Getting better

[talidog]

How do you know when you're getting better?

I mean, it's easier to look back over months and years and see improvement from practicing and playing a lot, but there seem to be days, and weeks and even months when I'm working on my playing hard and it seems like things just aren't improving that much. Some days it even seems like I've regressed and gotten worse! How do you keep up the enthusiasm to practice the hard and important stuff on the days when it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference, or when it seems the learning is going ssssoooooo slowly?

Mark in Mendocino

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Mark, I don't know how long you've been playing, but one book I'd recommend to every musician at any level is "Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within"
by Kenny Werner. You can look it up at Amazon or perhaps your local book store may have it.

The crux of the matter is that your question belies an attitude whereby becoming a good player is your "goal", and working hard only feels rewarding for you when you can sense continual movement towards this goal. This is a very common approach and is based on our western culture of acquiring things. In the case of musicians, it is the skills we want to acquire and it's no different than how we approach and desire material acquisitions.

Problem with musical skills (and acutely true for improvising musicians) is that things don't really unfold in a linear progression. It's just not like putting $100 a week into your savings acount until you have enough money to buy a car or a house or whatever. The path to learning how to play music can be unpredictable and meandering.

Try to see the study of music as a life-long process whos pursuit is the end in itself. Forget about your goal of how good you need to be and how soon you need to be there. That desire only gets in the way of your actual achievement because you waste lots of energy on wondering if your good enough, energy that can be far better spent actually working on the music. At it's worst, you worry and distract yourself with these incriminations WHILE you're playing. Learn to let it go.

Seek out teachers who can help with the structure of your learning. It may take a number of tries for you to find the right person and the right fit, but it can be worth the effort to find a guide to help point where YOU want to go with your music.

Above all, be very very patient. Even when it may seem you're moving backwards you may in reality be moving forward afterall, but in way's you can not perceive. Consider that you're not really in any position to be the judge of this. It's all too close. So maybe just forget about all this and just go back and work on your fundamentals.

[Frank Kimbrough]

Hi Mark - here are a few ideas you may want to consider:

First of all, you have to realize that you never get there.......if you do, you're finished. Period.
Don't worry about being good...don't even worry about being better, just do the best you can do every day. You WILL get better, because you're doing it, but you have to be able to forgive yourself for not being perfect at all times. Forget the concept of "practicing" and shift it to "playing" - you don't "practice" in front of an audience - why should you do it anywhere else? Each time you play it's a special event. Practicing implies that it's not. Give yourself some time to digest the information you take in while playing...away from your instrument. You can review musical material anywhere because the instrument isn't in the way. Go to sleep thinking of a musical problem. You'll be surprised how often your subconcience gives you the answer. Don't think of things as difficult - that only sets up mental blocks. Don't be afraid to fail - sometimes your worst mistake can be the best thing you play all night. Get out and play and enjoy yourself - one of the saddest things about being a musician is knowing amazing players who are never happy with anything they play, and consequently rarely if ever enjoy their (powerful) ability to move people. Over time, you accrue skills - they do add up, but it's not always obvious because you're the only person on the planet that's heard every note you've ever played.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Originally posted by Frank Kimbrough
Hi Mark - here are a few ideas you may want to consider:

First of all, you have to realize that you never get there.......if you do, you're finished. Period.
Don't worry about being good...don't even worry about being better, just do the best you can do every day. You WILL get better, because you're doing it, but you have to be able to forgive yourself for not being perfect at all times. Forget the concept of "practicing" and shift it to "playing" - you don't "practice" in front of an audience - why should you do it anywhere else? Each time you play it's a special event. Practicing implies that it's not. Give yourself some time to digest the information you take in while playing...away from your instrument. You can review musical material anywhere because the instrument isn't in the way. Go to sleep thinking of a musical problem. You'll be surprised how often your subconcience gives you the answer. Don't think of things as difficult - that only sets up mental blocks. Don't be afraid to fail - sometimes your worst mistake can be the best thing you play all night. Get out and play and enjoy yourself - one of the saddest things about being a musician is knowing amazing players who are never happy with anything they play, and consequently rarely if ever enjoy their (powerful) ability to move people. Over time, you accrue skills - they do add up, but it's not always obvious because you're the only person on the planet that's heard every note you've ever played.

I like the bit about practicing in your sleep.....that's a good use of time