Issue No. 24: A Brief Spartan Meditation
Although it is not one of my favorite scripts by Pulitzer-winner David Mamet, the 2004 film Spartan nevertheless includes some punchy, memorable dialogue. One exchange I still have committed to memory:
Scott: What they gotcha teachin' here, young sergeant?
Black: Edged weapons, sir. Knife fighting.
Scott: Don't you teach 'em “knife fighting.” Teach 'em to kill. That way, they meet some sonofabitch who studied knife fighting, they send his soul to hell.
I think this passage has resonated with me for so long because of its applicability to a career in music and the training we usually receive to prepare us for that journey. The scene, filled with military machismo, underlines the critical difference between 1) acquiring isolated skills and 2) the application of those techniques (often in combination with each other or with other novel, improvised methods) toward achieving a broader goal.
We hear of performers and composers who are deeply frustrated with their educational experiences. You may be one of them.
“They didn’t teach me X or Y or Z in school!”
Of course they didn’t. There are always gonna be things they “didn’t teach you in school.” Academic/conservatory training is the world’s longest running game of Whac-A-Mole.
How is it that we know so much but feel so unprepared? Probably because we spent so much time learning about the thing instead of doing the thing.
You may have been taught knife fighting, but you need to know how to kill.