"He Makes It Look Easy"

[AuntShecky]

“He Makes It Look Easy!”

During the past MLB baseball season, the play-by-play announcers often commented on the graceful defensive technique of NY Mets center fielder, Carlos Beltran. The frequent comment: “He makes it look easy!”

Not only in sports but especially in arts we delight at the few who have this effortless quality: among actors of the past, Spencer Tracy, and of the present, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep; among past and present singers and musicians, Bing and Ella; Oscar Peterson, Wynton Marsalis, Eric Clapton. The irony, of course, is that the performance may LOOK “easy,” but it is the result of years of practice and study. It may look effortless,
but truly it is not. Effortlessness is not exactly the same as professionalism, but it is one of the qualities of the professional. As the commercial says, “never ever let them see you sweat.”

I would like to open this discussion to the Networkers on the forum to post their choices of performing artists and writers who have this effortless quality.
Here’s a few more to get the debate started:
The poems of Langston Hughes and the shorter poems by Robert Frost; they are deceptively simple, but re-reading and closer examination unveils layer after layer of meaning. In reality, it may have taken these poets taken hours of writing and rewriting to produce the work, but when we read the published poem we almost think that this poetic grace was second-nature to them, that all they had to do was dash it off on a piece of paper. That’s how magical effortlessness can be.

Additionally, it is true that the body of work of W.B. Yeats is intricate and does not make us immediately think that Yeats makes the process of writing of poetry “look easy,” but several of Yeats’s poems have this ineluctably effortless quality, for instance, “When You Are Old.”

Let’s hear your picks and get a lively discussion going.

[SleepyWitch]

very interesting thread, Aunt,.. can't think of anyone at the moment.

[FacialFracture]

I like this idea. For the most part, I agree with your choices; I find the inclusion of Eric Clapton interesting though. I would never argue with his amazing ability, and I've heard the stories about him re-stringing his guitar mid-performance, but he's never sounded effortless to me. Clapton has an incredible precision in his playing (I'd never describe his style as "loose") and because of that, to me, his playing has always sounded skilled or proficient; in other words, I've never been able to divorce the ideas of practice and study from his music. I'm not arguing with you at all, I just find it really interesting how different people's perceptions can be.

Anyway, to contribute my own picks...the first people who came to my mind when I read this post were Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, and W.H. Auden; with Auden, it's not just his poetry. I've read essays of his; they're brilliant, detailed, and concise, but they have a very relaxed, unneurotic style that makes for a casual, but informative read.

[Petrarch's Love]

Mozart comes to mind first in the category of simple and seemingly effortless but astoundingly complex. There are, of course many others, but I'll have to think a bit about some really good examples.

There's a wonderful word that came out of the Italian Renaissance to describe this sort of seemingly artless art: sprezzatura. Sprezzatura was first coined in Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, and it refers to the type we would now call the Renaissance Man, who can walk into a room, tell a witty story, compose an impromptu sonnet, show off a painting he knocked off in his spare time, and perform all this as naturally as breathing. The trick is that in reality all this effortlessness requires a supreme effort, so sprezzatura became a Renaissance catchword to refer to the phenomenon of art that is made to appear easy and natural by means of well hidden exertion. It's also a really fun word to say, especially if you give a nice roll to the "r" sound. ;)

[AuntShecky]

Facial Fracture I couldn't agree more with the choices of Sinatra, Mitchum,and Auden! I wish I had mentioned Auden in my original essay! Re: Clapton, yeah, that's how he sounds to me. On the other hand, another musician of the past, John Coltrane, whom I greatly admire and whose music to me is top-notch is not one for whom I'd use the word "effortless," though other Coltrane devotees would. Count Basie was the epitome of effortlessness. It's said that when his band was performing at a club, he'd plunk his famous two-note signature on the piano, walk around, greet the customers, have a sip or two, then stroll back to the piano and then resume playing. I heart Count Basie!
To Petrarch's Love (Laura?) -- Mozart is a wonderful choice. I once heard an announcer on a public radio station comment on one of Mozart's piano concertos. He said something to the effect that lesser composers would invariably choose a different note to follow a certain note, and would never think of the one Mozart chose -- yet that particular note would be the best one! Also, thanks for introducing me to the term "sprezzatura."

[thescholar]

Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" comes to mind, being of simple structure and style, yet can literally relate to ANY READER in a "humble buddhist master" sort of way.

[andave_ya]

Lovely thread, Aunt! I actually just checked out some Miles and Coltrane cd's from the library at your suggestion. I haven't listened to them yet, but am looking forward to.

As to some 'effortless' artists, Ella Fitzgerald comes to mind as well as Fred Astaire. He makes tap dancing look effortless!

[LadyWentworth]

As to some 'effortless' artists, Ella Fitzgerald comes to mind as well as Fred Astaire. He makes tap dancing look effortless!

Oh, Ella is the best!

Along with Astaire, the other tap dancers out there that I wish I could tap as "easily" as they seem to make it look are Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor and Eleanor Powell. These 3 could tap so fast. Their sense of rhythm was perfect. Yet, they never seemed like they ever put much effort into it.

