‘If you can you should’

A friend of mine who is a herbalist and researcher was explaining how the physicians of old got into the technique of bleeding and surgery.

The physicians of course were men who had been trained in those skills at University or some form of tutorship, and he explained how many of the ailments could easily be treated cheaply by herbs that were available from the wise women of the village (those who had not been murdered as witches that is) but if you are paying top money for a physician then they could not be seen to do what the old wives could do they would have to do something far more complex. The history of medicine is interesting in that regard as the sort of thinking still holds sway, for instance there are many illnesses that can be cured simply often by fasting and a change of diet but we are programmed to think that we need an expert who is by extension expensive. When the reason and therefore the solution to curing scurvy was discovered one doctor at the time said that it could not be the simple.

Now there is an interesting aspect when it comes to music and learning and business opportunity if we apply the same thinking

Firstly do you need a teacher? Maybe the answer to that is yes because at least you get off to a good start and you certainly need some reference points early in learning new musical instrument. Secondly do you need to go to college? Think carefully, I would say for the contacts maybe you do but for the training I would say no. What does the qualification actually give you? If you wanted to become a teacher and a lecturer then maybe it is a good idea because the system is self-perpetuating i.e. you go to college to get the qualification to go to college to teach.

Now consider the opening quotation ‘If you can you should’. This is one of the driving thoughts that we have today. We see it everywhere, if you can afford a new phone you should, if you can go to Music College you should, if you can have the chemo therapy you should. Whereas in the past it was more a case of if you can do nothing then maybe you should, or may be better said ‘if you can you should do nothing’ let me explain. We are always taught about catching things early, in actual fact sometimes the body can deal with things and you never know there has been a problem, your body has been repairing you every moment of every day since you were born so something is going on when you are ill. Sometimes you just need a good rest but anyway that is another subject. The reason we know that these changes happened is that the words that encapsulated the idea of mañana in the English language have fallen out of the vocabulary. We had words for the ‘do something tomorrow leave it today’ and ‘have a rest’ but because of the Protestant work ethic and then the Industrial Revolution and then the media particularly television we have been driven and then indentured in order to conform.

The business opportunity here is simply going with what people expect and you see this in everything from the health industry and self-improvement whether it is an App which helps you run a marathon with Mo Farah or getting into shape with whoever and so on.

We as artists need to think subversively otherwise what the hell are we doing this for? If you really wanted to make money you should be working in the city not trying to make money playing the guitar or the drums and if you want stardom then you really need something to say or be so pretty as a man or a woman that really you are selling your art by how nice your backside is.

The idea of going to music college, Brit school, BIMM or anywhere is maybe just a case of ‘if you can you should’ but of course now you can do this online for very little money, you can even get the qualification. What you really need is to be known, but that my friend is something for another day.

Vic

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