To this...
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I've never been an instruction manual or 'follow-step-by-step' kind of learner.
Give me a guitar, or a camera, and I'll fiddle and play around with them and I've always been able to (with these two passions at least) get the hang of them and very intuitively learn how to use them well...
I never had any music theory background when I first learnt how to play the guitar when I was 17... everything fell into place very naturally and being a very aural person, I just knew how to do it... be it chords, tempo, expression, reading notes... somehow I'm just able to do it...
My early exposure to photography was with my late uncle... he'd do the setting of the aperture and shutter speed for me... and I just do the composing and framing and fire away... I just knew how to frame a nice looking photo when I look through the viewfinder... It's when I finally was able to afford my own photography gears that I really took this passion to a higher level... But I'm still not a technically masterful kind of photographer... As with playing the guitar, when I look through the viewfinder, I just know what will turn out nice... Very intuitive...
It's only on occassions where I'm stuck with some chords, some phrasing of notes, some Photoshop processing techniques etc, that I'd go back to some instruction manuals, listen to guitar recordings over and over, search the internet for information and generally read up to clear the bottle-neck that I'm faced with... Then I'll be back fiddling my way around...
That's the carefree and semi-unstructured manner in which I pursue my two greatest passions... I somehow know that I'm doing what many instruction books out there are already prescribing... I somehow know how to...
It's hard to explain... it's somewhere within... intuitive... gut feel... having some sense of what sounds good, what sounds right, how a piece of music needs to be played and expressed, how a photo should look like...
Even though many people around me sees me as a logical person, when it comes to guitars and photography, my senses take the lead...
I prefer it this way... music and photography are ways of expressions... I just can't imagine some guide-books telling me how I should express myself... It's not longer art of expression... I've heard technically perfect pieces of classical guitar music... I've seen technically perfect photos... But these do not very often reach deep into my heart...
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But I've come to a stage in my life where I now need to share and teach others how I operate...
And that's challenging...
Because I do things from my heart...
Because I don't usually think through the exact steps and procedures that I play a piece of music or take a photo...
I now have to articulate and make explicit, steps which I take intuitively...
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In my pursuit of Teaching, I'm continually Learning... I'm Learning how to Teach...
I now have to articulate and make explicit, steps which I take intuitively when I Teach and interact with the young Padawans...
Ironically, just as I do not refer to guide-books at the onset as I feel they are hindering my efforts straight from my heart, I can't help but feel that if the heart is not at the right place, no amount of guidebooks will help one become a good guitar player or great photographer...
Maybe they're better off keeping collections of guitars for keepsake or pursue the latest and most advanced camera equipment money can buy...
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