Softly
Cold bed
Rain falls
Whispers flow
crooked spine
closed eyes
Wheezing…
droplets fall
murmurs speak
“Anywhere but here”
Flashback…
Constant embraces
Eye contact
witty comments & life plans
…London, Paris, Milan…
kiss fulfills the pact
Cold bed
Rain pouring
breathing softly
holds pillow
Softly whispers…
“Tu me manques, Je t’aime”
Do you cry at night?
Feeling alone, deserted,
as if nobody wants you
nobody cares
you’re not good enough…
Do you think of all the possibilities in your life?
Your triumphs?
Mistakes?
The times you laughed, cried, and loved?
Do you remember when you first crashed,
cried all night, hugging your pillow,
your eyes and nose red from all the pain
… of that feeling of your soul splitting…
Do you remember that first time you fell in love?
The feeling when you noticed, and blushed because somebody asked you…
The felling when you saw him and your body betrayed you
sweaty hands,
mind racing,
stomach churning,
time freezing,
smiling awkwardly…
and embarrassing yourself
Do you remember when you dreamed your dream for the first time?
Of your future together,
traveling, growing old together with a family?
Do you lay in bed
thinking of the future?
Uncertain, scary, with a big question mark
but you close your eyes and imagine he’s there
and everything feels calm…
because you feel like everything will turn out ok…
just because he’s beside you
Clouds form in your head
raining on your face
just wanting to get out
just waiting for you
…just waiting for that signal…
… the signal of you
15/08/2012
Mes yeux pleurent pour vous.
La nuit est froide sans vous.
La distance joue avec mon coeur
Mon âme soupire pour un baiser
L’âme veut pour vous
Ma présence est nule
Sans vous ici
à côté de moi …
Me serrant …
Tout ce que je sais, c’est que nous serons ensemble
Je vais attendre
Je vais attendre pour vous
Pour l’intérieur de vous est ma joie
A côté de vous, c’est ma vie
Avec vous repose mon âme
Chapter Six
So was this you trying to impress me? By tripping on the carpet. By the way that cinnamon dolce latte is really good. It might be a new favorite. It might be. Said Colin smirking. Oh shut it. I did not trip. As I told you the Earth rotated against my will. Didn’t you come here to help me? Instead you are judging my amazing Earth rotating abilities? I am disappointed at you. Judging someone over they’re abilities. Said Bradley holding his literature book. Ok ok, I’ll stop judging you. Now what is it that you don’t understand? Said Colin smirking. Ok… Here- Bradley hands Colin a yellow folder labeled “To-Do List”- The ones I can’t figure out are the ones marked in yellow. – Do you even understand the material? There has to be like 30 terms! Colin said surprised. And that’s why I need your help. Said Bradley with one of his award-winning smiles. Ok. So let’s starts with the Iambic Pentameter…
______________________________________________________________________________________
Bad night, Arth? Said Eoin, rummaging in the fridge. “Why are you in my flat? I was informed that you were moving out last week.” Said Bradley throwing himself to the couch. “I knew you wouldn’t live without me.” Said Eoin as he bit an apple. “That means you couldn’t find a flat that was cheap enough, close to the bar and college. And the fact that you can’t cook makes it harder for you to live ‘cause you cant live with just Beer and Healthy Choice’s Café Steamers.” Bradley got up from the couch and heads to the kitchen and slaps Eoin in the head. “So that means you have to pay rent on time, buy groceries and pay half in everything. If you can’t do that I will kick you out.” “I am pleased to inform you that you are going to buy dinner ‘cause as you can see my former flat mate ate everything and now I don’t have anything to eat.” Said Bradley hitting Eoin again but with an orange. “Fine! I’ll order some pizza. At least you have some of that wimpy beer”- Hey! Smirnoff is not a “wimpy beer” and what are you talking about? You drank half of them last week! Said Bradley insulted. Exactly, I didn’t get wasted. Hence why its wimpy and you should buy straight up vodka. What’s the number of the pizza place? Said Eoin after munching another piece of apple and fumbles with his krazor.
______________________________________________________________________________
For what it’s worth
I miss you…
Why do you linger?
Why do you stay?
