tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post5434963123183650605..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: The Freedom to be Bad at ThingsJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-65968847671837142922018-11-30T14:22:16.512-05:002018-11-30T14:22:16.512-05:00I quilt-- or more accurately I piece quilt tops, t...I quilt-- or more accurately I piece quilt tops, then "quilt by checkbook," paying someone else to machine quilt them on their fancy computerized long-arm machine.<br /><br />When I started, I made the decision that I would simply do my best-- however mediocre it might be-- and take joy in the process, and in the gifting of simple quilted items given for practical, not artistic, purposes.<br /><br />I have never entered a juried show, only the "everyone bring some stuff to hang up" displays. If my baby quilts are happily played on, pee'd on, pooh'd on, puked on, dragged around as a "bankie," and eventually totally worn out, that is my reward, my blue ribbon, my accolades.<br /><br />I have yet to make a "perfect" quilt, though I've made some very attractive ones. Were I to wait until I could make a perfect one, I'd still be sitting at a 30 year old piece of junk machine with my first pieces of fabric.pootrsoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05975929246429466067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-89226807796992219932018-11-30T08:24:23.332-05:002018-11-30T08:24:23.332-05:00"The perfect is the enemy of the good.""The perfect is the enemy of the good."Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-22342948595700503792018-11-29T14:04:29.763-05:002018-11-29T14:04:29.763-05:00Fear of being mocked is no small thing these days:...Fear of being mocked is no small thing these days: the potential for your bad singing, painting, poetry, etc. to be broadcast over the internet and mocked by the whole dang world is not trivial. <br /><br />But... there's also some blame for mass media, and the rise of, for lack of a better term, performative art, as opposed to participatory art. <br /><br />Nobody sings anymore. This happened in my lifetime: I saw it. My childhood church had a huge choir, and the whole congregation took up their hymnals and sang with them. Quite a lot of those folks could read music. They'd learned as children, in school, in band, in kids' choir workshops and summer camps, and piano lessons. These days... piano lessons are for the rich. Hardly anyone engages in corporate singing, outside of church-- and fewer and fewer attend church regularly. Even there, I watched things go from 100% corporate singing, to a mix of the congregation singing the same round of 8-10 well-known hymns in rotation, a soloist singing something "contemporary" and maybe the choir doing a couple of songs alone. <br /><br />We're so saturated with the very best vocalists who can be coached and processed to perfection through post-production filters... who can help but feel inferior? None of us can sound like that. Why bother? I think we can add widespread musical illiteracy there. Plenty of folks have taught themselves to play guitar, and it's easier than ever now, with tons of free online video lessons. But how many people bother, when even professional musicians hardly bother with actual instrumentation?<br /><br />I've lately taken up Byzantine chant. I'm terrible at it, and it's obviously impossible. But someone had to do it, and I was the only person under 50 at our church who could read music (six years of clarinet in the school band... who knew that would turn out to be a key skill?), so I was drafted. I've learned a lot, and it's been extremely rewarding. Maybe it'll help stave off senility for a couple extra years.<br /><br />Pursue something beautiful, even if you're bad at it! JustPeachyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06128069966879300756noreply@blogger.com