<p>This week John discusses his thoughts on Arete, the Greek concept of excellence and technical perfection. Set to the backdrop of the American Boychoir singing John's arrangement of Erie Canal, the idea of perfection in musical performance is at the forefront. </p>

This week John discusses his thoughts on Arete, the Greek concept of excellence and technical perfection. Set to the backdrop of the American Boychoir singing John's arrangement of Erie Canal, the idea of perfection in musical performance is at the forefront.

<p>This week John discusses his thoughts on Arete, the Greek concept of excellence and technical perfection. Set to the backdrop of the American Boychoir singing John's arrangement of Erie Canal, the idea of perfection in musical performance is at the forefront.&nbsp;</p>

Thoughts on Arete

John's podcasts and poems are frozen still moments recorded as mental photos that run in the reader’s imagination like full films. As both participant and chronicler John removes himself from the action, makes his observations quickly (and hopefully cogently) and then escape. If John is a good observer, he sees things that by themselves are extraordinary revelations about each of us which seem as caricatures rooted in ordinary life and amplified by the focus of each person’s mind on the “other” … ourselves. In other words, if a kid is “an indefatigable nose picker with bluster all his own” we get a complex message about human behavior that we got from an unmentionable source: us. Long after hearing  John's podcasts and poems, the scenes he describe live "rent free" in the reader’s mind.

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John's podcasts and poems are frozen still moments recorded as mental photos that run in the reader’s imagination like full films. As both participant and chronicler John removes himself from the action, makes his observations quickly (and hopefully cogently) and then escape. If John is a good observer, he sees things that by themselves are extraordinary revelations about each of us which seem as caricatures rooted in ordinary life and amplified by the focus of each person’s mind on the “other” … ourselves. In other words, if a kid is “an indefatigable nose picker with bluster all his own” we get a complex message about human behavior that we got from an unmentionable source: us. Long after hearing John's podcasts and poems, the scenes he describe live "rent free" in the reader’s mind.

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Thoughts on Arete

Thoughts on Arete