lost pianists to a modern world

[gorbee natcase]

Do you think that the modern world has redirected the course of a young pianists career,
many years ago before the advent of television and the playstation and the PC kids would have to entertain themselves on a piano, or other musical instrument thus sparking an interest in becoming a pianist etc. but now we have millions of kids that are champions in mortal kombat and similar computer games, that may have otherwise become the next VL Horowitz, (there could even be a Mozart out there who does not know where middle C is, and is living life as a bank manager, or number crunching in the city. Are we pre programmed, or conditioned by our environment? what dammage has been done to the art of traditional music by technology.

[xvimbi]

The "modern world" has always redirected the course of young people. A hundred years ago, somebody who ended up being Horowitz could have become a master carpenter if he hadn't been "distracted" by that piano in his house. Mozart might have been a much better cook, who knows. In the end, one can't do more than expose a child (or oneself) to as many things as possible in order to find those activities that one really excels in and/or that one likes to do.

I think the issue is that most people are looking for instant gratification without having to spend a lot of time and effort. Without those, however, one can't truely excel in anything. The Doom3 champion probably works as hard as a concert pianist (and probably even makes more money ). Who is to say what activity is "worth" more: somebody being great at a new activity that one hasn't seen too often, or someone who is performing two hundred year old stuff that has been played millions of times before, by millions of people, the same way over and over and over again?