RESEARCH IS A STATE OF MIND

Every time l have the good fortune of being in the studio audience, l am impressed with the fact that it takes much less energy to listen to music than to direct or play it. 

So, while the Maestro and the Orchestra rest for a moment, i will tell you of a simple comparison between Music and Research that we have used many times. 

This evening, we are listening to the compositions of Mozart. He was one of those rare and talented individuals who had the natural gifts of both composition and execution. He was a child prodigy. This type of individual is rare but each generation may produce one or more - they occur not only in the musical field but also in art, medicine and science, and their contributions are of great importance. Most of our work, however, must be done by people with just ordinary abilities in the beginning who reach positions of skill or responsibility by practice, study and plain persistence. 

Now, i don't know the individual histories of men in the his Orchestra but I suspect the majority of them are here as a result of arduous practice and much hard work, and in many cases, sacrifices of many kinds. This symphony Orchestra is a body of men, who, in order to perform superbly as a group, must first be able to perform equally well as individuals. Just organizing a group of poor musicians doesn't make a good Orchestra. 

Research is done in much the same way. Our work can either be the effort of a group or of individual specialists. In fact, just like a good Orchestra, each man must be a skilled and talented individual. There is one outstanding difference, when we compare Orchestra with research - research has no Mozart score to follow - we are working with unwritten scores. The procedure must be different in nearly every case. It is more like composition and performance at the same time. 

For many years there has been much misunderstanding as to just what research is. The popular conception seems to be that there is something mysterious about it, and before any research can be done, it is necessary to have expensive scientific apparatus and large ; elaborately equipped buildings. Actually, this is not so. Research isn't a physical thing at all but just a state of mind. It is a simple organised way of trying to accomplish something you wish to do-so simple that anyone can do research anywhere at any time. 

First, you select the problem you would like to solve, and then you list at least ten reasons why this has not been solved. But in picking that problem be sure to analyse it carefully to see that it is worth the effort. It takes as much effort to solve a useless problem as a useful one. Make sure the game is worth the candle. 

After carefully selecting the problem and the ten things between you and the solution, you then use the same procedure as in solving a cross-word puzzle. 

You take the easy obstacles first and by a process of elimination you arrived at last at the one or two major ones. In the solution of the remaining obstacles you may need some simple apparatus, but the things you will probably need most are infinite patience and persistence. Few people realise the difficulties of doing any new thing. 

Maybe one of the reasons people are so early discouraged is because of their education. During all of our years at school we were examined two or three times a year. If we failed once we are out. In Contrast, all research work is 99.9 percent failure and if you success once you are in. If we are going to process in any line we must learn to fail intelligently, so we won't become discouraged at the 99.9 percent failure.