Expertise and new CDs

Home from the dayjob, and on my own for a few hours as V is visiting her daughter in the city. Been reading a lot the past couple of days on the subject of expertise on the Piano Technicians Guild tech board. The "10000 Hour" rule has been mentioned, and commented on both positively and not-so-much. The idea (not sure where it originates, but I ran across it first in a book called This Is Your Brain On Music, by Daniel Levitin, and most recently in The Craftsman, by Richard Sennett) is that it takes roughly 10000 hours of practice to be come a world-class expert at anything. Part-time technicians tend to take umbrage at this idea, naturally, since very few of them have, or will have, that kind of time under their belt, so consequently according to the rule, they will never achieve the level of Expert. This is, of course Not Necessarily True, but still. Personally, I tend to buy into the idea, but in the framework of retrospect only; this is not something for which one can plan. In otherwords, if someone sets out to do anything for 10000 hours, and is still counting those hours after, say, 5000, then it's very likely that person is more concerned about the fact of the accomplishment than about the Craft they are pursuing, and will miss the point. Conversely, if someone is pursuing a Craft seriously and honorably, they will lose interest in counting the hours they spend on it very quickly, because it really doesn't matter.

Looking back, there are two areas in which I can honestly say I have passed the 10K mark: playing the bass and teaching. This is based on loose figures, admittedly, but 20 years of practicing and playing the bass, plus 15 years of teaching gets me as close as need be. According to the 'rule', I should be an expert in both these areas, and, in retrospect I know it to be true. However, it's not a guarantee of quality, or of anything else, for that matter. Simply a point along a line. Now in the piano technician field, I have far less than 10000 hours, but - I have this piece of paper which says I'm a Registered Piano Technician, meaning I have passed a rigorous set of exams and achieved a certain level of competence. So - am I an expert? Hardly. Does it matter? Not at all, because, again, it's just another point on another line. As long as my intention is to continue to grow and develop my knowledge and skill, Expertise will happen. And I'll know it in retrospect.

Managed to budget for new CDs this week for the first time in awhile, and came up with three real winners which I'm having a lot of fun digesting:

Rickie Lee Jones - The Magazine (1984)
Chris Potter 10 - Song For Anyone (2007)
Jim Hall & Bill Frisell - Hemispheres (2008)

The first two were recommendations from a friend (thanks Chris!), and the third, well, knowing what I know about the two artists, it was pretty much an auto-buy. Loving all three so far. They couldn't be more different from each other; I've always loved contrast, and these are giving me plenty, both between them and within each. Very cool.