The Serious Gravitate Toward One Another, Even Across Disciplines

Posted by J. Mark Bertrand
on Thursday, March 30, 2006
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Some musical friends shared an interesting story over dinner. They've raised their teens to be serious about music, with tastes ranging from bluegrass to punk. Like a lot of American kids, these own all sorts of musical instruments; the only difference is that they can actually play them. In fact, while we were chatting, the two boys spent a couple of hours jamming on Green Day songs -- playing and singing, working out the details until they could perform the songs from start to finish. I was impressed.

So here's the story. The oldest son organized a get-together where all his musically minded friends from school came over and brought their instruments. It was going to be the mother of all jam sessions, giving birth (he hoped) to a new band. The guests were kids who talked a lot about music and owned the tools to create it. Drum sets were heavily represented. The only problem? These kids didn't know how to play entire songs. They'd worked out a few favorite bits, and they played them over and over at the same time the others were performing. The result was an undisciplined cacaphony. A lot of fun, but not a lot of music.

Afterward, the young man confessed that playing music with his friends wasn't nearly as fun as playing with his parents! "They're not serious about it like you are," he said.

As a writer, I could relate -- and I'll bet "serious" people from other disciplines can, too. There's a big difference between liking something and pursuing it seriously. Desire and an occasional first draft do not a writer make, any more than a guitar and a couple of rote riffs make a musician. There are few things more frustrating for a serious artist than having to endure the pretensions of someone who isn't -- which is why the serious ones are so careful about who they'll spend time with. Speaking for myself, if I see the spark of seriousness in a beginner, there's nothing I won't do to cultivate it. Wax on, wax off. But if that spark isn't there -- if the art is merely a pastime, and skill doesn't matter so much as personal expression or dreams of fame -- then count me out.

I'm always surprised how much I have in common with people whose disciplines are nothing like my own -- painters, musicians, architects, designers of every sort -- if not in terms of technique, certainly in terms of sympathy. I may not be a serious writer, but I do take writing seriously, and the serious gravitate toward one another, even across disciplines.

Not that the unserious mind. They're still having fun.