Talents

I’ve always wondered…is it possible that a person could have a natural hidden talent but because they weren’t interested in the subject it was never realized? Or are people usually naturally drawn to the things they are or will become good at?

As an example: Someone doesn’t know how to play the piano and was never interested in taking lessons. But what if that person had taken lessons and had so much natural talent that they became the most amazing pianist in the world?

I’m not talking about someone that grinds away and practices something over and over until they’re good at it. I’m talking about a natural talent. Is a person instinctively drawn to do whatever it may be?

If the greatest game designer who ever lived was born in New Guinea in 1503, it is likely that their talent was not expressed.

The greatest natural solar wind sailor may be currently living in Detroit, but since solar sailpods have not yet been invented she is a cashier at a grocery store.

Talents can only be expressed if the circumstances allow.

I would guess opportunity plays a big part. If you’re not exposed to something, your interest may never be sparked and you may never discover that you’d have been great at it. Or if you really want to do something and for a number of reasons, you just can’t pursue it, a talent my remain undeveloped.

I had music lessons as a kid (accordion. Don’t laugh!) but what I really wanted was dance lessons. However, my folks couldn’t afford that. The best I could manage was checking out ballet books from the library and practicing alone in my basement. When I was finally able to take lessons, I was in college, and that’s way too late to start ballet. Plus I’d developed other interests and other goals, so who knows. Maybe I’d have been a great dancer. Or maybe I’d have discovered early that it wasn’t my thing. We’ll never know…

That’s a question I’ve sometimes wondered as well, when I used to watch Formula 1 racing and the presenters would wax lyrical about some incredible new talent and that he was the best driver in the world I would think that maybe the actual best driver is paddling a canoe down some river in the Amazon jungle as a member of an uncontacted tribe and he would never have the chance to show it.

I guess as others have mentioned it takes the opportunity and interest to bring the talent out, it would be nice to think people are naturally drawn to their talents but I don’t see how that could work.

Perhaps the greatest basket-weaver that ever lived is some big burly biker-dude that would scoff if you suggested he give it a try. :slight_smile:

Could a natural talent for playing the piano be broken down into more basic, atomic talents, like manual dexterity and a feel for music, which could be realized in other ways?

My approach rtom this may have been influenced by a James Branch Cabell story I read back in my impressionable youth.

The protagonist had his life stolen from him by a spirit. All his achievements were cancelled by some time manipulation. The love of his life sits drowsing by the hearth, daydreaming about him as her grandchildren play about her feet; his mortal enemy screams in frustration in his cradle as he understands they will never meet.

The protagonist accepts this and becomes a ghost, since he has never had the opportunity to find passion in any aspect of his life.

I was never interested in taking lessons, but I was given a small toy keyboard when I was young and got pretty good at it. The next year my parents got me a bigger keyboard, and then the following year they got me a piano. Fast forward 25 years, and I’ve been making a living as a pianist for the last 14, and still haven’t taken a lesson.

I guess you could argue that the “opportunity” in this case was getting the keyboard in the first place, but if I wasn’t naturally drawn to it, it would have just become another toy in the back of the closet. Turns out my grandfather, who I never knew, was also a musician, unbeknownst to me at the time.

So I think it’s a mixture; obviously yes, if you’re in a third world country you might be the guy who could invent the next technological breakthrough and never have the chance. But also you are drawn to the things you’re naturally good at, so I’d like to believe if you have something to offer, you’ll find a way to get to it.

I married a real-world example of this. I’m a gun enthusiast, shooter, hunter, etc. and my wife is not. When we married she had never handled a gun. She was leery of them due to a gun-related death in her immediate family. Eventually she agreed to join me and friends at the range, and we got a shock. She’s very, very, good and is quite natural at shooting. Skeet, pistol, long range rifle, even a 100 yard open sight series, she was challenging the best. After some formal training at a defensive pistol course, the instructors told me if we were confronted by intruders just give her the gun and hide behind her. :rolleyes:

Savants are often very, very good st one thing. Being they’re handicapped in other ways, you could say their talents are completely natural.

Not sure if this applies exactly…

I guess have some degree of natural talent for music. Started age 4, classically trained pianist through high school. Studied music in college was going to be a music/band director. Acquired, studied, and played many instruments. Was a professional musician for a time. I can pretty much pick up any instrument and play it (to varying degrees). All that stuff.

Within about 10 years after college (I’m 45 now), my playing waned and I don’t play anything at all any more.

I own a piano, full drum set, 7 or more guitars (can’t remember off the top), couple ukeleles, 2 flutes, piccolo, trombone, many more hand held percussion instruments, couple electronic keyboards/synthesizers, like 3-4 different amps, etc. Most of which is in a case, not having seen the light of day in 15 years or just collecting dust in the basement. And I used to be able to play them all well.

And even though I don’t play - I can’t bring myself to sell the stuff either.

That all said, I just lost interest. Kids, life, etc… I believe anyone highly skilled in something like music, athletics, or the like must have both a degree of natural talent/ability AND the drive/desire to excel. There are many of us out there who have one or the other. But I believe a person needs a little (or a lot) of both.

I have such an excellent fashion sense that people have paid me to put together outfits for them. However, my sister actually asked me once “With your fashion sense and you ability for finding great clothes in thrift store, why do you want around looking like an unmade bed?”

Because I have ZERO interest in fashion, that’s why.

We’re having a bit of the opposite situation in my family. My brother’s niece is 15yo, which means she needs to choose her High School Track. She wants to go for a degree in Tourism like her aunt, with the idea of using it to live in different places, working in hotels or as a tour operator… oh wait - just like her aunt! If I was my SiL I’d be flattered out of my mind!

Several of our relatives keep telling her “no no, since you like clothing so much, you have to get a degree in Fashion.” Why? Liking clothes and liking looking pretty doesn’t have to equal liking dressing other people up!

You need a combination of raw ability (the actual talent), opportunity and interest. I might have the potential to be the best tuba player ever but I think I haven’t even touched one in my life and I have zero interest in doing so.

About 25 years ago I taught a young lad of about 11 to play chess. Young Lad (YL) had never seen a chess set with his own eyes, and was only aware of chess existing thanks to his exposure to it through media (it came up in a book he had to read for school, for example).

As for the qualities that make a good chess player: good memory, good spatial reasoning, good imagination, etc., I have no idea if he possessed any of them. His much-older sister, who was my friend at the time and introduced me to him, said (not unkindly) that he was a good kid, but generally unremarkable in every way.

So one night I taught YL how to play chess. We did a few practice situations and whatnot, just to make sure he fully understood, then we set up and drew pawns for black or white.

Our first actual game, I could see right away that he understood winning concepts (controlling the center of the board, developing knights & bishops before queen & rooks, etc.), despite never having been exposed to them. I still won.

Our second game, he built on those concepts, and even figured out how to use pins & forks to his advantage (having robbed me of my queen thanks to a well-placed fork), again despite never having been exposed to those concepts. I won, but barely.

Our third game, the kid beat me as thoroughly as Garry Kasparov would beat a patzer. At one point I think he was picking off my pawns just for sport.

Clearly that kid was born with some kind of wiring in his brain that translated into pretty-impressive skills at chess. YL is now an adult man, and his sister tells me that he still plays chess casually from time to time, but no one will play him because he beats them so thoroughly.