I once read an interview with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. He was saying that in one way CDs were making life very difficult for musicians. The problem is that people sometimes listen to a piece of music on CD and then expect a live performance to sound the same, or better.
But a CD has been made by editing several takes and engineering the sound to perfection. Live musicians occasionally make mistakes. People do. But a lot of people find that hard to accept.
I don't think it's only musicians who feel this kind of pressure. Perhaps we all do in some ways.
How many of us believe we can't sing, because we don't have a voice like someone else? Or feel we don't look good, because we're not the same shape as so-called beautiful people? Or think we can't draw because what we draw doesn't look like the real thing? Or feel we've messed up our lives because we've made mistakes, or done things wrong?
Back in the 60's Ray Davies was told by an agent that if his band, the Kinks, were going to be successful he would have to have cosmetic dentistry to remove the gap in his front teeth. His reaction was to say, 'Blow that!', or something similar. He was as he was. Gap and all.
The band went on to great success, and he was here this year at the Glastonbury Festival with his current style of music and storytelling. Good for him. And good that so many people want to hear live performances, even though the quality won't be as high as the engineered recordings.
Unfortunately, down the centuries the church has often excelled at making people feel bad about themselves. One of the first things people would be encouraged to do when they went to church was to think about how bad they'd been. But also in art and music, only the very best would do.
Jesus did indeed say to his disciples, 'You must be perfect because your heavenly Father is perfect.' (Matthew 5.48) But have a look at what he's talking about and you see he's actually saying that his followers are to be as loving, forgiving and welcoming as God is.
Time and again in the gospels Jesus doesn't make people feel inadequate, but picks them up. The people he gives a hard time to are the ones who criticise and condemn others for not being as good as they are.
Of course, let's do what we can as well as we can. Let's make the best of the life we have. Not because we have to be perfect but because life's a gift, and we have skills to use and enjoy in ways that are unique to us.
David Osborne
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