Opher Brayer’s Blog

This is the second part of the post “Talent & Me” - please read the first part before this one. Thanks

One of the formative experiences of my life occurred when I was 12 years old. A rare disease that hurts the reticulum of the eye attacked my eyes. The deterioration was rapid. In a few weeks time I had lost my eyesight up to the point of almost complete blindness. The doctors were at a loss, they told my parents that there was a possibility for a spontaneous cure but at the same time this might also not happen. To me anyway, this was a wonderful and developing period. Having no choice, I developed an optimistic point of view during that period, and this characterizes me till today. No matter what situation I am in, I “program” myself to look for the best and concentrate on that. This is a trait that has served me since then, in all aspects of my life.

Because of my situation I was permitted to absent myself from any binding framework for an unlimited period of time. The freedom I thus gained was intoxicating. Since I was missing the external attractions built into the system, I had to invent a whole new “special private world” so as to be able to survive. I sat beside the piano most of the day and since I could not see notes, I started playing jazz and rock music by ear.
As a result, it turned out that during this scary dark period on the outside I gained a large “light” - on the inside. In the passing years when I was already a well-known teacher of jazz, people who understood music, complemented me on having a “natural musical hearing”. This angered me each time a new, since I knew that this “natural talent” of mine for music and the piano “were born” as a result of a year of daily untiring efforts. Luckily, as foreseen by the optimistic physicians, my illness disappeared after a year more or less. I, on the other hand, had already gained a whole world.

As I mentioned before my extracurricular activities were in various fields. Without planning, the result was that I had practiced a lot in the 3 most important fields necessary for the development of multi-disciplinary talent. By reading books, playing chess and piano I developed my intellectual side, in martial arts and football I developed my physical side, and in music and dancing I developed my emotional side.

Today, I know that I am a child that grew up in accordance to the classic “Talent” methodology. This methodology stresses the simultaneous development and practice in the following 3 fields : cognitive, physical and emotional. I can only assume that due to the wide multidisciplinary education I received, I could recognize and “convert” various “patterns”. The emotional studying of a certain area and the ability to find a common ground between that area and another completely different area, became during the years, one of the main columns supporting the “Talent” methodology.