

Range - billdeys
http://patdryburgh.com/blog/range

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franze
just want to share a (kinda related) story:

three years ago i ran 0.5 kilometers - and i was absolutely exhausted, i could
not take another step, i was completely devastated (sitting in an office chair
for 14 years does such things to your body). three days ago i ran - i think -
a little bit more than 22km (on a beach in peru, it was awesome). after that i
played with my son and went partying that night.

ignorance is a bliss! i never thought about my range, my limitations, i just
focused on running at least one step more with every run. (well this, and i
invested in really, really good running shoes).

~~~
sdfjkl
Curiosity: Which shoes?

~~~
franze
supernova glide (but just like with emacs and vim, you have to find your own)

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groby_b
Heard a beautiful quote related to that on NPR. They had a guitarist who was
heavily inspired by Django Reinhard, but does his own thing now.

The way he put it: "At some point, I realized that I could either imitate
Django and live in his shadow, or learn from him and live in his light".
(Paraphrased)

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noname123
Forget Ben Gibbard's range, Adele's range is even higher. But then again no
one ever complained about Dylan's monotone singing and C-G-F chord
progression. Some say that it's a constraint that forces you to be creative,
which forced him to focus on songwriting and live performance. Ditto for Chris
Martin and Tom Petty whose melodic range is very limited and could produce
haunting songs with the simplest chord palette.

I used to (actually still do) fixate how fast someone can play and how many
techniques someone is using. But then I realized that I'll never be able to
jump taller or run faster than some 18 year-old young buck in some inner-city
pickup game - being outrunned and outgunned just made me frustrated. I had to
work on cross-over dribble and step-back jumpers that relied on fakes instead
of speed to score. More importantly, I had to work on being not being
frustrated in-games on being blocked, dunked on, ball being stolen and missing
shots; focusing on making the open shots that I have after missing the first
five. Music is the same thing for me.

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angersock
The thing about software and engineering is that it isn't like singing--you
aren't stuck in your range. You don't have to grow comfortable and complacent.

The wonderful thing about learning to program and engineer is that you can, on
any day, pack up your bags and head to the new frontier and makes friends, and
soon you'll be a part of that community too until it's time to move on.

It's liberating.

~~~
groby_b
And yet, over time, a "range" develops. I've got 20+ years in low-level, C++,
systems, desktop client work. Yes, I work on other areas. But if I want to
really shine (or make nice amounts of money), this is my "range".

The same goes for music. Your range is not cast in stone, but it takes a lot
of hard work to push it. This is not what you do on stage, or even in most of
your practice. That's what you deliberately work on, without using it on stage
for a long time.

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zachallia
björk and mike patton are clearly outliers

