Traps

Susan Tucker’s recent “My Mistakes” article in the Songwriters E-Tip got me thinking about common mistakes that people make when trying to learn to play an instrument. These are observations I’ve made over the years both in my own experience as a student (which is still ongoing, make no mistake!) and as a teacher.

First and probably the most important: don’t underestimate the commitment! Learning to play well, and especially improving your skills when you already do play, requires daily practice. No way around it: you may have reached your current level of skill by just playing around when you felt like it, but at some point you WILL hit a wall. We all do….and most people who come to me for lessons feel that they’ve hit that wall. You get over the wall by making a real commitment to daily practice.

The opposite and equally important thing to remember: no goal is too modest. The way to progress is to set a series of small, achievable goals. This is why you go to a teacher in the first place, to help you set those goals….and a good teacher will be able to set goals that are in reach but just far enough ahead of you to help you grow toward them. Remember point number one, though: even modest goals can only be achieved through committed effort.

Number three: know the difference between playing and practicing. “Playing” is doing what you already know how to do….”practicing” is working at something you can’t do yet. And as you might imagine, there’s a right way and a wrong way, which leads us to number four….the right way to practice.

In keeping with the idea of setting and staying focused on modest goals: if your short-term goals are appropriately focused, they WILL be attainable with proper focus. That means you practice slowly with complete concentration. We’re talking about training muscle groups to follow mental instructions…..if you move slowly, you will be able to move your hands and fingers accurately. Accuracy is MUCH more important than speed at this point, in fact speed is counterproductive when you first start practicing something new. If you don’t focus on accuracy and your aim is fuzzy, you are actually training your muscles to be sloppy. Speed will always come with time if you practice properly.

Number five: trust your teacher and don’t try too hard to direct the lessons. If you really have a sense that the person you’re working with isn’t taking you down the right path, share your concern….but don’t try to micromanage the experience. If you’ve made a good choice in who to work with, your teacher will have a big-picture view that you probably don’t. An organized lesson program follows a sequence, there’s a method to the madness. Find someone you trust and follow their instructions. You’ll know in a few weeks (or less) if it’s working for you or not.

I always strive to be as positive as possible in lessons….when a student comes in and admits to not having had time to practice, I stay encouraging and use the lesson time to go over the material for that week. But I try to be clear that putting in the time with the right mindset is the path to success. So to sum up:

1. MAKE the commitment.
2. KEEP the long view and BE PATIENT!
3. SET modest goals and work on them with focus and discipline.
4. CELEBRATE small achievements! Every step is one step closer.
5. TRUST the process and the perspective of people with more experience.

You CAN make the progress you want, and it starts with the right mindset.