3 years ago, El Estepario Siberiano fired a shot across the bow of “conventional wisdom” in drums, with his video and tweet saying “talent is a lie”.
And if we’re talking about the caricature of talent - that certain people just emerge from the womb with abilities more-or-less fully intact, or maybe like an internet mattress that just needs to unfurl, and others are doomed to “grind” for all eternity - I agree.
I get braindead youtube comments all the time that basically amount to “why bother practicing anything; it’s all talent at the end of the day.”
I’ve spoken about my own journey on this front - in 2008 I was contemplating quitting the drums, then picked up a pop science book that explained The Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule, and had the outlines of a change-in-religion: I hadn’t put in anywhere near 10k hours, and therefore had a lot more work before I complained.
And Siberiano, by showcasing his own development from the stage where a lot of my viewers currently are, to the player he’s evolved into, does a good job at debunking the weak form of the talent argument.
But what about the stronger forms?
Deeper dives into the 10k-hour rule have found a number of misunderstandings, and some subsequent studies seem to “debunk” it. What are we to make of those?
And what if there is a “talent cliff”, but it just happens after Siberiano’s former level, if most of us are just doomed to stay where he was 10 years ago. (That would be a pretty wild coincidence, but work with me here.)
For anyone interested in a truly-nerdy deep-dive, this video is for you.
And I bet if you watch the whole thing, you’ll come away more optimistic than you were.
Enjoy!