The Musical Moron - rise of the Non Musician

Davesax1965 wrote: And as for Mr Lemming saying I don't think classical musicians can play: no, they CAN play, they can't improvise, as a rule. I've been one. But there's no correlation between them and my erstwhile former colleague, believe me.

Ladies and gentlemen: I am an ex teacher and lecturer. I go out of my way to help people who want to learn. It's very important. I've also got no problems with people not having the same ability level as me in certain areas. After all, I'm not an expert in everything. 

The difference is that if I know very little about something, I tend to shut up about it and am very grateful for any help in the matter. 

The bloke was an ex chemist. I know absolutely nothing about chemistry. I didn't find out the most minor thing about chemistry, decide I was an expert, trumpet it to all around for ten years in order to "impress the ignorant" and then try and steer conversations about chemistry (which I'd started) to "I think you should titrate that with benzene in a glass tubey thing. " 

Similar thing, if I was sitting opposite John Coltrane, I wouldn't tell him how to play sax based on my ability level. I'd shut the f*ck up and listen. ;-)

Blues scale is incidentally a MUST starter for anyone learning to play guitar. And as for Mr Lemming saying I don't think classical musicians can play: no, they CAN play, they can't improvise, as a rule. I've been one. But there's no correlation between them and my erstwhile former colleague, believe me. 



Edited by Davesax1965 - March 01 2019 at 02:55

Where I sympathise with Dave is that I'm a believer in the notion that if you know nothing about a subject you should shut the f**k up about it. Knowledge and expertise are actual things, and there are few people more tiresome than the loquacious man with an opinion about everything and a clue about nothing.

Then there is the irritation of enforced proximity to a co-worker who doesn't know when to to stop talking. Murder has been done over less.

There are enough people completely inept at the most basic procedures of survival, that run about trying to pull as many people as they can into their Darwinian vortex, (many of them in charge of important things) that simply not being good at or effectively engaged in one of the arts seems a rather wasteful target of the energy required for such palpable outrage.

Merely thinking of my own energy reserves. Your results may vary.

More observation than rant. ;-)

I wish I hadn't observed it. 

I've had worse - I've actually PAID INTO being parts of signed/touring metal bands only to found out nobody could tune by ear, call pitch, or count time signatures without the computer program showing them how.