scales and arpeggios are the path towards you later being able to play ANYTHING you might want at that time...