A song - music - keeping the beat

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We've had a request to move this thread to enhance the discussion and, so, I've complied.

To the OP: I tried to ask for you permission but you haven't picked up the pm ... I hope it's OK with you. If not, pm me.

Have fun!

When I was in ballet it was a very exclusive crowd but it wasn't like by just being a good dancer you were "in". It was awful. The jealousy was palpable in most places I went. Hula was an entirely different environment - mostly it was very positive and more familial than cliquey. Modern was a little cliquey, but nothing measured up to ballet.

it has been my experience that the higher-order the art, the more snobbish its practitioners and the more exclusivity they enforce by giving the cold shoulder to "outsiders."

sounds like a class-based thing, maybe. as far as visual art goes i have thought of it as there being a difference in class between the artists and the gallery owners / buyers / collectors. but there are some humbler galleries, and i personally find the art they show much more interesting anyway. there is nothing stuffier and more awkward for me than an art opening. except maybe a wedding reception.

i went to an opera last year expecting to be snooted out the door and was stunned to see people of every imaginable sort in the crowd.

I think you make a fair argument that some groups will socially exculde specific people in order to exaggerate their own sense of importance and that this tends to happen more in highly competitive fields. But I think you have to look at it on an individual basis. I have encountered some people who are quite successful in the arts and are also very compassionate and helpful to anyone who shows a similar interest.

There is also the issue that some people who are highly competitive and driven still have the same insecurities that anyone else might have and, to prop up their sense of success, try to drag other people down. They may criticize or exclude others simply so their own low self esteem doesn't completely overwhelm them.

But looking at the issue from the other side, there is also the problem that when person "A" has spent years gaining skills and learning their trade, when person "B" comes in and makes claims that do not seem consistent with person "A's" experience it can seem that person "B" is basing their argument off of a limited understanding of the field. This can be particularly annoying to someone who has worked long and hard. It's the source of the statement "Don't try to teach your grandpa how to suck eggs." Actually come to think of it, I don't know that either of my grandfathers knew how to suck eggs. Of course neither do I. Nor does it seem like a particularly valuable avocation.

While it may have been your experience that certain groups of people have unfairly excluded you, I think the criticism should be focused on those people and not on all artists as a whole. I certainly understand where you are coming from on this issue. I usually avoid artist groups (film makers, photographers, writers etc) because I tend to feel like they are all looking down on me. But I have to keep reminding myself that this is my own personal reaction and is not necessarily because they actually are looking down on me. It is quite possible that the people in these groups are afraid I am looking down on them.

One thing that has happened to me, and here I have to recognize that it is my own fault, is that when I have felt looked down on in a group, I tend to avoid contributing ideas. I tend to close myself off and this ultimately makes me appear less competent. And I think people actually do end up looking down on me because I don't do any useful work in this instance.

But that's a bit off topic.

In regard to rythmn, I am really bad. Metronomes confuse me when I try to play a piano or guitar because they are not part of the intended sound. One thing that sort of helped was if I tapped a finger in time, but of course this is not possible when you need two hands to play the instrument. It was as if using the kinesthetic part of my brain along side the audio processing side worked, but trying to process both the audio of the music and the beat just created a problem. Perhaps a drum machine might be the thing that would work for me if I accepted it as part of the intended music.