I Repeat "Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal"

I was listening to a podcast the other day about innovation. How originality is scarce, if even at all relative to invetion. The concept is both simple and complex, as many things are. The jist being that nothing is new , that inventions are merely a series of innovations based off of each other. It's a cycle. I found this podcast fascinating as it drew on ideas that were idomatic to music, such as the concepts of sampling and mixing.

This podcast quoted Picasso in saying that "Good artists copy, great artists steal" - Steve Jobs also quoted Picasso during a press conference about the early iPhone. This sparked a curiosity in me that wasn't necessarily related to the podcast but it was getting me excited. Excited about the process of innovation, of thinking, of recycling concepts and the mazes the mind can create to merely circle around to the same starting point.

Until...one of the podcast interview-ees suggested that this route of copying was due to the conventional learning system. He actually said "education is copying". Oh! Take a knife to my heart why don't you. I felt so offended when I heard that, and I also fell solumn becuase it's partially true. I actually learned in my Vocal Pedagogy class that typically a child will have to repeat something 9 times in order to actually "learn" it. That process is disrupted by a mistake. So, a child or anyone for that matter, has to repeat something approximately 9 times correctly in order to learn or digest or integrate a new found knowledge. Interesting! That is certianly NOT copying, it's REPETITION and that has a greater value.

Memory games are important no doubt and if you've taken a freshman Pyschology class you'll know the importance of "chunking" for memory support, but when it comes to learning I'm not so sure about this copying thing, I feel there is a great distinction between copying and repetition. Since I was so turned off by the words of the person in the podcast, I want to make sure that I don't allow my students to mindlessly copy something without understanding what they are doing or the purpose. Once they grasp that, it's in their hands and it can become something! It can become art!

I teach this older gentleman who is in his mid-sixties. He is a gentle, hardworking soul and wants to learn piano so that he can play at Church. As I continue to spend time with this man, I gain greater and greater respect for his ambition and quest for knowledge. Although I have him repeat motions and fingerings often, I know that he is both learninig something and not merely copying me and the results are exhilerating!

T has gone from not being able to read a single note on the piano with faint memories as child tinkering away , to playing a 3 part, hands together hymn! When he completes the 8 bars we've been working on, without my help, without my guidance there is a wash of pride and satisfaction on his face. He ends every lesson by promising to practice more and he usually does (except during FIFA games). That's because we used so many tools that cannot be summarized into "copying".

I suppose the point of this post is communicate my frustration with both semantics and people. Semantics for misrepresenting what I do, and people for not understanding the value and effort required to educate someone. To simplify what any teacher does, is to do a disservice to both student and educator - of any age, in any classroom setting.

I am curious in my quest to learn more about the innovation process and what makes particular innovations/inventions successful, and how might the act of repetition lead to a break through. If that fails, I hear that great artists steal so I'll keep that option open.

(kidding!!)

#challenges #lightbulb #lessons #podcasts