As I’ve gotten older, I have become more and more fascinated with learning. As a child and young adult, I really didn’t care; I guess I thought I already knew everything I needed to know! That’s why I was a straight-C student through Junior High and High School. It wasn’t lack of intelligence (as I assumed at the time); it was lack of interest, and/or challenge from my teachers. For many years, it was easy for me to blame my school and its teachers—who couldn’t seem to break through my thick scull—but I know now that my own ignorant stubbornness was to blame.
The important thing is, I am now on board the learning ship, and I intend to stay there until the day I die. Finding out—in my 30’s—that I have a very high IQ has been a mixed blessing. I’m grateful of course, but now I regret not caring in my youth! Worse yet is missing the great sense of responsibility that comes with it; I could have been something more than I am, if I had known and believed that I was smart! IQ is one thing; knowledge gained through years of hard work and study is another. In short, I squandered my childhood—the age where the biggest gains can be made; I will spend the rest of my days trying to catch up.
I have so often heard folks—especially young ones—say, “Oh, I learned that in middle-school!” as if there is nothing more to learn in life. What a shame, as many of life’s most important lessons only come to us with age and maturity. I’ve always been careful to say “I’m still learning!” I hope to never lose that attitude.
Music has completely captured my imagination! Here is a subject I have at least some skill in, yet there is more there than any human could ever learn, especially one with such a late start as mine. Let me say this about the banjo: I could have picked a better and more-efficient vehicle with which to learn about music! But therein lies the challenge and the motivation; how to make the banjo into a real musical instrument with which to crack the code of the “universal language?”
Believe me, there is much more to the four-string banjo than just slap-happy chord-melody fireworks (just as there is much more to the five-string than just Dueling Banjos)! We needn’t be limited by the popular preconceived notions of what the instrument is capable of, or what it’s “proper” way of playing is (hint: Eddie Peabody—while undeniably great—is only one of the great, historical players worth emulating!). Having said this, I also believe that the most-effective way forward is to understand the past; that’s why I am determined to master every “traditional” technique there is, in an effort to eventually go beyond. Music is unlimited! So is the banjo.
At any given moment, I struggle to quantify exactly what it is I am learning about music and the banjo. All I know is that if I compare my current self with myself from 5-10 years ago (through old videos/recordings and remembering what I “used to think”), I see and feel dramatic growth. I hope at least some of it is obvious to others, but in the final analysis, my own thoughts are the only ones that count.
I took Classical music theory in college 25 years ago but have only recently begun to apply it to the banjo (assuming the two don’t mix, I guess?). I have discovered it’s a bit of a dead-horse issue for many players, and I completely understand! Number one, who reads music today? Number two, reading skill or not, “music theory” can be a very boring subject. I could go on and on (as I have in the past) about the importance of buckling down and learning it whether you like it or not, but that is not the subject of this essay; suffice to say that my intellectual curiosity and desire to learn more has been piqued by it.
One of my favorite sayings/mantras is “a smart man thinks he knows everything; a wise man knows he knows nothing.” I guess this is the one advantage that my late start on learning has afforded me; I humbly and honestly know how little I know, and I am wide-eyed with wonder at the sheer volume of information to be learned. In that sense, I’m glad to be a late bloomer!
This blog will be a two-parter; in part two, I will discuss some of the learning tactics I have used with the banjo.