If skill could be learned by watching, every dog would be a butcher.~ Turkish ProverbBy vocation,” I am a teacher. One of the misunderstandings that many of my students often have is the belief that they should be able to master something simply by watching someone else do it.
Were that true, we would all be masters at all sorts of
things. I would be a master rag-time piano player, a world-class painter, a
singer to rival the likes of Sarah Brightman or Connie Dover, and a tapper the
equal of Eleanor Powell. Alas, as much as I have watched my favorites, I still
do not have their level of skill on any of those things.
If I want to be good at something, I have to put in the time
and energy to get good at it. I would like to convince my students that this is
a good thing since what I have learned is this: Even when we have a bit of
natural talent in some area or another, it is the work we do to perfect that
talent that gives us a sense of pride.