Can’t you see this can’t happen?
Not this way?
Colin tries to shake his thoughts as he sits down. Closing his eyes he exhales and places his hands on the keys. He opens his eyes; his hands linger over a C7th he shifts his hands as he meticulously starts playing. Exhaling and inhaling with the beats, he closes his eyes. An amalgam of arpeggios, chords bounce off the walls and fly off the tiny cubicle. Students stop and stare at Colin’s piano playing, asking each other “who is the virtuoso pianist?”
When he finished playing, he could feel himself sweaty and hyperventilating. Oblivious to the crowd outside, he closes the piano, picks up his bag and heads to the door. Colin halts as he stares at the people staring back at him. He starts to slowly move towards the door as he looks at the students fleeing the scene and only one figure is left. Colin opens the door and recognizes Eoin. “So why aren’t you studying music. You studied with Gaius didn’t you?” “ Um, yeah I-” Colin started to ramble. “I don’t know why you stopped playing, but you should continue, I’m looking forward to more of you impromptu concertos” Eoin smiles as he flips his black wavy hair to the side as he smiles cockily. “Could you at least tell me what it was?” “The people united will never be defeated, the Variations 27-29th by Federic Rzewski” Said Colin in shock. Eoin walked away as he said “I’ll see you when I see you, mysterious pianist”.
_____________________
Here’s a video of the piece Colin played:
Chapter Five
Thinking why he said yes to Bradley, Colin waddled to the music department at 6:00pm, in his tight black pea coat, black jeans, gray polo and black converse. “He told me he would be in the second floor… but those are cubicles, not ensemble classrooms.” Thought Colin out loud. Passing through a few cubicles, he saw a big classroom with the door slightly opened, there he could see Bradley from the narrow space from the door, Bradley was singing something as he carefully opened the door, tip-toed his way into the room and listened to Bradley sing.
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind
For me it happens all the time
It’s a quarter after one I’m a little drunk & I need you now
Said I wouldn’t call but I lost control and I need you now
And I don’t know why I could do without
I just need you now
Colin smiled as he saw Bradley do a concert like jam and the end, and started clapping, startling Bradley. Colin started to laugh as he said “Nice tune… I know you need me now so you won’t fail your literature class. So Mr. Musician, are we going to talk here, am I going to listen to the rest of your concert or do you want my help?” Said Colin in a teasing tone. “How long have you been there?” Asked Bradley embarrassed of what just happened. “Not long, just saw the ending.” “Oh… good. The rehearsal got cancelled so I got stayed here. I thought of calling you but I didn’t know if you had something. Wanna get some coffee?” Said Bradley as he packed and grabbed his luggage. “Sure. I’m running low on caffeine. Do you need help? You got a lot of things…” Said Colin as he took a good look of everything Bradley had on. “No thanks, I’m used to it. Dad said I would be better just as a singer. No luggage, thank God I didn’t decide to be a percussionist.” Laughed Bradley.
Entering Perk’s (even better than her “cousin” Starbucks), Colin goes to the line as Bradley chooses two black leather sofas with a coffee table in between close to the window. Bradley was placing his guitar, bag and his 3-inch portfolio carefully as Colin thought “Thank God I didn’t decide to study music, my bag is heavy as it is, but maybe I wouldn’t have had such a bad time… I was a pianist, after all.” As Bradley approaches Colin with one of his “award-winning smiles straight out from a magazine” Colin starts talking “I don’t know how you can walk all around campus with all of that. I would die-” “You get used to it. And besides, since you’re a pianist you don’t have to be with all of that. You just go to the room, sit and play your heart out, don’t cha’? Bradley smirks as Colin blushes “You remembered…” “Hey, it’s not everyday you get to know a student from a world-renowned pianist. Since when did you start playing the piano, though? Why did you leave, I mean with a mentor like that you would be competing against 5 year old Asians in Italy or France.” Bradley says as they reach the Brittany, the perky blonde cashier, as he orders a medium cinnamon dolce latte and a cinna cinna bum bum for him and a medium black coffee, no sugar for Colin. Surprised, Colin utters in disbelief: “How did you know my coffee order?” Bradley smiling replies “We’re here almost every day at more or less the same time. I’m surprised you don’t know ~mine~ and do you want the two bagels you always order with your medium strong black coffee, Mr. Emerys?” “No it’s ok. You don’t need to-” “Wait… scratch the cinnamon bum and give me 4 bagels. Two regular, one with some pumpkin spice and the other with some cinnamon sugar.” Said Bradley as Colin looked at the wood flooring cheeks red. “You ~need~ to try those bagels, I don’t know about you but there’s a way their coffee melds with the flavors of their bagels… it should be illegal.” Said Bradley. “That’s why I eat them every time I get here.” “So, what is it that you don’t understand about your Lit class that you need my help. Let’s go over where you left your things before they steal your guitar, you can tell me as we wait for the coffee.” Said Colin as he slightly pushed Bradley to their seats.
