Can Desire Overcome Lack of Talent?

It is one of life’s great tragedies that we should desperately want to do something but lack the skills necessary to become any good at it.

Have you ever asked yourself: What if I can’t learn to play the pipes? What if I don’t have what it takes to become a great piper?

My wife has an interesting answer to this; she says that a person would never want to do something so badly if they didn’t have the abilities somewhere inside themselves to accomplish it. People will only desire to do things they have the ability to do, even if they aren’t aware when they start out that they possess the skills they need.

If this is true, then all we have to do to become great pipers, is to want it badly enough. If we practice hard, study other players, get instruction, and listen, listen, listen, then one day, our efforts will be rewarded with great piping abilities.

I’m not so sure.

In the 1980’s, the movie Amadeus had a profound effect on me. I know this movie was fiction and took a lot of liberties, but the conflict portrayed in the movie is what affected me the most. In the movie, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri was portrayed as a man who loved music with a passion. He watched as Mozart composed some of the most beautiful music he had ever heard, with seemingly little effort. Mozart possessed an ability to compose that Salieri coveted. He had a desire to compose music as beautiful as Mozart’s but he lacked the ability – he just couldn’t do it. It was this idea that has stuck with me ever since I saw this film around 20 years ago.

Now, I know Salieri did make good music and wrote wonderful operas. Many would argue that he was a great musician, every bit as good as Mozart. But did he think so? Is what he thought of his own abilities even relevant? Keeping to the ideas presented in the movie, it could be argued that Salieri’s mistake was in trying to become Mozart and emulate his musical style while Salieri clearly had his own and should have concentrated on developing that instead of chasing after Mozart. The point, however, is that he wanted to write music like Mozart’s but couldn’t. He simply didn’t have the skills.

I want to play like Liam O’ Flynn and Willie Clancy but do I have what it takes? Is my desire to play like that fueled by inner abilities that I’m now developing, or am I kidding myself? Maybe I should stop trying to compare my playing with others and just play for myself; but standards of greatness are out there and it would be hard not to compare myself with others in order to find out if I can become great. I figure, if I ever hear the words, He plays like Paddy Keenan, or, His playing reminds me of Gay McKeon, then I can die happy.

My wife assures me that there’s no way that I’d want to play like that if I didn’t have it in me somewhere.

Maybe great players become that way by not comparing themselves with others all the time, allowing more time to be spent on developing their own abilities independent of any yardstick. You could probably become a better player faster by not spending so much time comparing yourself with what everyone else is doing. Certainly, Mozart wasn't spending much time comparing himself with others. I'll bet it doesn't keep Paddy Keenan up at night either.

When I first picked up the pipes, I asked Paddy to promise me something. I asked him, Will you please tell me, as early as you can, if I just don’t have the musical skills to become a piper? I didn’t want to waste his time or mine on an endeavor that was destined to end in frustration and failure.

He never said anything to me, I hope that's a good sign.