Mistakes

Don't fear mistakes.. There are none.




Miles Davis

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Hello Diane

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Miles Davis was a great jazz trumpeter who knew music thoroughly. The pianist Herbie Hancock told about one day when they were playing together and Hancock accidentally struck a chord that had nothing whatsoever to do with the music they were playing and Davis played notes around it that brought it into the range of the piece.



Strange things happen sometimes in the performing arts. I once saw a ballerina lose her slipper during a performance. She kept dancing while one of the male dancers scooped it up and presented it to her as if it was a cherished gift of love.



I was doing a play one evening and another actor said something that wasn't even remotely his line. I couldn't respond to him with my scripted line. I had to make one up on the spot that would answer him and still get back to the plot.



During the filming of Dr. Stragelove George C. Scott accidentally did a tumble while pointing at something. He came up with a smile still pointing. Kubrick left it in.



There are always stories of writers setting out to write a story about one thing and ending up with something else because a mistake loomed somewhere and changed the whole idea or inventors who discover something they weren't looking for when they made a mistake in the shop, or the artist who accidentally spills some paint on the canvas and the painting takes off is a completely new direction, or a chemist in his lab mixing the wrong ingredients and discovering a new solution.



Many discoveries can be made by accident. When you make what you think is a mistake instead of throwing it out, stop and consider it. You may have discovered something.



DB - The Vagabond

Never give up.