“Right.” Said Bradley to himself as his face turned from happiness to sorrow and frustration. Colin watched Bradley closely as he thought what was so hard that Bradley was so frustrated. “So I’m taking the class with Dr. Ellis and I don’t get it… no matter how I study… I fail his tests, he thinks asks the most insignificant details from the selections and it’s frankly killing me. I can’t fail this class, or anyone whatsoever, if not they will revoke my scholarship.” Bradley sighed frustrated. “Ok, don’t think you’ll fail. Just tell me what are the selections you need to read.” Said Colin encouragingly. Bradley took out his book and notes when Brittany called their names. “I’ll get it. You can start looking through my notes, if you can understand them. There’s a post-it with the selections, its neon so you can’t miss it.” Said Bradley.
Bradley got what they ordered and for a second he unconsciously started at Colin. The way his cheekbones looked in the lighting, his paleness, bed hair and the fact that Colin looked adorable. He thought of how Colin was always dressed in black and still he looked beautiful. Wait… Did I just think Colin was… BEAUTIFUL?! Pendragon… calm yourself and act cool. You can’t think of him that way. He’s just here to help you with a test, nothing more nothing less. As he was walking toward Colin, he felt that the Earth rotated slightly. Having no idea what was happening until he heard a crash on the floor and a sharp pain in his ankle. Colin asked if he was ok, but Bradley was still in denial of what happened. He tried to get up but recoiled at the sudden pain that made him hiss. Um… sorry. Don’t know what happened. Did I trip over something? Bradley said. The only thing that was heard in the coffee shop was Colin laughter at the scene that played before him.
Chapter Three
After ending his conversation with Colin, Bradley feels good. He doesn’t know why but he does. He looks around in the tiny cubicle he’s in, guitar on hand and sheet music on the stand, he thinks of his playlist for the night. Maybe if I use half and half… half classical half popular. People go to a coffee shop to drink coffee and talk. They’re not there to hear people sing. Bradley started to fidget in his chair and started to sweat. And I’m still not comfortable in singing alone in public. Yeah… That seems like a good idea. I wonder is that Colin kid will ~actually~ show up. He’s kind- Wait… what was it that I was going to say… think… whatever… He seems nice. Just. Nice. Bradley picks up his guitar and starts to sing, trying to get Colin out of his mind. Focus Pendragon! Bradley sigh and tries to focus on the lyrics. I wish I could get more money out of this gig…
Colin anxious by the minute picks up his phone and starts to text Rachel.
Colin: Hey. What should I wear? I mean… jeans and a shirt or would that be awkward? Is it too much?
Entering to her room, Rachel listens to her phone and picks it up. She sighs as she sees too text messages from Colin, one with a text and the other a picture of Colin in “outfit”.
Rachel: /sigh I knew I was going to have this conversation with you. Cols, its just to PICK UP A BOOK. Ok? Do you even know he ~goes~ that way? And besides you’re not going on a date. And if you are I will kill you because I will NOT be the third wheel. Are you? Omg this is a date isn’t it Emerys I will KILL YOU!
Colin: Please. I know. You’re right. I’m over reacting… and NO!!!OMG NO it’s not a date. I will just pick up the pick up the book and that’s it….
Rachel: Please don’t tell me you’re getting your hopes up? /sigh I know you Cols. Is something up?
