• Tales of Virtuosity: Excellence at its Best

    edited by Alexander Becker

    What moves you the most? What makes you believe? Hope? What makes you shiver?

    Fundamentals, Virtuosity, and Mastery

    Virtuosity is defined in gymnastics as "performing the common uncommonly well." Unlike risk and originality, virtuosity is elusive, supremely elusive. It is, however, readily recognized by audience as well as coach and athlete. But more importantly, more to my point, virtuosity is more than the requirement for that last tenth of a point; it is always the mark of true mastery (and of genius and beauty).

    Grace

    Seemingly effortless is leaving the possibility that we can help a little bit here and there. Is grace about moderation? Can we polarize even grace?

    1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
    2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

    Virtuosity

    Excellence. Absolute excellence in any given field. Virtuosity. I can't help but admire the signs of virtuosity. It's magic to me.

    The legendary Kolisch Quartet had the singular distinction of playing its entire repertoire from memory, including the impossibly complex modern works of Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, and Berg. Eugene Lehner was the violinist for the quartet in the 1930s. Lehner's stories about their remarkable performances often included a hair-raising moment when one player or another had a memory slip. Although he relished the rapport that developed between them without the encumbrance of a music stand, he admits there was hardly a concert in which some mistake did not mar the performance. The alertness, presence. and attention required of the players in every performance is hard to fathom, but in one concert an event occured that surpassed their ordinary brinkmanship.

    In the middle of the slow movement of Beethoven's String Quartet op. 95,just before his big solo, Lehner suddenly had an inexplicable memory lapse, in a place where his memory had never failed him before. He literally blacked out. But the audience heard Opus 95 as it was meant to be played, the viola solo sounding in all its richness. Even the first violinist, Rudolph Kolisch, and cellist, Bennar Heifetz, both with their eyes closed and deeply absorbed in the music, were unaware that Lehner had dropped out. The second violinist, Felix Khuner, was playing Lehner's melody, coming in without missing a beat at the viola's designated entrance, teh notes perfectly in tune and voiced like a viola on an instrument tuned a fifth higher. Lehner was stunned, and offstage after the performance asked Khuner how he could have possibly known to play. Khuner answered with a shrug: I could see that your finger was poised over the wrong string, so I knew you must have forgotten what came next.

    From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.

    Always look for tales of excellence, moments of excellence. Examples of virtuosity ignite and create sparks of inspiration like nothing else.

    Art is man's expression of his joy in labor. --Henry A. Kissinger

    Virtuosity is excellence at its best. Virtuosity doesn't need to be advertised nor marketed. It is obvious and only needs to be seen to be recognized as what it is. No need to brag, no need to bring out the stats, just show what you can and it will be evident.

    Humility

    While virtuosity is the highest form of excellence, what about chutzpah taken to the extreme? How's eccentricity as an elaborate form of high-end chutzpah? Again, at some point there is no need for audacity anymore. It is obvious then that what may look like audacity to some is just the way it works. That, in fact, is humility.

    To conclude, interestingly, both virtuosity and giga-chutzpah find their ultimate superlative in the unexpected -- humility. Humility is what ultimately remains and is a significant, characteristic marker of the truly best there is.

    Awe. Hair-raising.

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  • Succeed through Synchronizing Your Behavior

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Behave, when you are alone, exactly the same way you behave on the big stage. Avoid splitting your personality.

    Will it be harder to adapt your stage personality to everyday life or to try and maintain the everyday personality and translate it to the big screen?

    Imagine preparing your food the way you present yourself in public... you do that already? Now imagine a public appearance reflecting the way you relax inside the safety of your home...

    Synchronize your public and private sets of behavior and you'll notice a more peaceful life, a life that is more centered and with less opportunities for inner conflict expressing itself as anger, accident-proneness, or simply self-propelling, ever perpetuating stress.

    You split your behavioral routines, forced to act very disciplined throughout your public day with rules and guidelines for even the simplest of actions. Acting out the opposite side of behavior when finally being alone is a very comfortable form of compensation.

    You may find some peculiar manners within your repertoire of expression that are apparently not suitable for the world. You may also find that your public appearance is somewhat inhibited and for certain reasons you feel that some traits of your inner personality are not congruent with your public image.

    There are great opportunities in matching public and private expressions. Opportunities for growth, for overcoming inhibitions, and for building higher self-esteem. Do you ever wonder why success in certain areas of your life seems to be so hard to achieve? Release that fear of being recognized, uncovered, and discovered the way you really are, because everybody is able to see the real you right now, regardless of how you behave.

    Do you still dance in solitude? Come out of the closet already. The streets are waiting for you, dancing...

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  • Question Everything You Believe In

    edited by Alexander Becker

    After questioning everything you do, you may want to start from scratch with your beliefs as well.

    Question everything you believe to be true. Everything you believe in. Question the effect that each of your beliefs has on you. Is it good for you? For the success of your actions, for your mind, for your soul, for your emotions. Finally, what do your beliefs do to mankind? Do your beliefs help or hinder humanity?

    Why would you hold on to a belief that you know isn't perfectly beneficial to its believers? Why in fact, do you call it a belief? If you are convinced and know it for sure it is knowledge and there is no reason for any doubt. Make that belief knowledge or drop it. Knowledge as in you are absolutely, positively convinced -- not necessarily as in scientifically proven.

    What about beliefs whose primary purpose is to explain shortcomings? Beliefs that cover a lack of courage, beliefs decorating fears with colorful legends.

    A good way to start is to rid yourself from any belief whatsoever... Why believe at all? Please note that this is an exercise in using your own mind, not a contest in offending anybody else's emotions nor thoughts. There are subtle differences to pay attention to.

    So, do you merely believe in God or are you absolutely, positively convinced about the existence of God? Can you see the difference?

    Let's take a look at the inevitable objections to the questioning of belief itself: Isn't any objection somehow rooted in fear? Isn't the fact that you are not convinced based on a fear, that possibly, maybe, the belief could be wrong? Not so with knowledge. Either you do know or you don't.

    There is a very particular audacity in knowing vs. believing. That's the difference.

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