speculation_and_random_thoughtz dB Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why do we bother? Questions that tug at some of us on a daily basis. It seems weird. Science has come up with an amswer for some of these things that trouble us, but when faced with the answer we say "but why?". I like to look at the U in the way one looks at a nice painting. It's something abtract that is presented before us, but the real thing doesn't really exist. "My universe is what happens to my eyes and ears. Anything else is surmise or hearsay, for all I know it may not exist." If you are in a room, and you can't see or hear anything outside the room, does the ouside exist or does it merely come into play when you open the door. Is there a ruling force in the U? I guess the best answer is no. Well yes. hang on... maybe. If there is a ruling force in the U, maybe it's created my the illusion that there is. Say if there isn't a god, but you think there is, you'll do your best to act as he would like you to. So therefore it's like there really is a god even though there isn't one. The absence of a thing can have the same or greater effect than the presence of said thing. If you took all the beaches and deserts in the world, all the sand you could find and dump it in one place, and then selected one grain and called it earth, you would have a pretty accurate scale model of the universe... but you'll need to keep adding more sand. Given the size of the U in relation to the size of earth, you would speculate if there is anything else out there. The answer to that one is, of course there is, don't be so stupid. But then again, some people would say, of course not, don't be so stupid. Crazy. There are so many unanswered questions. Maybe that is mans role. Answer the questions. After all, we may do nothing else in life, but learn or discover. Either man is an explorer, or a tyrant. I'm not sure yet. it is suggested that man is noble, but only some are, some are vicious, and some are plain lazy. I suggest that humans, like most other sentient beings, are explorers. That man has exhaghsted all his explorations of earth, and has ceased to have direction. Maybe limited by his ability to do that which he was designed to do, he has become stagnant. Maybe he doesn't know what he wants to do anymore. What does the future hold for man? I dunno. Let's go find out. This collection of random thoughts was brought to you by the letters, Q, X, U, and the number 8. 010404 ... Bokonon Fish he got to swim Bird he got to fly Man he got to question Why? Why? Why? 010405 ... unhinged maybe she hates me because i won't give into her bullshit and she's used to getting whatever she wants. maybe everyone thinks i'm a liar cause no one has ever told them the truth. it's spring and i hate it. but there are only 4 weeks left of class. which is a mixed blessing cause that means i have to live at home for four months. today i just had the immense need to quit...i couldn't practice my scale a minute longer and i cried and cried after my lesson cause i'm not getting anywhere. i'll always be this horrible...never be able to get a job doing what i love. people hate me. there is a picture of hitler touching a little child on that computer's wallpaper over there. that's kind of sick. i wonder who put that there. 010405 ... dB Hey, Unhinged. What is it that you want to do? If you don't mind my asking. 010405 ... Dafremen It appears that he wants to be a musician. A hard life indeed, but there will ALWAYS be a job for someone that LOVES music, even if they have little or no talent. People that truly LOVE a craft, regardless of their natural ability, are the ones best qualified to TEACH it. I guarantee you that I high school band student won't know the difference, and to him/her you'll be their inspiration, the one who helped them find a passion and a talent that they never knew was there. - - 010405 ... unhinged ha -- he i play the violin. i want to be an orchestra musician. i do love music. but sometimes i have days where it feels like i have never played the violin before in my life. maybe someday i will teach. and my students might not know the difference, but i do. 010405 ... Dafremen Then as I have said so many times that it probably makes you want to scream forever....it's time to stop thinking in terms of just what YOU want and YOU feel. You have so much to gain by stepping outside of yourself and by so doing, help so many that couldn't be half of what you are, regardless of whether or not what you are is not even half of what you want to be. - - 010405 ... nocturnal here's a speculation: has anyone else here noticed that red's been kinda dying down recently? everybody's on blue. any ideas as to why this might be? anyone? 