Colin: Who said about getting my hopes up? He’s just a random guy. And yeah, I’ll ditch what I have on. I’ll be out at… five-ish so I can meet up in the music building.
Colin: PS: I will change… and to be honest I looked hot. >_>
Rachel: Ok then. See you soon luv.
Colin sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. I look nice… I’m not ~hot~ but I look ~okay~. Rach’s right. I’m over dressed. I’m such an idiot. I don’t even know if he’s… Looking at himself in the mirror in his room, Lance walks in looking at him with a weird look in his face. “Are you going on a date?” Said Lance with a smug smirk on his face and a beer in his hand. “I wish, sadly no. I just overdressed. I’m going with Rach to the coffee shop” Said Colin with a hint of sadness. “Oh… I see and you don’t invite me or Angel, huh?” Said Colin’s roommate, amused. “It came up last minute and besides now you can invite Angel over here. Haven’t you been trying to kick me out? Now you have until 8 approximately. Use your time wisely.” Smiled Colin knowing he touched a sensitive subject with his roommate. “How did you know about Angel and I?” Lance looked pale as snow, and fumbled to get his beer that almost fell to the ground. Colin smirked as he changed his black ¾ shirt to a black T-shirt, still in his tight black jeans and high top black converse. “The walls have eyes and ears Lance. The walls have eyes and ears.” “What do you mean?” Said Lance “It means that before you bring somebody for a shag. In this case your girlfriend, since I know you’ve been with her more or less after… September? Be a little less… vocal.” Laughed Colin. “You bastard! Did she tell you?!” “No, she didn’t tell me. Lance, she’s not that hard to read. And yes I knew it ever since you two started to date. Angel is my childhood friend after all. Now you better treat her well, if not I will chop your balls, with a chainsaw.” Just as Colin finished that sentence, somebody knocked on the door. “Shit” Lance cursed as he, looked at Colin and went and opened the door. “So… are we gonna- COLIN! Hey” Angel awkwardly smiled at Colin, as she knew the gist was up. “Hey Ang. Wassap? Don’t worry. I’ll be off in a few minutes and your secret will be safe with me. And no I won’t tell Katie. I swear.” Colin winked to Angel as she looked at him shocked. “You really are a Sherlock, aren’t you” asked Angel. “Yep”. “Oh… and Angel? Think wisely… I mean Lance? Come on you could do sooo much better” smirked Colin as Angel started to laugh and Lance glared at him “Just go to your ~date~ already!” yelled his roommate. “Look at you, going on a date. Who’s the lucky guy?” asked the girl dressed in a yellow dress, showing off her breasts. “Like I told to your ~boyfriend~, it’s not a date. Just going to hang out in the coffee shop with Rachel. And I’m off… and by the time I get here, this place should be spotless. I don’t want to know what you did.” Said Colin walking to the door. “I owe you one Colin!” Said Angel as Colin left his dorm.
Colin picked up his phone, dialed Rach’s phone and pressed call just as he heard the first beep, he heard Rachel’s ringtone in a distance. Rachel screamed Colin’s name and he walked up to her. They walked together in silence as they reached the Central Perk’s coffee shop. They opened the door and they took their regular seats just as Bradley started to introduce himself. “Hello, I’m Bradley Pendragon. It’s great to be playing at Perk’s for open mike. The manager told me he wanted to give the music department a break and he wanted students from the uni to play here on Sing it out! Thursday. I’m going to change it up a bit. Let’s start with the depressing thing ‘cause I know we’re still have the stench of failure’s from last weeks midterms so let’s all hang it out and try to cram everything for finals! With that Bradley started to sing Talking to the moon.
