Art I - Five Tenets for Beginners

Whatever it is you do or wish to do:

1. There will be always someone who does or has done it or some part of it better than you;

2. Careers ride on repertoire--finished work published, presented, and fit to audience and supporting peers and shared;

3. Professionals worry about things amateurs will never know exist, and that includes many things, not least among them "the business of the business";

4. Every art involves the possession and development of technical facility;

5. Appreciating and valuing an art, including one's own, has to do with its literature and language and both the artist's and audience's corresponding developed and informed sensibilities.

Credit inspiration to musician and recording engineer Steve Wriston who this evening asked me at the local coffee house open mic what one piece of advice I might have for others starting out in music, a region in which I've gotten fairly decent; however, were it possible to dig back in archives consisting of thousands of comments in relation also to photography and writing at models.com, modelmayhem.com, and zoetrope.com, my online hangouts for many years, a researcher would find similar ideas.  Now with some ideas distilled, I may work through a number of issues in general arts pedagogy and--so closely related--human development and performance.

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