[kerng]

A friend of mine is a professional violinist. People say she is really talented and skilled. The interesting thing is that she gets very upset when people say: you are so talented.

The reason she explained to me once is that people see her perform and play and think that's just how easy it is for her.

She said to me once: "Noone sees the thousands of hours I practiced by myself in a dark rehearsal room without even a window at school". That was quite enlightening to me.

So, if someone says it's just "talent", its quite offensive to her. It's hard and dedicated work.

[AstralStorm]

But it is true. Take any random person and get them to train for this many hours, they won't even come close.

Both are necessary.

She gets upset because she bought into the culture that tells us we control everything about ourselves. Which is somewhat of a lie in many ways.

[kerng]

No, she gets upset because people ignore the fact that she had to work to become that good.

Also, any random person can learn to play violin sufficient enough to play in an orchestra (besides a physical or mental disability maybe). Maybe not professionally because that needs addition passion and dedication and there is a lot of competition. But playing good enough for a community orchestra that requires audition, pretty much anyone can achieve.