In Praise of Amateurism
I suck at guitar. Many of the songs I play are the same three chords. My fingers refuse to make barre chords quickly enough to make changes. I don’t understand a thing about music theory, and I don’t know how the hell people are capable of learning by ear. Nonetheless, about once a year, usually on St. Patrick’s Day, I play my tired old repertoire of Irish drinking songs in front of people. It’s clearly amateur night every time I play, and I wear it as a badge of honor.
A hundred years ago, music was participatory by default. Maybe a friend would play the piano, more people than not would join in on the singing, and the very act of making music would bring people together. If you really want to geek out on the science of how music bonds people, a quick google search on music and oxytocin production will be enlightening. So what’s happened in the last century? Recorded music has turned most of us into consumers of music rather than participants. We defer to the ‘expert’ professional musicians, and don’t consider ourselves good enough to share our music with others. Most people can call up hundreds of thousands of songs on their phone, but won’t try to make any of their own music other than an occasional half-assed contribution to ‘Happy Birthday.’ Millions will queue up for Taylor Swift, but won’t support their local band. We’ve lost something important, and it just might be an appreciation of amateurism.
But it doesn’t stop at music. How many people past college age spend more hours participating in sports rather than viewing them from the couch? How many people will never consider going to their community theater, but will binge seasons of Netflix content? Now with services like Twitch, even freaking video games are becoming spectator sports!
Stop the madness, embrace the amateurism. Amateurs, by my definition, are those with the courage to suck. Publicly. Those without the courage are doomed to a life of sucking privately, and making the world around them a little suckier while they’re at it.
Please enjoy this amateur podcast.
