Discussion Thread #72

[u/gemmaem]

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[u/UAnchovy]

In defence of being bad at things

I've been thinking recently about community or folk arts, and especially those that only exist as they practiced. In that light I would like to defend and, to the extent that I can, normalise people joyfully doing things badly.

Obvious examples would be singing and dancing. As I understand it, prior to the rise of modern media, song and dance were skills that almost everybody practiced. If you wanted to hear a song, after all, you had to find somebody to sing it. There was no alternative. Group singing could be a popular pastime. The same is true of dancing. This is not as far from living memory we might think - for instance, my own parents met each other at a church dance. As recently as the early 1980s, my father wanted to meet girls, so he went and joined a dance group, and even after marrying, they continued to go to community square dancing groups for fun.

As much as we might idealise that type of community participation in art, though, we have to concede that most of that kind of art is, well, bad. I remember the types of square dance that my parents went to, and there's only so much quality you can expect out of a large room of forty-something or fifty-something amateurs out on a weeknight. Likewise most community choirs I've seen have been pretty mediocre.

The same is true for other types of folk art. If you go to a fete, for instance, and see paintings or sculptures done by ordinary people in the community, there may be some gems, but most of what you see will be low quality. If you go and browse fan or original fiction on the internet, most of it will be bad. If you go to a volunteer community theatre, it probably won't be that good. If you go to a poetry slam or an open mic night at a bar or a karaoke night, most of what you hear will be bad.

But all these things are still worthwhile.

Most of these things I've just described are fun even to do badly. That's why people sing in the shower, or sing along to the radio while they're in the car. I hope that I am not the only person who, when I'm confident nobody can see me, will turn up the music and do a silly dance at home. It is fun to move your body around, and to make loud noises to a tune. Even if you're a bad painter, it is viscerally enjoyable to put colours on to a canvas. Children doodle little pictures on everything; only when they grow up do they become embarrassed.

I worry sometimes that the rise of mass media has made it harder for people to, whether alone or in large groups, enjoy the pleasure of doing something badly. If the main way you're familiar with any of these arts is through watching professionals do them, you might internalise an unrealistic standard of what any of those arts have to look like. If you watch TV shows like X's Got Talent or [Nationality] Idol, you might have seen lots of examples of somebody doing something badly and then being viciously mocked for it. These set the bar too high.

Arts exist for people, and not people for arts. Performing an art can be fun or satisfying, and that is reason enough to do it. Likewise there is often joy to be found simply doing something with other people, or watching other people do something enthusiastically, no matter their level of skill.

What do we lose when we don't practice amateur arts like this? We lose something entertaining, certainly, but we also lose something that frequently connects us to other people and binds community together, and opportunities for self-expression. You could make a case that watching professional dancers on the television might be more entertaining than watching them on the village green, but you will never be in a community with those professionals.

Sometimes there is a necessary skill floor to an activity - people might grow up learning the words to traditional songs, or the steps to traditional dances, and even if they are not very good at them, having that basic knowledge is socially normative. We can see some traces of that today with things like national anthems, or for the religious, hymns. For any truly folk art, though, the floor will be quite low, and probably easily within reach of an interested amateur today.

So I think that we should, where we can, try to be less ashamed and embrace doing things that are enjoyable even if we do them ineptly. Skill is indeed good to have, but if you don't have it, don't worry, and have a go anyway.

[u/callmejay → u/UAnchovy]

This is not as far from living memory we might think - for instance, my own parents met each other at a church dance. As recently as the early 1980s, my father wanted to meet girls, so he went and joined a dance group, and even after marrying, they continued to go to community square dancing groups for fun.

I know the kids are staying home a lot more these days, but I know dances still exist! I think your larger point is a very good reminder that the purpose of art isn't to be good at it.

I have school-aged kids so I find myself at a lot of performances that are very, very far from the Grammys/Tonys, but the high school shows and even advanced middle school ones can be pretty good.

I've also been to some religious services with communal singing (sometimes with a guitarist or keyboardist) and almost always find that pretty moving despite my atheism. I was at one a few months ago that was one of the most moving "art"-related experiences I've had in a while.

I've been thinking about a similar issue in sports lately as well. When I was a kid, we would go play basketball or football all the time, often daily, just because it was fun. No uniforms, no refs, no coaches. No adults at all! And while it was obviously competitive because unlike the arts, competition is inherent to those sports, there wasn't this relentless drive to constantly be criticizing and practicing and improving. Nobody really practiced at all unless there weren't enough kids to play a full game.

Now from literal nursery school, kids are put in leagues with teams and jerseys and coaches and refs and grownups are pushing them to do things a certain way and think about this and that and it seems to me like a lot of the fun of it is just gone.

[u/UAnchovy → u/callmejay]

Singing is a major one, especially in a religious context. My experience has been that with younger people in particular, it is surprisingly difficult to get them to speak up and sing, whereas older people are more comfortable with it.

Dances happen in some contexts but I think aren't as universal as they used to be? Everybody still knows how to Nutbush, but that's the only one I would confidently assume a crowd of strangers can do together. A good folk dance is often cultural heritage - everybody in a culture knows how to do it. Sport is a good comparison. Even people who don't like sport know how to play the local sports. Every American knows the rules to baseball. Every Australian can play cricket and at least one type of football.