I’m primarily self-taught on guitar and carving. But I’ve had some instruction from mentors – I can be a frustrating student. I do advanced things, but I need help with the basic stuff you are trying to teach me. Failure on the part of the student and frustration for the teacher are all a part of teaching me. It all comes from how I learn.
Timing may not be everything, but it’s one of the critical elements for me. Timing is part of success and failure. How? I need time to digest, cogitate, and absorb things. A girlfriend suggested I had a mind like a minefield surrounded by concertina wire. She thought I was merely stubborn. OK, maybe a bit. But I need the time to experiment, preferably fail privately and then make my way.
Failure does upset me. But failure doesn’t stop me from trying again. Sometimes, the success that comes after failure leaves others wondering what I’ve done. I resolve things in my own way.
I’ve found this tendency to do it my way upsets people for whom there is only one way to do things. It has most often happened in guitar and woodcarving. Both are skills that I’ve learned through self-tuition. I once watched a very proficient carver attempt to figure out how I carved a particular piece and ended up frustrated because it made no sense to him even though my technique worked.
I had found something I wanted to carve, but the written description made no sense. And then experimented until I found my own way to do it.
People have different learning styles, and time and timing are critical to finding the pathway to success.
Discover more from Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver
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It’s surprising how many teachers don’t get that there ARE students who are willing to fail and learn from it. I am that student. I think a lot of people are determined to succeed the first time they try something. Most of my students were that way and since communication isn’t something that can be learned in a linear fashion it was hard for most of them.
A hard lesson to taech in todays environment is that failure is useful for success.
A colleague of mine studied 19th century entrepreneurs in Pennsylvania. The pattern that emerged was that many of them failed five, six or seven times before making a successful business venture.
I think for the brave and/or foolish, failure keeps the interest alive except maybe in love matters.
Firstly, I love the image of your workshop, Lou.
I agree with you, everyone learns at their own pace in their own time and in their own style.
thank you for sharing this with our challenge.
I think I’ve said before that your workspace reminds me so much of my husband’s. Lots of creativity in evidence there and some lovely hand tools as well as electric ones. I still have most of his hand tools, ready to hand down to his son.
It’s wonderful when an artists tools pass on to the next generation. I have a number of my father’s, and some that were probably my grandfathers.
I must admit that I find written directions to be a mixture of boring and confusing and that I almost always figure out how to do things on my own. Having someone “show” me in person, however, is my favorite way to learn.
There are so many ways to learn. Years ago, I was told that showing was considered “holistic” and was not for the brightest students. BS was my reply: Show them the basics and then let them explore. They’ll crack a book for additional info or insight somewhere along the line. Or they’ll watch a video. I believe in the results more than I believe in theory.