Technique and Talent
Recently I was listening to a recording of this singer I
loved so much when I was in my twenties.
Her name is Barbara.
It took no more than a few minutes to be transported in
another time, almost another life.
The amount of images assailing me, invading me, flooding me,
while listening to her was incredible…
Suddenly and very fast my youth in Paris, my first
friendships, my first pains, my first victories, and my first failures all came
back to me, and were again part of me.
I felt alive, alive and thankful of how life had been good
to me, how I went thru it with so many feelings, so many thoughts and so many
experiences, so many adventures, so many joys.
At the same time I felt also very sad touched and pensive,
full with regrets and missing those who are gone, trying to recapture the
images of those I loved who were not around anymore.
These images, these feelings, these memories, brought back
to the present are part of who I am today, what I have become… I am carrying
with me all this every day without being totally conscious of it, and even
sometimes at some moments, ignoring them or refusing them. So it was wonderful
to listen to Barbara who was able to resurrect things, which I believe, were
buried.
DON’T WORRY NO MORE OF MY HEADACHES IN THIS POSTING.
BUT THOUGHTS ABOUT…
All this came to me because I was listening to a pop singer
named Barbara…
How strange! How can she have this power?
Of course, sensorial memory plays a role and listening,
seeing, and if we believe Marcel Proust even tasting or smelling also play a
part. But sometimes I also listen to other pop singers popular in my twenties
and none can really send me back into this other world.
What does she do to provoke this strong reaction? Is it Technique, Talent? Both?
Do all performers have this magic? Or SHOULD have this
magic?
Why when listening to performers on stage or in an audition
we can be swept up in a few minutes or unfortunately be invaded by instant
boredom?
Why do some people have the power to trigger in us an
avalanche of emotions, of thoughts, good or bad, just by entering a room or
just saying a few words while others, probably the majority, leave us almost
indifferent until we REALLY know them or believe we know them or even project
on them who we are.
Is it Talent? Or a Technique they have mastered, a serie of
tricks they use like a well-oiled machine?
In my bank, there are five tellers…One of them is my
favorite, she is not prettier, she does not have a more engaging smile; she
does not know her job better than the others; her technique as a teller is good
but not superior, I think SHE HAS TALENT.
She has the gift of communicating without saying anything!!!
I can see that people try to go in her direction, so I am
not the only one.
In my theater days we used to called that: to have a PRESENCE, she has PRESENCE…
What does that mean? PRESENCE!!!!
The gift some people have to give, share, express,
communicate, without even saying a word? Are they the chosen?
Are we born with it? Can we develop it? Can we learn to
acquire it?
I already in a previous posting talked about this; the
accumulation of knowledge, of experiences, is certainly a very useful tool, and
we become what we know, what we experienced, what we lived… Except for a few
gifted people who have it as a gift from the great architect of the universe or
by being reborn with somebody else’s genius.
Do some people use technique to have talent or are they two
different entities?
How can I define Technique? I am not talking about vocal technique,
but the technique of any profession.
Is Technique to know what to use from our acquired tools to
be able to express what talent can express without doing anything?
Can I communicate what is needed with no talent, just by
pure technique? Can I communicate what is needed with no technique, just by
pure talent? I really do not think so; both are required to really be an
artist.
When Picasso painted ”Les demoiselles d’Avignon” , he had
already behind him all the technique of a figurative painter, when Ionesco
wrote “Les Chaises”, he had already behind him all the technique of a
traditional playwright.
We should constantly revisit the work of Stanislavski and
the work of Diderot (Paradoxe du comedien) who certainly discussed this point
at length.
Yes, we need both…
Technique can be acquired by a lot of work, an incessant
desire to learn, to improve, and not to believe that we know enough to justify
our presence in every aspect of life or what we call sometimes our art.
Technique is acquired by doing, by observing, by thinking, by working, by
repeating, by obsessing on it.
Can we acquire talent? Can we acquire PRESENCE?
If we are not part of the chosen, the ones who are born with
it, must me give up? Must we accept our fate? Should we aim for mediocrity? Do
we have to believe that our future will be oscillating between the one who
would like to be and the one who could have been?
How can I really imagine a life, where I am always on the
edge of becoming somebody?
No, this is not acceptable…
I think Talent and Presence can be developed, can be
improved. Yes, it will become part of the technique but the technique of
building WHO I am.
Yes, talent can be built….
It is a very long process, and actually it is the duty of
our entire life to acquire day after day, year after year as much as possible,
the elements that some of us have as a gift of god or the devil.
Can we then be part of the chosen? Can we be the center of
attraction when we enter a room? Can we go on stage and feel that the audience
is immediately conquered? Can we be the teller in the bank that all customers
want to deal with?
How do we do that?
By being curious about everything, about every possible
experience (with the limits of decency and honesty of course), by reading
everything from the old masters to current hacks, by building our MOI thru the
experiences of others, by becoming a master of the heart, of the soul, of the
human behavior. Our personality will be enriched by life, we will build who we
are and what we project. Too many people do not know who they are and what they
project to the outside world … How can they be performers if they do not even
know what they project to others and to the ones who have to deal with them as
a bank teller or a character on stage.
The feeling of
being, of knowing, of accumulating experiences is a tremendous asset for Talent
and really a major reason for being. Then we will be able to give back to
others.
Yes technique learned and acquired talent can be our
weapons! So let’s try not to fall in the traps of today’s existence, full of
wasted time in sometimes silly occupation like broadcasting through social
media about our last evening with cousins or a drinking party evening with
so-called friends.
Let’s build our talent, and let’s acquire technique.
