I have long known that my own perspective is very different from most other folks, which can either be a blessing or a curse. For me, usually a curse.
I had tried for a long time to create various dog breeds in silver, marketing my work to the dog show crowd. Individual reactions to my pieces were always positive, except with respect to that individual's chosen breed. There was always something not quite right, and I rarely could make the adjustments to the image to satisfy the dog owner. Custom orders of mixed-breeds tended to be even worse. Even when a customer said they were happy with the finished product, I could sense a less-than-thrilled reality. I finally gave up on the niche.
My writing also seems to confuse people. There have been many occasions where I have emailed someone only to have the contents misinterpreted, often in a negative context. I DO proofread my words to consider whether or not they could be in any way inflammatory, but I apparently don't have the "Guide-to-Socially-Correct-Language-checker" in my computer turned on.
Critical thinking skills involve the understanding that our own perspective is not necessarily accurate, and subject to all kinds of misleading influences. Our brains will fill in gaps in information with whatever seems to fit, whether it is truthful or not. As magical as they are, our brains do lie to us on a regular basis. This is responsible for people believing stuff simply because they have a "gut feeling"...... probably just heartburn.
A few years ago, I was playing for a recording session along with one other cellist. She is the one local musician whose skills I trust implicitly, and alot of other musicians have told us that we sound quite similar (which I take as a great compliment). After having recorded some, the sound engineer played back what we had done. I expected it to be fine, as it sounded to me like we had matched each other well during the take. I couldn't have been more surprised, as I could clearly hear two differing pitches. The rest of the crew seemed happy with the take, so maybe I was being too nitpicky. It has, however made me much more conscious of my sound in relation to everyone else's. I suppose the fact that I learned something in the process of screwing up is not so much a curse....
Perfect pitch??? OR Relative pitch??? Both can be a blessing or at times a curse!!
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that perfect pitch is essentially the same thing as really good relative pitch, and can be learned. I haven't come across any definitive explanations as to what perfect pitch actually is. I only know that I hear the intervals between notes more keenly now than I did twenty years ago (or, maybe that's just the ringing in my ears), and know when the overall pitch of the orchestra has risen too far.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that most longtime keyboard players have an excellent sense of pitch, simply for consistently working with a properly tuned instrument. Your ear becomes accustomed to hearing it right!