Rachel looked at Colin with a smirk as he looked at Bradley. Colin fancies Bradley. I mean who wouldn’t? Bradley’s a musician; he’s talented, nice white smile, beautiful blue eyes and nice hair. He’s smart too, after all he’s in the top 5 of three of our classes together… obviously I’m better than him ‘cause I’m in the number one spot, thank you very much. I don’t know, maybe Bradley, if he went that way and if he liked Colin back, he could help Colin. Colin’s too shy. I mean… shyer than his normal shy self. Something’s up, I know that and he wont tell me… maybe if I pair him up with- Oi! What are you staring at? Said Colin as he looked at Rachel as a confused puppy. Sorry… just thinking too much about my midterms lied Rachel. Come on; buy me some coffee, after all if I’m going to be here ‘till seven watching you look at Bradley as a lost puppy who wants to get adopted then the ~least~ I can get out of you is some free coffee. Said Rachel. “Ok, I’ll buy you the coffee, only if you finally take me out for some shots at the bar.” Countered Colin. “Touché Emerys. Fine… Let’s see how many shots you can handle.” “So what’s the deal with Bradley, how did you meet him all of the sudden?” Asked Rachel, curious to know where exactly Colin knew Bradley from. “Oh, um…” Colin’s eyes traveled to his coffee as he tried to stop his big ears from turning beet red. “I know him from here, actually. He comes here at more or less the same time I’m here doing my reading for my classes, but it was when I saw him playing in a cubicle and a book of mine got lost, he found it and he called me today to give me the book back.” Colin said turning red and failing in saying all of this casually. “He’s actually good. When I saw him play in the cubicle, he was rehearsing a song, that it’s actually one of my favorites. Well… obviously he’s not better than John Williams, but still he played the song really well” Said Colin, looking at Bradley sing and turning even more red, when he actually listened to what Bradley was singing.
~I’ma get your heart racing in my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight~
People clapped and a group of girls cheered Bradley as he finished his song, Colin couldn’t help but notice that Bradley was looking at him as he sang that last verse and Bradley was smiling ~as~ he sang that verse. Colin looked at Rachel, as she was looking at what just happened. “Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who saw that.” Said Colin, his voice shaking. “No, you weren’t the only one and besides obviously he sang that to ~me~.” Said Rachel tauntly.
In a daze, Colin saw the manager walk towards Bradley and whispered in his ear while Bradley smiled and nodded. As the manager walked away, Bradley grabbed the microphone and said: “Well you guys our friend Gunther told me to stop the show for a few minutes ‘cause apparently you guys aren’t buying coffee! Bradley laughed as the costumers giggled. No I’m serious, Gunther my dear friend who is the manager and who very kindly asked me to sing today, told me to have a 15-minute break. So I’ll see be right back, and buy some of Gunth’s amazing coffee. Smiled Bradley as he placed his guitar on it’s case and looked around on his bag, took out a book and after saying hi and smiling to the table full of freshmen, he walked towards Rachel and Colin as the giggles from the girls Bradley just said hi to burst as bubbles from a bottle of sparkling wine freshly poured into a flute glass on New Years Eve.
“He’s coming. Don’t screw it or spaz.” Said the girl through gritted teeth to Colin and sipped some coffee. “Wait… What?” Said Colin surprised as he looked at Bradley suddenly in front of him. “Hey Bradley. Nice guitar playing. I don’t know if you recognize me. Rachel Smith we take three classes together.” Said the girl as she extended her hand to greet Bradley. “Yeah! Sure.” Said Bradley smiling and shaking her hand. “We take Chem, Shakespeare and what was the other one? Health was it?” “No, we took that last semester together. Sociology, with Dr. Hermioz.” Replied Rachel with outstanding kindness. “Oh right, Soc 101 with le Herz. I honestly fall asleep in that class so… that’s why I don’t actually remember it. Honestly that class is such a waste of time, if people actually read the book they would get an A. Especially with Dr. Herz” Said Bradley showing his perfect white teeth that left Colin mesmerized. “Bradley you don’t know how much I agree with you. I take that class to do my homework or basically read my emails. Oh that’s rude of me! Do you know Colin? Colin Emerys meet Bradley Pendragon. Said Rachel cynically, which made Colin stop staring at Bradley. “Um… yeah sure. I was the one who invited you remember Rach?” Said Colin ashamed and blushing just a touch that made his cheeks get slightly pink just like when the clouds in sunrise. “Yeah. I met Colin in the music department. Hey Colin. Here!” Said the musician a bit over enthusiast as he gave Colin his book back. “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier I got a little sidetracked ‘cause of the midterms and some juries I had.” “Be back in a tick, I have to get another cup of coffee. Here Bradley, take my seat.” Said Rachel as she left the table and mouthed Relax! He’s cute! To Colin who gave her a I can’t believe you’re doing this to me look.