010405 ... johnny west Personally, I've been attempting to exercise some restraint. That doesn't account for less action on red, though. Just less from me. 010405 ... dB You get that too? Man, I'm a drummer, it's all I really know how to do, but sometimes I sit behind the kit and my arms turn to lead and it feels like I don't know anything about playing the damn things. But alternately, sometimes, it's... it's... euphoric. Everything just clicks and I'm there playing Bonham, Mason, Butterworth, Rich, Crooper, whoever. If you are a musician, those are the moments you live for. Thise times where everything goes right, and you feel the music like it's a living thing inside of you. The times that are bad, it feels bad, and sometimes can be traumatising. But if you can get over those moments, then you have it made. I wish you well. If you love it, don't stop. Y' never know, maybe I'll need a good session violin sometime :-). Rock On 010405 ... unhinged before i stop thinking about ME for a second let me say this... if i can not play, if i have no technique, how am i supposed to teach my students? isn't the best method of teaching teaching by example? the most inspiration i have ever gained in my life at my instrument is to hear a dazzling performance, a single beautiful note, a well executed etude. if i can't do these things how can i be the same inspiration to younger generations? my earlier blather may sound selfish to you but the crux of the matter is if i am not proficient, dazzling even i do not deserve to be teaching. i was taught how to play the violin by a lady that majored in oboe in college and i carried technical problems around with me for the first eight years of my career because of that. that is why i want to be a teacher in the first place. to make sure that there are less children who want to play and love the violin with the same problems i had. and even though my lesson, in my opinion was absolutely horrible and greatly discouraging, my teacher got me a gig with the warren philharmonic that will put $250 in my pocket and i absolutely love the director. today was a better day with my neuroses and all. 010406 ... dB Unhinged, I so envy you. The complexities of music I can't understand. Writen notation is a foreign alanguage to me. But if you give me an instrument I'll play a song that'll make you cry. All I know is how to chanell my emotions through an instrument. You, you, know all the other things that go along with it. You can do the same things I can, but way better because you understand the language. If you are a teacher fo music, then it is doubly so. You are a legend. You will make it. I have faith in you. Rock On 010407 ... Dafremen I disagree. Although certainly talent helps, the TRUE mark of a great teacher is his UNDERSTANDING and LOVE of his craft, not his proficiency or ability to practice it. To love something so much that you devote your life to it, even though you realize that you will never be as good as you truly desire to be, THAT is as noble a purpose as any on earth. To want to be that guiding hand that first introduces future MASTERS of your craft to their calling, is human divinity realized. 010407 ... dB Well said man. 010408 ... chanaka pepsi is one of the most important things in life and he can say he loves her, but he can't say he loves me the universe must have an ironic streak to it (but the universe is too occupied with things like wars, famines, and eco-challenge races to pay attention) 010408 ... nocturnal pepsi sucks. 010408 ... unhinged you seemed to have missed my point here dafremen I LEARNED FROM SOMEONE THAT WAS NOT PROFICIENT THEREFORE I WAS NOT PROFICIENT WHICH LEAD TO SOME OF THE MOST PAINFUL DECISIONS OF MY LIFE. a teacher has to be proficient or should not be allowed to teach. it's that plain and simple. i would feel guilty inflicting pain on my students because i wasn't not proficient at what i did. it is so frustrating to love something so much that you had to relearn eight years of bad habits to make it a reality in your life because the person that originally taught you wasn't proficient. i will not subject another student to that because i love it so much and i want them to love it also. it shouldn't matter if their parents make them play...it should still be fun and not frustrating. teaching is more than the heart to teach. you have to know what you are teaching and be able to teach it well or no amount of heart in the world will help those students love what you love. passion is not the only element of education. 