When are people going to wake up and realize listening is a skill?


Thirty years ago I realized my lifelong dream of owning a 911. This is a fast car and so first thing I did was join PCA to get some track experience in order to be able to drive safely at speed. Of course I already knew how to drive. I was a "good driver" much better than most, etc, etc. 

PCA Driver Ed begins with several hours of classroom study. Track rules, safety, and some car control skills- braking, steering, throttle control. Yeah, yeah, whatever let's go!    

Then at the track they put you in your car with an instructor and you head out onto the track driving so freaking slow, actually normal freeway driving speed but it seems slow because, race track. So we play follow the leader with the instructor pointing out cones. Braking cones, turn-in cone, apex cone, track out cone. Each turn is numbered 1 thru 9, and there's turn worker stations, and they have flags, and you need to be watching and know what they mean, because you screw up and that is it your day is done. One full 20 min session, all the excitement of a tour bus.  

Bear with me. There's a connection here. Trust me. 

It goes on like this all day until finally we are signed off to drive solo but then there is an accident, flat bed, that's it for the day. 

Next time out I am so super confident instead of novice I sign up for Intermediate. Same cars, only the Intermediate drivers are supposed to somehow be better. Whatever.   

So out I go and Holy Crap everyone is passing me! I am driving as fast as I possibly can and being passed by everyone! Not only that, if you have ever driven as fast as you possibly can then you know this means braking as late as you possibly can, cornering as fast as you can, all of it. Which without fear of police is pretty damn fast! So fast I am not at all used to it, and so by the end of 20 min am literally sweating and exhausted!  

But I keep at it. Turns out all that classroom talk is about driving skills that are absolutely essential, not only to know but to be able to do. Threshold braking is braking right at the edge of lockup. Right at the very edge. Those cones are there for reference, to help you delay braking as long as possible. The turn-in cones are where you start turning, apex cone where you are right at the inside edge of the turn, track-out where you come out the other side. Do all this while at the very limit of traction and you are going very fast indeed. Without- and this is the essential part- without really trying to go fast.  

Learn the skills, practice the techniques until you are able to execute smoothly, efficiently, and consistently, and you will be fast. Without ever really trying to go fast.   

The connection here is, everyone thinks they hear just fine. Just like they think they drive just fine. In the classroom they talk about threshold braking, the late apex line, and controlling weight transfer with throttle. Just like here we talk about grain, glare, imaging and sound stage.   

I left one part out. All the track rats, they all start out talking about horsepower, springs and spoilers, thinking these are what makes the car fast. They are, sort of. But really it is the driver. By the time I was an instructor myself it was easy to go out with those same Intermediate drivers and it was like the commute to work it was so easy. My car was the same. Only my skills were greater.  

So when are people gonna wake up and realize listening is just like this? Nobody expects to become a really good golfer, tennis player or rock climber just by going out and doing it. Why are so many stuck talking watts? When are they gonna realize that is just like track rats talking hp?


128x128millercarbon
Wow, fascinating post...

MC the expert race car driving instructor...

What's next?
dekay-
clearly, this is no ordinary man...
https://www.bu.edu/bostonia/files/2018/04/bostonia_995x664_dos-equis-man-jonathan-goldsmith-Shot_03_...

Highlights:
1. He once won the Tour-de-France, but was disqualified for riding a unicycle
2. When in Rome, they do as HE does
3.His feet don’t get blisters, but his shoes do
4.He can speak Russian… in French
5.He lives vicariously through himself
My real audio soul mate and sensei spends a lot of time with Joe Harley ( see Tone Poet, Blue Note, Audioquest Records ) . Your point Bill about Holt is well taken. They push each other while enjoying each other, the journey and the music.
best to you Bill, I always enjoy your writing, musings and the Reggae 
They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Music can be in the ears, heart, and soul of the beholder.

My mission is to enjoy the music and that I do.
1-The greatest F1 driver of all time has become so primarily by braking as late into corners as his skill and physics allow, which give him a real advantage over his competition as few can do the same.
2-There are musicians (and even "regular" folk) that have perfect pitch. When they judge live music, or reproduced music, their parameters are different than most.
3-There is a 10,000 hour rule that proposes that to become proficient at a task requires a minimum amount of practice/learning.
4-As humans age, especially men, they lose the ability to hear certain frequencies they could ascertain in years past. Some of these men still master and remaster recordings and don't realize their hearing has changed.

Driving, like listening, is a skill. Some choose to pursue it further than others. There are thousands of people who think Bose 501’s were great speakers and there are those who’ve heard them, compared them to better ones, and disagree. That disagreement is only useful to those who can hear the differences. Those who can’t claim those who can are wrong.

Driving and listening skills decline with age. Most of us never have to take a performance car level driving test to keep our licenses nor get our hearing checked to validate what we "know" we hear in our systems, at concerts etc.
Don't trust me.....at all.....

...it makes it easier for me to get the drop on someone later....;)