TECHNIQUE AND TALENT

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.