Ambiguity and entrepreneurship education

The quote below comes from Desiree Vargas on the Kauffman Campuses blog. The post deals with ambiguity and entrepreneurship education. I think she's dead on and the second paragraph (specific to artists) really resonates with me.
Cheers,
Megan


"Maybe one of the reasons that engineering students and art students have been so quick to adopt entrepreneurship is that its ambiguity falls within their academic comfort zones. An engineer or scientist is asked to solve problems. The problem itself can be ambiguous, and the student goes into the investigation knowing that there may be many solutions. Some are simply better than others.

For an artist there is no solution. There is only feedback. They enter every performance, show, exhibit with complete uncertainty about how their audience will react. They also have very little to work with in terms of strategy. Professors teach techniques that help students master their craft, but ultimately the creation of the artwork comes from the artist's creativity, mettle, and willingness to push new boundaries."

a means by which

"When I used to read biographies of writers, I always thought that when they said: 'The book writes itself, the writer is just the typist', they were simply trying to make their profession seem more interesting. I know now that this is absolutely true, no one knows why the current took them to that particular island and not to the one they wanted to reach. Then the obsessive re-drafting and editing begins, and when I can no longer bear to re-read the same words one more time, I sent it to my publisher, where it is edited again, and then published.

And it is a constant source of surprise to me to discover that other people were also in search of that very island and that they find it in my book. One person tells another person about it, the mysterious chain grows, and what the writer thought of as a solitary exercise becomes a bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate.

From then on, I am no longer the man lost in the storm: I find myself through my readers, I understand what I wrote when I see that others understand it too, but never before. On a few rare occasions, like the one that is about to take place, I manage to look those people in the eye and then I understand that my soul is not alone.

~Paulo Coelho

Four simple steps

Wow. I haven't posted for awhile. I've had a lot of encouraging educational discussions and experiences in the last couple weeks, some disappointments, and much of my energy has been dedicated to setting up a meeting at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival on March 13th.

Here is a post about the educational process from Eric Whitacre on the BCM International discussion board:

Theory didn't (doesn't) help me at all...

When I first started writing (and still today, I guess) the biggest obstacle I faced was learning how to notate. Just getting your head around basic notation ideas can take a while (I'm talking the basics here: notes, rhythms, etc.).

I just started trying it. I made a lot of NOTATIONAL mistakes at first (I still do) but don't worry about the theory, or how much you know. Ultimately, it's just one more excuse for composers to use to justify why they never finish anything.

1) Start writing.
2) Get real humans to play it.
3) Correct things you didn't like after you heard it.
4) Repeat.

That has been my sole technique, and it has worked well for me.

e

MDS: I agree that the notation part has been the biggest part of the learning curve for me. Not only learning the conventions, but really figuring out how the musical gesture I'm feeling fits rhythmically, what meter to use, etc. Right now I'm in the process of smoothing out the fourth piece, "whatever the moon" (based on another e.e. cummings poem). I've found that pretending I'm conducting makes me aware of expression and nuance that I can put down on the page. I also have a better sense of where I hold a note a little longer or add an extra rest.

"whatever the moon" also almost had a performance (I wrote it for a particular choir), but that fell through. Definitely a painful experience, but now I have one more piece out of it.

toodles,
~m