From the bleak mid-winter of our souls, we emerge into hope. When we hope, we look to the future, as we wish it to be. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day,…
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Value for Sunday of Week 25 in the season of Ripening
Being Proficient – Excelling
To excel is to surpass. Excellence is the state of attainment at which most others are surpassed.
- Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. [attributed to Vince Lombardi]
- The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. [dubiously attributed to Confucius]
- If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. [attributed to Colin Powell]
The third stage of development is not easily defined. The second draws the distinction from the mere capacity to perform at some level, into the capacity to perform with at least passing skill and competence. The fourth stage represents a level of excellence attained by only a few, which we might call being exceptional or transcendent. The middle ground between the second and fourth stages could be called proficiency or excellence. By standard normative definitions, this group represents the top five percent in level of attainment, whereas the second level represents the ninety percent above the bottom and below the top five percent.
This may be an acceptable definition for skills in relation to the material world, such as the ability to solve mathematical problems. However, that is not quite what this model is about. The values in the respective domains at this level of development are involvement, scientific method and initiative. Those are qualities of personal attainment, not qualities of technical skill. I am reluctant to employ standard normative analysis to a model for personal development and spirituality, which are not competitive endeavors. We do not know what might be possible in a society in which children were routinely trained in a model based on universal worth and dignity, and the social norms supported the verbal lessons. Theoretically, and for all we know, nearly everyone may be capable of becoming a spiritual master. The best definition I can give of the distinction represented by this level is that the individual has attained a high level of accomplishment but not the level of transcendence that is attained by only a few. Perhaps you readers can help me refine this definition.
Real
True Narratives
- Kiese Laymon, Heavy: An American Memoir (Scribner, 2018): “When Excellence Is a Survival Strategy”
- Maria Konnikova, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win (Penguin Press, 2020: “How a Writer With a Ph.D in Psychology Became a Poker Champ”
Technical and Analytical Readings
- K. Anders Ericsson, Neil Charness, Paul J. Feltovich and Robert R. Hoffman, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Most jazz artists of any notoriety are excellent musicians. Those in the second or third tier of skill can be listed under this category. They provide plenty of good listening, and illustrate that we have more excellent music than we have time to hear. A few of our excellent jazz musicians are:
- Trumpeters Howard McGhee and Blue Mitchell;
- Saxophonists Joe Henderson and Johnny Hodges;
- Clarinetists Buddy De Franco and Johnny Dodds;
- Flautists Herbie Mann and Jerome Richardson;
- Trombonists Curtis Fuller and Jack Teagarden;
- Violinists Joe Venuti and Stuff Smith;
- Pianists Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner;
- Singers Carmen McRae and Mel Tormé;
- Bassists Jaco Pastorius and Ray Brown.
Compositions:
- Reynaldo Hahn, Piano Concerto in E Major (1931) (approx. 25-28’) (list of recorded performances) is a showpiece for a highly skilled pianist.
- In his Piano Sonata No. 30 in A major, Op. 109 (1820) (approx. 20-22’) (list of recorded performances), Ludwig van Beethoven employed all the genius and skills of his mature years to a composition dedicated to a musically gifted young girl.
- Charles-Auguste de Bériot, 12 Scénes on Caprices pour le violin, Op. 109 (1861) (approx. 67’)
- Grażyna Bacewicz, Ten Concert Etudes for piano (1956) (approx. 23’)
- Johan Paul von Westhoff was a violinist, and also a composer with a limited output. However, his six violin sonatas reveal exceptional talent and skill. Composed in 1694, they are called Sonates Pour Violon & Basse Continue (approx. 69’).
- Carl Vine, Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990) (approx. 17’); Piano Sonata No. 2 (1997) (approx. 19-22’); Piano Sonata No. 3 (2007) (approx. 21’); Piano Sonata No. 4 (2017) (approx. 15’): Reviewing Xiaoya Liu’s recording of all four sonatas, Jed Distler writes: “It’s easy to hear why Vine’s music attracts young pianists. His keyboard-writing is virtuoso yet fits the fingers like a glove. His handling of tonality is sophisticated and inventive yet always accessible. He thrills and excites without becoming provocative or making listeners squirm.”
- Marco Enriso Bossi, Violin Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 82 (1893) (approx. 26’), and Violin Sonata No. 2 in C Major, Op. 117 (1899) (approx. 34’): these sonatas are loaded with engaging musical ideas.
- Magnus Lindberg, Clarinet Concerto (2002) (approx. 25-27’) (list of recorded performances) is challenging to play, yet accessible to the listener.
Albums:
- Anthony Braxton, “For Alto” (1969) (73’): “There is nothing tame or nostalgic about these blasts of jazz futurism from the young Braxton, who sounds here like he's trying to blow his way out of Chicago.”
- James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor, “Live in Willisau” (2020) (66’): “Lewis is typically chameleonic in his approach, switching at a moment’s notice from straight-laced swing to swampy blues riffs and then coruscating, reed-testing runs.”
- Calvin Keys, “Proceed with Caution” (1973) (49’) marked a leap ahead for this soul-jazz guitarist.
- Jonas Kaufmann, Liszt: “Freudvoll und leidvoll” (2021) (81’) – brilliant singing
- Phronesis, “Walking Dark” (2011) (69’): “The album sees all three players reaching further than ever before, creating music that by turns drives with urban energy and resonates with mountainous space and sheer delightful abstraction.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Steve Howe’s Remedy (2004), Part 16
Visual Arts
Film and Stage
- Tampopo, about a young woman passionately committed to making the best noodles
