My “Original” younger brother and How he inspired me to be an “Original”
I have six siblings (an older sister, an older brother, three younger sisters, one younger brother. My two older siblings were very bright students and often scored As and Bs in their academics. I often felt discouraged as I was more of a Cs and Bs student with an occasional A. On top of getting good grades they both also excelled at playing an instrument (Violin and cello), sadly my musical skill was nonexistent. Not only did my older siblings have academic and musical talents, but they also pursued different clubs in high school/college and were often in the “popular group” .My social skills were not the best and rarely made any clubs or popular friend groups. I often felt discouraged as I thought that to be an “Original” you would need the skills my older siblings possessed. But then my younger brother came into the picture.
My younger brother (Fin) loved the old rock bands like The Beatles, Black Sabath, Pink Floyd, and Guns N’ Roses. Fin saved his allowance to get himself a bass guitar and took a broken amp his school was throwing away and with the help a friend fixed the amp and connected it to his bass guitar. With no teacher and armed only with the internet Fin began to teach himself how to play. It was loud, noisy and obnoxious but I didn’t mid after all I’d rather the noise than Fin get into drugs. Fin was terrible for around 2–4 months but slowly but surely he got better and better and after 2 years he now plays cover of old rock songs very well. But just playing well wasn’t enough for him. He got bored just playing old popular songs over and over and started to write original pieces. I would see music sheets on his bed covered with scribbles I couldn’t read or understand. Just like his playing at first, his first original pieces were terrible and had no rhythm or steady tempo. Fin would spend hours making a 2–5 minute piece and after about ten or twelve awful original pieces, he created his first pretty good piece that didn’t sound bad and after making a few more now has 3 pieces that sound good. Fin wants to start a band and still has a long road to go down and he may or may not succeed but what is important is that he has the ability to tap into his creative side and apply it to almost anything he wants to do.
Fin is more of a Ds, Cs, and occasional B student and yet armed with nothing but the internet and a little help with some friend, is now able to create original pieces of music. I would argue that is was not just because Fin liked his idols and wanted to play their songs, he wanted to partake in created music and showing it to others.
Adam Grant writes about how some people who are naturally gifted at a particular skill are in a way cursed because they are able to be ahead of everyone talent wise but lack the creative and imaginative mind that is vital to become an “Original”. Both of my older sibling play the cello and violin very well and have had some great teachers to guide them but both siblings have never even attempted to create their own original pieces. Fin despite having no teacher, dedicated himself to not only play but also to create.
Fin’s story is inspirational to me because it shows me that one does not have to be a naturally gifted person to begin or start something new and even if it doesn’t work out the way you intend, the road it leads you down can take you to new opportunities one would never had imagined. The first time Fin decided to play bass guitar, he had no clue that 2 years later he would make his own original pieces.
I decided to begin learning how to write and speak Japanese but along the way I fell in love with Japanese culture and hope to either work in Japan for a company or teaching. I still have a long road to go but just learning Japanese has opened up new opportunities for me I never thought possible.