Mentioning the great Spencer Tracy just reminds me of all the old-timers that were flawless. There's Cary Grant, Frederic March, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, just to name a few. As for today, I admire Kenneth Branagh. I really do admire his Shakespeare. If I only I could recite the lines as "naturally" as he does!

Sinatra was great. Then again, I think crooners were the best at making it "look easy". I think there was something about their personalities mixed in with the smoothness of their voices that made it all seem to just flow so easily. Sammy Davis Jr. was perhaps the best. Not only could the man sing, he was an excellent dancer! He was difinitely one-of-a-kind regarding making things look effortless! :D

[thescholar]

what about kenny g, saxophonist. i found is smooth jazz-ish style to be deeply calming. He seemed to flow so well, yet his keywork on the sax was absolutely stunning. He definitely made it look easy.

[stlukesguild]

what about kenny g,saxophonist:crash: :sick:
:brickwall

Acck! Sorry... I couldn't help myself. It's just that seeing Kenny G placed so near to the above mentioned John Coletrane, Miles Davis, Count Basie, etc... I just coudn't help myself!

[stlukesguild]

"Sprezzatura"... marvelous word, Petrarch's Love. I don't think I've heard or read it since my art school days and my studies of Italian Renaissance art. Two other great ones we learned at the time were "sfumato" and "chiaroscuro"... both similar in meaning (to each other... not to "sprezzatura")... but not exactly the same. Of course in my field I still continue to hear these words on a regular basis.

My first thoughts upon writers having this "sprezzatura"... the facility to make things look easy... was Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron. Wilde's writings seem almost effortless... yet bearing an almost "classical" grace and wit. With Byron I am awed at how easy... almost colloqial... he can make something as formally structured as Don Juan sound. Of course all the brilliantly witty digressions to add to this. I remember almost laughing with glee when I first came across his brilliant rhyme for the Egyptian King, Cheops:

What are the hopes of man? Old Egypt's King
Cheops erected the first pyramid
And largest, thinking it was just the thing
To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid;
But somebody or other rummaging,
Burglariously broke the coffin's lid:
Let not a moment give me or you hopes,
Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops

The brilliance of his execution is made all the more obvious by the bravura manner... even the audacity as well as the humor with which he tackles this epic length formally structured poem.

In music... certainly I must agree with PL. Mozart is THE master of "sprezzatura". Listening to a work such as his opera, Die Zauberflöte I am struck by the manner in which he virtually "throws away" the most marvelous melodies that any other composer would kill for. Bach probably had more actual ability than Chopin... especially when one looks at his fugal compositions... but one never gets the feeling that these were "easy"... there is too much obvious complexity. Chopin, however, has more than a bit of this ease. Certain Johann Strauss had it as well. I agree that Count Basie had it... and certainly both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Miles has this at times... but then I usually get the feeling that while he is certainly not struggling he is definitely thoughtful about each and every note he plays.

I don't think that we should imagine that this lack of "sprezzatura" is some defect. I don't sense it in Beethoven. It certainly isn't there in Wagner or Bruckner. Some artists clearly struggled on the way to their creation... and the records of this struggle lends the end result a certain (albeit different) quality. Van Gogh seems to battle with his paintings to such an extent that the entire image appears to undulate or writhe passionately:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/goghsmall.jpg

This may be even more true of Chaim Soutine who scraped the paint off repeatedly and furiously until he achieved the result he was after:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/soutine.jpg

Soutine's close friend, Modligliani, always appeared to have an effortless ability for painting the most graceful and delicate portraits... often while reciting from his beloved Dante...

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/modigliani96sm.jpg

This was so in spite of the fact that he was profoundly poor, struggling with Tuberculosis and alcoholism. It would appear that "sprezzatura" is all about appearances and may have little to do with reality. Degas once responded to a comment about his own "spontaneity" that "no one was less spontaneous" than he. All the reviewer was responding to was the final 15 minutes of the work. Indeed, Matisse has the appearance of such graceful simplicity... and yet his best paintings were often the product of months of revisions:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/GRN_EYESsm.jpg

Picasso, on the other hand, almost worked like a child: rapidly painting, making the most audacious decisions, allowing the first crude marks to suffice.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/CraneCruchesmall-1.jpg

At the age of 80 he was still turning out paintings at a rate of more than one a day. I don't know the number of times I've stood before one of his paintings and thought, "I can't believe he did that. He simply seemed able to always get it down right the first time.

[Virgil]

William Butler Yeats. No 20th century poet in English to me makes it look easier.


Byzantium
by William Butler Yeats

The unpurged images of day recede;
The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed;
Night resonance recedes, night walkers' song
After great cathedral gong;
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
All that man is,
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.

Before me floats an image, man or shade,
Shade more than man, more image than a shade;
For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth
May unwind the winding path;
A mouth that has no moisture and no breath
Breathless mouths may summon;
I hail the superhuman;
I call it death-in-life and life-in-death.

