Frogman has written another excellent post!
@Schubert - I'm pretty sure that Mozart never actually said that. That line comes from the play/film Amadeus, and in my opinion that attitude (promoted by the character of Salieri, mainly) is one of the worst things in it (I love the film, despite it's major historical inaccuracies, and the soundtrack is great). Yes, Mozart was unbelievably talented; but he worked damn hard at his craft, and THAT is why his music is so great. There are SO many talented music students that get by for a while on their natural talent, but once they figure out how hard they really have to work to actually have a career, they fall by the wayside. No matter how much talent you may have, you still have to put in the work if you want to be truly great, and a VERY great deal of that work is very mundane indeed, as Frogman pointed out. And it is daily work, and continues throughout your entire career. Some people don't like athletic analogies to music, but they are very apropos here - just like an athlete must do their daily exercises and stretches, etc., the musician must do the same. And we work with much weaker muscle groups (especially the wind players like Frogman and myself) that have to last for much longer careers.
@Schubert - I'm pretty sure that Mozart never actually said that. That line comes from the play/film Amadeus, and in my opinion that attitude (promoted by the character of Salieri, mainly) is one of the worst things in it (I love the film, despite it's major historical inaccuracies, and the soundtrack is great). Yes, Mozart was unbelievably talented; but he worked damn hard at his craft, and THAT is why his music is so great. There are SO many talented music students that get by for a while on their natural talent, but once they figure out how hard they really have to work to actually have a career, they fall by the wayside. No matter how much talent you may have, you still have to put in the work if you want to be truly great, and a VERY great deal of that work is very mundane indeed, as Frogman pointed out. And it is daily work, and continues throughout your entire career. Some people don't like athletic analogies to music, but they are very apropos here - just like an athlete must do their daily exercises and stretches, etc., the musician must do the same. And we work with much weaker muscle groups (especially the wind players like Frogman and myself) that have to last for much longer careers.