TEMPLE_ARCHIVE

STATUS: INACTIVE // READ-ONLY

Tag: daily

  • Big Picture vs. Details

    You can’t have it both ways.

    Either you are concerned about the big picture, or you are concerned about the little tiny details. Or, you could be focused somewhere in between.

    The point is, you can only focus on one thing at a time. Either you’re trying to play that note correctly, or you’re trying to make music.

    When you practice, you have to pick just one thing to work on. And, when you perform, same thing.

    If you perform, and you’re trying to make music, try to make music. When you finish, if you notice that you made tons of mistakes, don’t say “I shouldn’t have made those mistakes.”

    Of course you should have.

    So, go back to the practice room. Pick one of those mistakes, and focus on it.

    This is how you take control of the present moment. It’s not by trying to change the past into what it “should have been.”

    I want to know what you think about this. Do you find it useful to focus on just one thing at a time? Or, is it more helpful to hold yourself responsible for more?

  • How to Learn Anything

    Learning a skill does not have to be so complicated.

    It’s true that some might be harder to learn than others. If you want to learn to fly a plane, or do brain surgery, or install power lines, yeah, you might need careful supervision.

    But learning to play a musical instrument?

    It’s not that hard.

    I’d put it in the same category as learning a language (which practically every human being on the planet has done at least once), or learning to draw (which most kids love doing until they’re taught that they’re “bad at it”), or learning to play a video game.

    Kimon Nicolaïdes, in his excellent book The Natural Way to Draw, writes:

    “The sooner you make your first five thousand mistakes, the sooner you will be able to correct them.”

    If I had to give a two-step, comprehensive plan for learning a musical instrument, it would be this:

    1. Make as many mistakes as possible.
    2. Pay attention to what happens while you make each mistake.

    “Pay attention” means asking yourself questions like:

    • What else is happening while this mistake happens?
    • What happens after the mistake?
    • What happens before the mistake?
    • How do I know it’s actually a mistake?

    This is not the same thing as trying to fix mistakes.

    (If you are curious to learn more about how to pay attention to mistakes, check out my free online course.)

    OK, I want to hear your objections to this. What am I missing? What are your reservations and hesitations about adopting this attitude?

  • Perfection vs. Evenness

    If a piece has 1000 notes, and 5 of them are out-of-place, it can ruin the whole thing.

    You want a piece of music to be perfect. No blemishes. Nothing stands out or seems out-of-place. Everything is perfectly legato, or staccato, or whatever. A perfectly uniform touch.

    Most teachers will tell you to work extra hard on those 5 notes. Put them in place.

    Sounds reasonable. After all, there are only 5 of them.

    But, what is it costing you to make those other 995 seem perfect? Is your goal perfection, or is it evenness?

    Instead of trying to perfect every single note, take a step back and look at the thing as a whole. Make it internally consistent.

    Don’t compare note #468 to the way you played note #468 yesterday, or the way your teacher told you to play note #468.

    Instead, compare it to notes #460-#475. Just make it fit in.

    And if it doesn’t, oh well. By the time you realize it, you’re in the 500’s, anyway.

  • Is Music Practice a Waste of Time?

    If you don’t have professional aspirations (or whatever the “right” aspirations are), you might wonder:

    Is this worth my time?

    You may have lots of feelings. Guilt for being self-indulgent, frustration from making little progress, etc.

    Those concerns are not stupid, and you should not ignore them. Rather, you should acknowledge them. They are telling you something important about yourself.

    However, the mere fact that you have those feelings doesn’t mean you need to do anything about them.

    Are you confused and uncertain about what direction to take? Wondering why you practice so much when you are never going to be the best? I mean, you’re not even going to be the best in town.

    You could let yourself dream big. Without judgment, ask yourself: if I could do anything, what would I do?

    Time spent on music practice is rarely wasted.

    You need to find that creativity and enthusiasm that you know is in there. You know, whatever led you to music in the first place.

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