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All the time I get to talk with musicians who’ve been at it for a while but feel like they’re in a rut. They don’t see where they’ve improved in such a long time and they’re wondering if they’ve “peaked.”
We’re all susceptible to certain habits which can creep in and slow or halt our progress. Here are the top five I’ve observed in myself and in others along the way, in the next installment of the lists of five series: 5 COMMON MISTAKES PRACTICING MUSICIANS MAKE.
1. Making it too difficult to start practicing by not having a set place and/or schedule for it to happen.
The hardest part about so many activities is the getting started part. Once we’re there, we’re fine; but getting there is another story.
Waiting for the right time to happen is a fool’s game. If you want to practice more but can’t find the time, you may need to look for ways to steal time. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there—it adds up.
Or, consider things that are stealing from you. If the typical person cut his or her schedule in half, not only would “quality of life” not suffer, it may even increase.
Even more important than the schedule, I think, is having the right place to practice. Make sure it is comfortable and inspiring, and that it contains all the tools and resources you need with minimal distractions. If you randomly pick a different place every time, your sessions will tend to be pretty random too.
Of course, every once in a while there’s nothing wrong with going into a fresh environment for a change of atmosphere.
2. Rushing the process by not using slow repetitions.
Unlike simple skills (like flipping a light switch) important skills are never acquired instantly but are built over time. Every musician fancies the idea of playing challenging music and doing it with tremendous speed, but we have to remember that it’s like martial arts. We wouldn’t sign up for karate and expect to start off learning black belt activities; we work our way up to that.
There’s a difference between learning how to play a song and learning how to play it fast. We impede our success by trying to blend the two together. Training our muscles is like training a dog: we have to be patient, consistent and allow it all the time it needs.
So, we begin by taking it at a slow tempo and training the muscles exactly how we want them to move and coordinate. Only when the correct motions are happening consistently do we attempt speeding it up, and even then we do it gradually.
3. Limiting growth by playing the same favorite song(s) over and over.
We all like to hear ourselves playing the music “right,” which means mistake-free and at full tempo. Once we get a song “right” it’s only natural to want to reinforce our confidence by playing that song. It’s no fun to hear ourselves playing badly.
But we’ll never grow beyond a certain point if we don’t continually start the process over with new music. That doesn’t mean to forget the ones we’ve mastered, just don’t stop there for too long. The only way we’ll play new material well is by first playing it not-so-well.
4. Being an island unto ourselves by not seeking input and feedback from other musicians.
“What I look for in musicians is generosity. There is so much to learn from each other and about each other’s culture. Great creativity begins with tolerance” (YoYo Ma quote from a Starbucks cup, The Way I See It #7).
Most musicians face similar learning challenges and growing pains. When we’re stuck, we can try tapping into someone else’s experience the same way we’d stop and ask directions from a local if we were lost in an unfamiliar town. It’s encouraging when we find out we’re not the only one who’s gotten lost at times.
And even if we’re not stuck, the best way to glean new ideas and gain new perspectives is by remembering what our kindergarten teacher would write on our progress reports: plays well with others. Isolation is a major detour from the route to becoming a well-rounded individual.
5. Not enjoying practice because we forget to “play.”
This may sound contrary to tips 2 and 3, but it goes to show that there’s a time and place for everything. My friend Stu, an accomplished guitar player with the rock band Goodyear Pimps, once made the comment to a group class of young musicians, “I never have practiced a day in my life, but I’ll play my guitar for hours every day.”
His point was that he doesn’t spend his time on the guitar to please someone else or measure up to some arbitrary standard of achievement, but for his own personal satisfaction. To him, the idea of “practice” smacks of academic work, not rock-n-roll.
Whether we use the word “practice” or the word “play” or any other word, the point is that spending time with our instrument on a daily basis is something to be enjoyed, not dreaded.
Some of us get a real fix from structure and discipline; others only feel free with high levels of randomness and unpredictability; some like a little of both. We can find assurance in knowing that all types of people make it to the rosters of the great and the legendary by finding what makes them happy and then going absolutely nuts with it!
You made me think of another way of saying it: When we first start out, it’s not about “doing it right” but “enjoying doing it.” We’ll have plenty of time to get it right down the road, but not if we don’t enjoy it enough to stick with it!
Comment by Mike Roberts May 19, 2009 @ 1:21 pmSo true! I struggle with these things everyday. Thanks for putting this out there and reminding us that music is about doing it, sharing it and loving it!
Comment by Lauren May 19, 2009 @ 10:30 am