Like most people, sometimes I stand in front of a supermarket aisle and get frustrated with the number of decisions to be made. When there were three options I had the time to read through the table for fat, sodium or sugar content. Nowadays we are usually confronted with more than three choices. This "Paradox of Choice" Ted talk made me laugh with funny cartoons and jokes. Barry Schwartz is pointing us to an important fact: Given the multitude and easiness of choices, our expectation level will be raised, thus our happiness level will change if a small "something" goes wrong because we think we had more control than we really did. Hmmm, does this sound familiar to my fellow perfectionist artists out there? Does this sound familiar to parents out there? The life-long balancing act of asking the most of ourselves and forgiving ourselves.
Another Ted talk on choices we make from a philosopher's point of view, pointing us to our freedom to choose as a way to know ourselves better. When writing pros and cons for choices, one is in fact choosing which aspects of life we would value more, and values take a lifetime to define. What really matters to us? That list changes with time, and it also changes us. There are those who feel that "happiness is wanting what you have." Others feel that one should not get too comfortable but strive to question ourselves to change and adapt.
As performers, do we, if under pressure in a short time period, choose overall spirit of the piece over technical cleanliness? do we choose to perform less often to a smaller well informed audience on more "appropriate" stages or do we choose to reach out to a less informed new audience with easier level pieces of music ? What were our goals when we went for that higher education degree? As teachers, do we, when students start to spend more time thinking about other activities or the opposite sex, choose to build a life-long music- lover over a future competition winner?
Ruth Chang believes in personal ultimate freedom, though her examples are for developed country audience, she is raising a good point.
As performers, do we, if under pressure in a short time period, choose overall spirit of the piece over technical cleanliness? do we choose to perform less often to a smaller well informed audience on more "appropriate" stages or do we choose to reach out to a less informed new audience with easier level pieces of music ? What were our goals when we went for that higher education degree? As teachers, do we, when students start to spend more time thinking about other activities or the opposite sex, choose to build a life-long music- lover over a future competition winner?
Ruth Chang believes in personal ultimate freedom, though her examples are for developed country audience, she is raising a good point.
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