You Are What You Focus On

You are what you focus on, and the more you practice what you do, the more discipline you develop.

Practice makes perfect is a common saying, but no one is perfect. In my opinion, the phrase practice makes perfect doesn’t apply to music, but practice makes discipline makes sense. Musicians, artists, or teachers who are life-long learners don’t learn a subject to become perfect; we learn, play, and grow from it. The more we know, the more our knowledge becomes permanent. Instead, practice makes permanent is a more accurate phrase representing learning anything in life. 

The Practice Of Learning

In music, we aren’t striving for perfection when we practice. When discussing music learning, we try to learn a certain way. Musicians learn by repetition, remembering what they practice through muscle memory, and, in turn, players of any instrument who permanently learn the material have mastered what they have learned. The reason why practice doesn’t lead to perfection is because music performance can continually improve. Music is not only about note accuracy, but music performance is about feeling. For instance, you can play a rhythm accurately or have an accurate pitch; however, how we play, perform, and create music is just as important as what we play, perform, and create.

Easier said than done, right? However, just because something worth doing is hard doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. A motivating factor is going after your ultimate goal. If your ambition is to be a better player, then the only answer is to practice. If practicing your instrument is not your favorite activity, imagine how you got good at something you now enjoy. What motivated you to improve? We only improve by actions, which means putting in time.

An idea that may help when you’re having trouble practicing is going back to the basics by practicing scales, the building blocks of all music. Playing scales is very good for the brain and ear training. In my experience, repeatedly playing scales is my favorite part of practicing because playing scales is like meditation. When the brain likes doing repetitive tasks, it becomes automatic the more you practice, and eventually, you don’t have to think; you just do it.

Muscle Memory Practice Makes Discipline

A significant factor in a musician is practice. It’s essential to train daily so that muscle memory can register. How you practice is another crucial factor in practicing music and anything in life. How people practice, in general, creates successful learning, and in music, there are ways that we, as musicians, efficiently practice. One way musicians can execute their practice efficiently is by chunking. Chunking is a learning device used to tackle information bits at a time. This way, your retention of the material becomes more accessible to learn. For instance, when we learn a song, we learn in sections, such as repeating measures until our fingers know what to do.

We rarely learn from perfection; we learn from failure, so the more we engage in action-oriented learning, the more we challenge the imperative idea that the more we practice something, the more the knowledge we acquire becomes permanent.

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