The Art of Practice (Part 2)

While this is a continuation of last month’s article, if you are looking for a number of new practice techniques you are likely to be disappointed. If you want some short cuts to good practice habits, better get a Facebook account. I just wanted to take a little time to encourage your to get serious, practice hard, and look for inspiration where you can find it.

Get Serious

I become more and more convinced that the real enjoyment of any skill as the result of many hours of practicing basic technique in great detail. Most of us will require a coach or teacher or some other person that knows the skills we need and is willing to push us HARD to achieve them. I am interested in learning all I can and become a much better pianist. You may wish to enjoy your golf game or create a great work of art. All of these skills and most others will require lots and lots of dedicated, intensive, penetrating, practice.

Practice – HARD

I wish I had the magic wand. I wish there was an easy road to greatness. There is not. No matter how much money you spend, no matter what is promised, no matter how kind, nice, or pleasant someone presents their ideas, greatness will only come at the expense of hard work. Several studies indicate that it takes some 10,000 hours of intense, focused, purposeful practice to become great at anything. It is the very reason that seasoned Doctors struggle with pathology that used to come as second nature when they graduated from medical school. It is the reason that a golfer that could sink a twenty-two foot put struggles with the green reads on a fairly flat course. Our body’s ability to adapt borders on miraculous when we continue to pursue greatness. It is also why older pianists are still performing into their eighties. Get a good coach, set your schedule, and practice, practice, PRACTICE!

One way to know if you have found the sweet spot of practice time is that you should be tired when the practice time is over. Many of the greatest professionals need to include naps during their day to recover from the intense level of practice that keeps their skills at their highest and growing.

Look for Inspiration

This might be one of the most difficult areas of greatness to describe and to find. Inspiration comes in a number of forms, from a number of different places, and for a number of differing reasons. What inspires one person to greatness may go completely unnoticed by someone else. So how do we describe this elusive idea?

For me, inspiration comes from a number of different pianists from variety of genera with vastly different practice habits. My entertainer inspiration comes from a young man that mixes classical technique with ACDC. My jazz inspiration comes from a sixteen year old performer that is the definition of easy under pressure. I have a number of classical inspirations that keep me busy with scales, arpeggios, and Hannon exercises. While I am not a young man, I pray I never arrive at a point where I need no more improvement. I am hoping the same is true for my readers.