Colin laughed nervously as he took some of his coffee and he tried not to drink what’s left, just dreading that he had to speak to Bradley alone. “So what instrument do you play?” Asked Bradley. “Um. I actually play a bit of piano. I used to play back when I was in high school. I studied in the conservatory with Prof. Gaius, I don’t know if you know about him.” “Wait… you studied under THE Gaius… The one who won the International Chopin Piano Competition three years in a row?” Almost screamed Bradley looking at Colin in shock. “Yeah, I did. I started to play piano when I was 6 years old. Gaius was actually my second and last teacher” smiled cautiously Colin. “Woah! And please tell me your studying music. You must be an amazing pianist! I mean with Gaius as your mentor and all” Said Bradley still in disbelief as he looked at Colin as if Colin had all the Christmas presents in the world. “No actually, I’m a Literature Major.” Replied Colin amused. “Wow man, you have to call me so I can see you play piano. I mean… you must be amazing!” “Do you like what you’re studying? I mean I like languages and literature but that’s ‘cause well music is deeply intertwined with both of them.” Said Bradley
“Yeah, it’s really my thing. Do you compose or play something other than guitar, which by the way you’re really good at.” Said Colin smiling at Bradley “Oh yeah. I play a bit of piano, but I suck at it to be honest. I also play just a touch of violin, I sing as you could see and I just started in conducting.” Said Bradley self-consciously. “Wow you really are a multi-talented guy, aren’t you?” Replied Colin amazed. “Some people just say to me that I’m a workaholic, I just say that I love music so much I want to do all I can. It’s basically my life you know.” Said Bradley proudly. “Know that feeling.” Said Colin drinking a bit of his scarcely sweetened black coffee. “You know. I got a feeling about you Colin. Colin, that ~is ~ your name right. I’m bad with names so-” Said Bradley as he saw Gunther saying that he had to be up again. “Sorry they’re telling me to go up again. Um… anyways here’s my number if you lost it. And I would really love to talk to you soon. I can use some tutoring with my Shakespeare class. I know you might be good, ‘cause you’re always reading here when around by the time I come here… and I would like to talk music with cha.” Said Bradley as he wrote his number in Colin’s cup as Colin looked at him puzzlingly. Bradley finished writing on Colin’s cup, looked up smiled at him and went back to where his guitar was, picked it up and smiled to the microphone and said:
“Sorry about that. Was talking to my new friend over there. I think he’ll like this next piece I’m going to play. I’m going to change it up once again, you see in this part just to get you more relaxed and give this awesome shop a cool vibe; I’m going to play some classical pieces. This first up was made popular by Andrés Segovia and is one of the most recognizable classical guitar pieces. It’s part of a suite, which was published in 1892. Ladies and Gentlemen, Asturias.” Bradley stretched about a bit, and started to play. Colin watching him, smiled as he finished his coffee and closed his eyes to take truly listen to the song, trying to ignore the people murmuring in the background. Half way toward the piece, Rachel sat back on the table and watched Colin look at his coffee cup and simply said: “When are you going to call him?” Colin just smiled and replied: “Don’t know.”
“No hay nada más poderoso, aterrador, hermoso y fascinante, estar en un teatro (del tamaño que sea), suban el telón y de repente, todo el mundo vea cada uno de tus movimientos, mientras ese silencio aterrador nos consume y nuestro estómago vacío quiera virarse de donde está, y con solo un movimiento de manos, una respiración, un gesto, viole ese silencio y por varios minutos, el mundo gire alrededor de nosotros, controlemos los sentimientos, el espacio,el tomar control de cada fibra de los demás (para bien o para mal) luego de trabajar tanto, solo por un momento. No importa si lo graban, si lo publican… Ese momento intimo entre tu y yo, eso es lo que cuenta… Porque esa es mi vida, no importa cuanto escriba, cuanto suspire, cuanto yo gima y suplique en una obra o canción de amores pasados o presentes, de lo que paso, lo que fue y lo que será… ese momento es de nosotros. Porque mi vida es la música, porque vivo por cantar, vivo por tocar porque vivo… para tí”
| — | – José A. Clavell ® |
**This is a guest post from Study Hacks** (the Url is in the bottom of the post**
The Berlin Study
In the early 1990s, a trio of psychologists descended on the Universität der Künste, a historic arts academy in the heart of West Berlin. They came to study the violinists.