010408 ... chanaka flat warm pepsi sucks to tell the truth, i drink it for the caffeine 010408 ... nocturnal switch to coke. 010408 ... florescent light all soda sucks 010409 ... nocturnal well, I'm sorry but you're just plain wrong about that one. if it weren't for those wonderful carbon- and caffeine- filled cans of goodness, I'd be falling asleep all the time, more so than I already am. 010409 ... dB Hey nocturnal, what do you take with your coke? 010409 ... nocturnal aspartame 010409 ... Dafremen You're confusing knowledge with proficiency. Obviously the person who taught you was not only NOT proficient, they were misinformed, no matter how well intentioned they might have been. It is VERY possible to be knowledgeable in a craft and NOT be proficient in it. Some of the best basketball COACHES were mediocre basketball PLAYERS at best. They KNEW how to play, they just didn't have the raw TALENT required to become masters of their craft. I'm not missing the point at all, in fact, I think YOU are missing the point. The POINT is that there are people with talent, and people without talent. There are people with GANAS(desire) and people without ganas. There are even those who have NEITHER. If you have the talent, but not the desire, you will make a rotten teacher, you must be enthusiastic to instill enthusiasm. If you have no talent and no desire you will make an awful teacher, for the same reason given. If you have talent AND desire, chances are you would make a GREAT teachers, but most of these choose the accolades of their peers and the life of a star over the simple kudos afforded teachers. If you have only desire and little or no talent, you will strive out of sincere LOVE of what you do to KNOW your craft and attempt through knowledge and experience to overcome some of what you lack in natural ability. When you love something enough, EVENTUALLY you want to give back to it, for all that it has given to you. The talented genius gives back through the music he makes. For the not so talented, by inspiring future talented geniuses. One of the greatest thrills in all of the time I have been practicing MY craft has been watching someone who I taught, exceed my own abilities. After the initial sting of envy passes, what is left is PRIDE, pure unadulterated PRIDE. - - 010418 ... unhinged i taught someone how to do vibrato on the violin the other night. granted he is a quick study (he has no formal training with the violin but he could play the song i played back to me after hearing me play it once), but if i did not have the skill, i would not have been able to teach him by example. if you are not proficient at what you do, you have to know someone that is to refer your students to. you have to be able to teach basic skills that they can build from. i do understand what you mean about desire and coaching. my father is a lacrosse coach and he has never played lacrosse in his life. but from the second he started coaching, he has watched tons of video and read tons of books and went to several coaching conventions so that he had the knowledge to coach. the team he coached won the state championship last year because he understood the sport and loved the kids. but he also had coaches around him that could teach the players how to cradle and shoot which are necessary skills to lacrosse playing. my complaint is that you cannot be ignorant and try to teach children something that you are ignorant about which is the case in many situations. i'm saying to become a violin teacher i need basic skills because i will not stand for giving the kind of education that was afforded to me by someone who did not have the basic skills or the knowledge of the basic skills that were necessary to teach me. i still think that the best way to teach is through example. if you want someone to be respectful and honest the best way to teach them those qualities is for you to be respectful and honest. if you want someone to be a good violin player, you yourself should be a good violin player. but there are many different philosophies to education. 010512 ... silentbob she couldnt possibly be repulsed by me because she does talk to me sometimes and let me know secrets and things and every now and then casually takes drinks of my bottle without asking, i take it as a compliment. i'm probably special to her and just don't realize because she doesn't always let it be known. 010513 ... Dafremen I think the same thing holds true for other things too. Like holding my ding dong for instance. See how could I ever teach anyone ELSE to hold my ding dong if I can't even hold it well myself? As much as I'd like to agree with that statement, the fact of the matter is that having someone else hold my ding dong will ALWAYS be better than holding my own ding dong(unless it's detached from my body in which case I don't think anyone should be holding my ding dong except an accomplished surgeon) The point I'm making here is that I could take a talented young lady like say, the missus and WITHOUT being very good at holding my ding dong, I GUARANTEE that any ding dong holding that she did would be exquisite. Motivation is the best teacher! 010514 ... hey now! i like snare drums 011213 what's it to you? who go blather from