On Resistance and Perfection





The other day when I passed by a church in my town, someone was playing a hymn (Simple Gifts) on the church bells. Usually, when I hear the bells, they are played very randomly and out-of-time, probably by a non-musician. This time you could tell it was a trained musician playing them, yet still sounded rhythmically rough. But it would never sound perfect: The mechanism of pulleys and hammers hitting heavy metal objects defies perfection. There's almost an insurmountable resistance in the system from delays--which makes the effort more satisfying.

Comments

Popular Posts