As described in their subsequent publication in Psychological Review, the researchers asked the academy’s music professors to help them identify a set of stand out violin players — the students who the professors believed would go onto careers as professional performers.
We’ll call this group the elite players.
For a point
of comparison, they also selected a group of students from the school’s education department. These were students who were on track to become music teachers. They were serious about violin, but as their professors explained, their ability was not in the same league as the first group.
We’ll call this group the average players.
The three researchers subjected their subjects to a series of in-depth interviews. They then gave them diaries which divided each 24-hour period into 50 minute chunks, and sent them home to keep a careful log of how they spent their time.
Flush with data, the researchers went to work trying to answer a fundamental question: Why are the elite players better than the average players?
The obvious guess is that the elite players are more dedicated to their craft. That is, they’re willing to put in the long,Tiger Mom-style hours required to get good, while the average players are off goofing around and enjoying life.
The data, as it turns out, had a different story to tell…
Decoding the Patterns of the Elite
We can start by disproving the assumption that the elite players dedicate more hours to music. The time diaries revealed that both groups spent, on average, the same number of hours on music per week (around 50).
The difference was in how they spent this time. The elite players were spending almost three times more hours than the average players on deliberate practice — the uncomfortable, methodical work of stretching your ability.
This might not be surprising, as the importance of deliberate practice had been replicated and reported many times (c.f., Gladwell).
But the researchers weren’t done.
They also studied how the students scheduled their work. The average players, they discovered, spread their work throughout the day. A graph included in the paper, which shows the average time spent working versus the waking hours of the day, is essentially flat.
The elite players, by contrast, consolidated their work into two well-defined periods. When you plot the average time spent working versus the hours of the day for these players, there are two prominent peaks: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
In fact, the more elite the player, the more pronounced the peaks. For the best of the best — the subset of the elites who the professors thought would go on to play in one of Germany’s two best professional orchestras — there was essentially no deviation from a rigid two-sessions a day schedule.
This isolation of work from leisure had pronounced effects in other areas of the players’ lives.
Consider, for example, sleep: the elite players slept an hour more per night than the average players.
Also consider relaxation. The researchers asked the players to estimate how much time they dedicated each week to leisure activities — an important indicator of their subjective feeling of relaxation. By this metric, the elite players were significantly more relaxed than the average players, and the best of the best were the most relaxed of all.
Hard Work is Different than Hard to Do Work
To summarize these results:
I’ve seen this same phenomenon time and again in my study of high achievers. It came up so often in my study of top students, for example, that I even coined a name for it: the paradox of the relaxed Rhodes Scholar.
This study sheds some light on this paradox. It provides empirical evidence that there’s a difference between hard work and hard to do work:
This analysis leads to an important conclusion. Whether you’re a student or well along in your career, if your goal is to build a remarkable life, then busyness and exhaustion should be your enemy. If you’re chronically stressed and up late working, you’
re doing something wrong. You’re the average players from the Universität der Künste — not the elite. You’ve built a life around hard to do work, not hard work.
The solution suggested by this research, as well as my own, is as simple as it is startling: Do less. But do what you do with complete and hard focus. Then when you’re done be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day.
(Photo by RKHawaii)
**This is a guest post from http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/11/11/if-youre-busy-youre-doing-something-wrong-the-surprisingly-relaxed-lives-of-elite-achievers/
Yesterday their new album launched. It’s titled “Mylo Xyloto. So just to be sane and not freak more than I’ve already freaked out, since it’s such an awesome CD (which I’m not biased if I say you have to buy it/download it…ok maybe I’m a bit biased) YOU HAVE TO! It’s awesome!
Interviews on the Cd:
Singles:
1) Every Teardrop is a Waterfall:
2) Paradise
The art of musical poetry 