THE BEAUTY OF BEING AN ENDLESS APPRENTICE [RRL]

Let's discuss the unspoken. Pau Casals was a learner, not a showbiz star. Why on earth would anyone doubt the sayings of an accomplished learner about his own learning?! Learners keep improving, since there's always room for improvement. Only people who never had the stamina to learn anything can ask the question addressed to Pau Casals. It's an unflattering question.

After all, what seems the be the catch? Instead of making up “fake wonders,” why don’t people learn how to read? It would be a great opportunity, really. Writing's made of the stuff of reading. For instance, why using the adjective “legendary?” What’s the novelty that the adjective's supposed to convey? Surely, Casals could not see himself as a “legend.” It was enough to see himself as a learner. Apprentices don't worry about “legends.” That’s TV jargon.

Why don’t people learn how to read? Just ponder his answer. He said “I think I’m making progress.” Can anyone hear it? “I think,” “I believe,” “it seems to me;” those phrases happen to be synonyms. For a learner those phrases has nothing to do with modesty. Modesty is only for philistines. Anyway, the "I think" provides just a description here. The “think” part of Casals' statement only points to a fact -his ear, contrary to all expectations, is telling him something new; something he has never heard before. Too subtle? Maybe subtlety is on its way.

Besides, “I’m making.” Why is he using a progressive tense? Style? Not in any wildest dreams! Just a plain fact. He’s astonished. His ear's discovering a sound that he didn't know he could aknowledge and then make it vibrate. He might even feel that his hands are “playing by themselves.” He is acknowledging the fact that the “registrar's name Pau Casals" isn't there when playing. Not even after all those years of practice and rehearsing. Please, vocalise it properly when reading -“I think I’m making progress.” Otherwise, don't make derogatory comments against your own best judgment.

Yet maybe subtlety's on its way. Should we dare to uncover, somehow, Casals' actual feelings? He's happily surprised. He's on the verge of blushing, like a maiden imagining about being passionately kissed. He's surprisingly happy because Music is answering to him, in a manner of speaking. How could anyone be so deaf no to hear that there’s only a tremolo in his words? If anyone knows how to read, should hear the tremolo, should hear the tiny cracking of his voice. People should learn how to read and stop pretending their expertise. Knowledge's nothing produced on purpose in spite of what the so called educators say. The only thing that might be under the learner's control's avoiding inertia. Once in a while.

Now if anyone has any problems with this state of affairs of this universe, please, don't insult the learners’ intelligence. As Gonzaguinha hinted, the late Brasilian pop musician, "the beauty of being an endless apprentice" is already a tough business.