Miracle, bird or golden handiwork,
More miraclc than bird or handiwork,
Planted on the star-lit golden bough,
Can like the cocks of Hades crow,
Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud
In glory of changeless metal
Common bird or petal
And all complexities of mire or blood.

At midnight on the Emperor's pavement flit
Flames that no faggot feeds, nor steel has lit,
Nor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,
Where blood-begotten spirits come
And all complexities of fury leave,
Dying into a dance,
An agony of trance,
An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.

Astraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood,
Spirit after Spirit! The smithies break the flood.
The golden smithies of the Emperor!
Marbles of the dancing floor
Break bitter furies of complexity,
Those images that yet
Fresh images beget,
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

[SleepyWitch]

my fave band, Son of the Velvet Rat, they're very minimalistic.. express a lot with few words
http://www.myspace.com/sonofthevelvetrat
(unfortunately there best songs are not on their myspace)

[bazarov]

Roger Federer, Zinedine Zidane and Ivano Balić - sport. Maybe you expected something else...OK, then I would go for Mark Knopfler.

[AuntShecky]

I agree with you, St Lukes' Guild: I THINK it was you-- anyway, Beethoven
is a supreme example of a monumental artist about whom
we would never describe as "effortless." Yet such an omission does not diminish his music in the least -- however, we would never describe any of his nine symphonies, 5 piano concertos as "labored." Nor is his
music completely devoid of a "light" touch -- esp. in the Pastoral. I just read a newspaper article about a concert pianist currently on tour. His name is Jeremy Denk. (I don't plan to go hear him -- but that's only because I never get to go anywhere.) Anyway, this guy Denk is on a crusade to demonstrate what Denk believes is Beehoven's "sense of
humor," specifically in Beethoven's Sonato No. 29 in B-flat Major. I don't know if Ludwig was a barrel of laughs,
the piece Denks is going to play is called "The Hammerklavier." Sounds pretty heavy-handed to me.

Our popular notion of Beethoven would equal or surpass the intensity of some of our current virtuosos (Keith Jarrett, for instance.) We picture Ludwig, with Einstein-like hair, all intense and passionate, shaking his fist at the
sky. Magnificiently artistic, si or "ja"--
"effortless"? nein.

[mortalterror]

I know what you mean, but I look at my top bookshelf with my fifty or so favorite books and I know that every one of them sweat blood to write as well as they did. Hemingway rewrote from the beginning everyday as far as he could, until he'd gone over every word in his books a hundred times. I can't read his posthumous stuff, besides A Moveable Feast which was finished when he died, because of what a lousy unfinished state it's all in, let alone the botched editing job his kids did on it. No Max Perkins they.

I read Mark Antony's speech and see how Shakespeare channeled his audience's thoughts so that ideas occur to you in certain sequences, and build to a precise effect, and I see so much structure. It's like a Socratic dialogue, where you think you're leading the discussion but the teacher's leading you. Or in Dante when you know that nothing is given to chance and every symbol can be read seven different ways. There's a reason T.S. Eliot produced as little as he did. That stuff is labor intensive.

I read a story half a lifetime ago about a writer handing a script to a producer and the producer handing it back and saying it felt contrived. The writer responds, "Well it better. I spent weeks contriving it!"

I never see ease in excellence. I don't take anything for granted. When I used to watch Pavarotti sing, I used to think, "He didn't need to be that good. He could have worked just a little less hard and we would have liked him anyway. People make good livings being half as skilled, but something is driving him to be the absolute best at what he does."

[stlukesguild]

I never see ease in excellence. I don't take anything for granted. When I used to watch Pavarotti sing, I used to think, "He didn't need to be that good. He could have worked just a little less hard and we would have liked him anyway. People make good livings being half as skilled, but something is driving him to be the absolute best at what he does."

It may not be "easy"... certainly not for most of the rest of humanity... but I think there is art that has the appearance of such facility or fluidity... that appears so natural that you never sense how the artist struggled. Pavarotti is certainly a good example. He usually conveyed such a sense of effortless joy that you never sensed any struggle. The great Paul Wunderlich who died so tragically young from a freak accident was even more masterful that Pavarotti in this. Maria Calas, on the other hand, often fights to hit the highest notes... but she brought such passionate intensity to even roles that others would have dismissed as lightweight that she still raises the hairs on my neck.

[kiz_paws]

The short stories of O.Henry are such (for the most part) splendid samples of the fine art of short story (perfect formula he had, yes indeed) writing -- to my way of thinking, he made it seem effortless. So that is my writer's pick.

The paintings of Van Gogh was a good choice, I'm on the same wave length there -- he made it look easy (yet we all know the agony he called life).

For music I am going to go with Harry James (ha, you thought I'd say someone else?). No one belts out trumpet like him (though Louis Armstrong plays a mean horn). For me, Harry makes it seem effortless, natural, etc.

My last pick would be Albert Einstein. His insight changed forever the paths in physics, his forumula are still fodder for new and cooler things to come. And he made it seem simple, that anyone could do this (ahhh, if only).

Well I loved this thread, Aunty, and sorry if I have monopolized a huge chunk with my lengthy post. :blush: