Klarinet Archive - Posting 000953.txt from 2000/12

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Performance [was, Peplowski continued]
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 10:39:58 -0500

<><> Tony Pay wrote:
I don't have it to hand, but an example of how a grown-up came to change
how he thought of what he was doing, in a different discipline, is the
story of how Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists, learnt to
draw in later life. His description (in, 'Surely you're joking, Mr
Feynman!') of what his teachers said to him, and how he didn't
understand what they were talking about at first, is very relevant to
this discussion, I'd say. Feynman subsequently got good enough to have
his own exhibition, under a pseudonym.

The name was Ofey. One of the things Feynman wrote was (and this
relates to creativity and "making the music your own"):

I noticed that the teacher didn't tell people much (the only thing
he told me was my picture was too small on the page). Instead, he
tried to inspire us to experiment with new approaches. I thought of
how we teach physics: We have so many techniques -- so many mathematical
methods -- that we never stop telling the students how to do things.
On the other hand, the drawing teacher is afraid to tell you anything.
If your lines are very heavy, the teacher can't say, "Your lines are too
heavy," because _some_ artist has figured out a way of making great
pictures using heavy lines.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org