Masters Of Their Art©
By Michael Casey
I was watching the tv and I was musing on the skills of performers, Robbie Williams and Jonathon Miller to be exact. Just how do they manage to be so confidence, confidence and arrogance are first cousins I suppose, but confidence is what I’ll talk about first of all. In my own case I started primary school as one brother got into Grammar school, so it made me happy and aware of my mother’s mantra “you’re as good as anybody. In the end 4 of us got to grammar school. I could say how amazing that was considering we were from a working class Irish background, but in the end that may be considered boring, as everybody talks about just how poor they were. By the time I got to grammar school the eldest had just got into Oxford, now that WAS amazing for the time. I remember him listening to Cream at level 11 while he studied, our mum used to bang on the door “Mr Dixon is working nights, switch it off” Years later the next brother listened to music too, but not as loud, using the same speaker. He was different, he did not get to Oxford, he had a gap year before they were invented, then HE went to Cambridge. I do have one thing in common with my clever brothers, they listened to Eric Clapton while studying, I met the man himself when I was a concierge at a hotel.
The point of all this family boasting/pride is the fact that they worked very very hard, that’s how they achieved what they did. Me I’m the “failure” with 5 books on Amazon Kindle and I’m working on “Tears For A Butcher” my 6th book, when I’m not blogging on my sites, including The Daily Telegraph blog area, just Google “michaelgcasey” and follow your nose.
Now Michael Parkinson is back with a new show and that will be “masterclass”, I grew up with Michael in the 1970s when he was on the BBC, but what I hope his show will reveal is how “masters” do what they do. I had confidence most of my life because of what my bigger brothers did, it was like a shield, or intellectual big stick which was always with me. I should say though that I was a big fish in a small pool most of my working life, however once you work at a Law Firm then you begin to realise just how little your intellect is. However the LOVE that my mother gave us all, now that was as powerful as having Saint Michael by your side, a Kerrywoman never stops praying, and even if she is dead 16years now, she is still praying.
Confidence the like Robbie Williams has, or ability the kind Jonathon Miller has really is an amazing thing to watch, I had a peek at both of them on the tv tonight. Now I’d love to see how the pair of them would get on together, thinking about it though, Jonathon might turn Robbie into an opera. Confidence is born out of ability, out of practice, practice prevents piss poor performance as Derek once said to me. Mental energy is used at 1million volts level when you are a top performer such as Robbie Williams. As for Jonathon Miller he said he is a people watcher and modestly said he is just reminding his actors how to insert body language into their performance. The writer Jack Rosenthal used to say he did the school run in order to pick up dialogue for his plays. So observation works its way into performance, into writing.
Making things up does not really happen, life is filtered through us, and when we create or perform we are giving something
extra to the observed life. I tell people that I am like Slumdog Millionaire because what I’ve lived has created the man I am, and gives me whatever ability I now have. Yes you can inherit pretty genes, take my daughters for example, last time they were in Shanghai, at the zoo they were filmed more than the animals. Both girls are very artistic, 700 crayons and felts and paints is the last estimate, which is not enough, they always need more. Where did this skill come from? Gene pool and uncles giving them the tools, and not being allowed computer games at home. Today they were modelling clay in their studio, which sometimes passes for a bedroom.
Now to become a master practice is almost like an obsession, we had Richard Clayderman at the hotel once, 10 years ago or so when I was there, and Richard had a practice keyboard with him, something you roll out on a desk. Even he kept the practice going, it’ll be interesting next weekend as my girls will start piano practice behind me. Will my girls become the next big piano thing, Lang Langs from Birmingham?
You can get sick of things, things can get stale, ask any actor, actors move on to fresh fields. Artists and Masters are lucky because they get paid to do stuff they enjoy. The famous quote from Jacob Bronowski to Michael Parkinson “ I’m like a prostitute, I get paid to do what I enjoy.” and Michael quibbled about prostitutes and enjoyment. Bronowski replied “ perhaps you know more about that subject than me.” Game Set and Match to Bronowski.
In conclusion, the more you like stuff the better you become, most of us have to do stuff we don’t like so that we can do stuff that we do like at the weekend, that’s if you don’t work shifts. Me I’ve done shifts all my life, but now I write I can really enjoy myself whenever I’m by a computer with Word on it. Feedback can make or break any spirit, but a few well-chosen words can really be a life saver to somebody reading your words. A song sung can help people survive the pain of the day, so think of that in the morning when you go to church.
