Originally Posted by Eagle Mum
Originally Posted by giftedamateur
So my dad said I would do very well as a minstrel, but unfortunately for us those jobs don't exist anymore, lol.

At least in me, I think giftedness has caused a bit of a paralysis -- like, if I want to study most subjects, I can crank out a graduate level text and academic papers and get up to speed, so it ends up being more about interest than about ability.

Was your father referring to your musical talents and perhaps also to your wandering spirit? Minstrels composed songs, from their observations and reflections. Your posts suggest that you have spent time similarly mentally engaged. As a musician, have you delved much into composition?
I much prefer improvisation. I have thought about composition, but I find my ADHD-ish brain tends to like the instant gratification of improvising for long stretches of time. One of the main reasons I picked the piano was because I wanted a medium to communicate musical thought, and melodic instruments tend to be limiting in terms of how many things you can express at once. I want to be able to improvise like Art Tatum someday (I have this thing where I tend to set my sights impossibly high!). Or perhaps in the modern day, Gabriela Montero is someone I look up to who can improvise entire sonatas.