Artist or Technician

To set the scene that inspired this post: 
Last week on Facebook, I posted about Hal planning to preach at one of the churches he formerly served in Ohio.  He had asked me to play piano.  A friend said that he didn't know that I was an artist, and I protested that I was merely a technician.  He told me to accept the compliment as it was given.

Then we got to the church.  A young man was behind the piano, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  This young man played beautifully.  And I found out that he does not read music.  He has never had a lesson.  He plays by ear.  Hal wanted to sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" - the young man did not know it, and I had not had time to practice that one, so we began to sing it a capello (not Acapulco) and halfway through the song, this pianist began playing along - a song he had not played before, notes he did not read.  And I stood in awe.  

And that, to me, is the difference.  I can play the notes that I see in front of me.  I can even memorized a song or two.  I can follow the directions for speed and loudness (or softness, as the case may be).  I can play with feeling.  But I cannot embellish.  I cannot add notes where the sheet in front of me has none (ok, I can, but it would not be pretty).  I cannot sit down to a keyboard and play by putting my fingers to keys - yes, I know what sound they have, but I need someone else to put them together on a sheet of paper for me to make it sound right.  I am a technician.  The young man at the church - he is an artist.  So was Ronnie (God rest his soul), my brother's friend, who could sit at the piano and play jazz riffs.  My mother asked me one time why I couldn't play like that.  I thought for the right way to answer, and told her that I have a skill; Ronnie had a gift.  And that is the difference.

My stepdaughter is a theatrical costumer.  She can imagine something in her head, put it to paper, design the pattern, and build a costume.  I can pin a pre-made pattern to fabric and sew it together.  Now, I have made a couple of purses(ok, so far 1 1/2) lately without patterns.  And they are/will be cute.  Yeah.  It's a rectangle with a button and ribbon.  But a dress?  A suit?  I can imagine something in my head.  Gets lost between  brain and paper.

So.  There you have it.  I'm a technician.  Now, I'm a decent technician when I work at it.  But I'm not an artist.  I have a skill, not a gift.  And that's ok with me.  And, it's ok if someone wants to call me an artist.