Gifted? Not Gifted.

At a family gathering we were watching the videos from the Advancing Recital in January.  As it often happens, the topic came up: so-and-so must really be gifted.   My brother-in-law reflected upon a comment my dad made to him, about me, after a recital I gave at MacPhail in 2001.  It seems my dad had shared that I, Sara, was never a gifted pianist,  that I had always had to work very hard at it.

At first that remark stung a little.  My dad was notorious for what I call back handed compliments.  "You look much less tired today than yesterday. . . " or "You're really starting to play with a lot of dynamics. . . " Of course he meant well, and was probably being very honest.  It is true, I have always had to work very hard at the piano.  I am not a world class sight-reader, and my days of winging it with the band are long gone.  If I am going to perform I have to practice.  A lot.

Way back when, I WAS gifted. I was in the "Talented and Gifted" program at Edward White Elementary from the get go.  Our little group knew that we were the smart ones.  The creative ones.  The gifted ones.  The talented ones.  

Growing up I was also the gifted and talented pianist in my piano teacher's studio.  I won all the little Davenport, Iowa piano contests.  Having been labeled such, in grade school and high school, I must confess that I don't remember ever working very hard.  I am sure I did practice.  In between dates and all the other distractions of high school.  Come to think of it, I guess I was practicing about three hours a day between the French Horn, piano and jazz piano. I still don't know if I knew how to really work.  That is compared to the piano majors I was suddenly competing with in college.  They had all been practicing four hours a day and all on the same instrument.  I was. . . . no longer gifted.  

I was however, determined.  I learned how to work.  I took extra classes.  I did long term teacher training. I went to institutes and observed and observed and observed.  I listened to recordings. I practiced and practiced and practiced.  I still observe.  I still listen. I still practice.  

This is not the first time we have discussed giftedness vs. hard work, nor will it be the last. The more I thought about it, I decided that being not gifted wasn't all bad.  A gift is something you receive, packaged up with a pretty bow.  There is nothing wrong with that, but whatever meager talent I have developed at playing piano and teaching, I earned.  Perhaps having got it the hard way, I am even better equipped to help my students along their paths.