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Why The Cultural Idea Of Talent May Be Holding You Back

1 Comment / Learning, Practice / By Amy Willock

Recently I have been researching a topic that I find very interesting: how our culture perceives and treats ‘talent’.

Before reading some books and articles on the subject, I thought of talent as being akin to a plant you were gifted as a child; everyone was given one, and some people’s may have been bigger or leafier to begin with, but ultimately your ‘talent’ plant will only reach its full growth potential if it is consistently watered and replenished and pruned. If you stop nurturing even the hardiest plant, it will wither. If you tend lovingly to an initially unremarkable plant, it will flourish.

Avoid Forgetting Old Pieces With This Idea

Leave a Comment / Instrumental, Learning, Practice / By Amy Willock

Finally mastering a piece that you’ve been working on for a while can be really rewarding: our fingers seem like they’re moving more effortlessly, we don’t have to think so hard about what’s coming next in the music, and we achieve a flow and fluency that only comes with familiarity and hours of practice. However, we can sometimes be too quick to file away a piece as ‘finished’ in our eagerness to move on to something new, only to find weeks later when we revisit it that we’ve forgotten parts and lost some of that proficiency. (Nobody wants to end up in musical Groundhog Day having to learn the same piece over and over because they’ve forgotten it!)

Eight Time-Saving Practice Techniques

Leave a Comment / Instrumental, Learning, Practice / By Amy Willock

Although investing a great number of hours into your chosen instrument is crucial, the quality of that practice time is just as important. According to the leading authority in the psychology of expertise, K. Anders Ericsson, it is ‘deliberate’ practice that causes significant improvement, rather than mindlessly going through familiar motions. It is often much more beneficial to do twenty minutes of deliberate practice with a clear intention than it is to play aimlessly for an hour. With that in mind, here are eight practice techniques that I use in every lesson with my students and in my own practice, which will improve the efficiency of your learning and save valuable time.

Tips For Setting Up An Inviting Practice Space

Leave a Comment / Instrumental, Learning, Practice / By Amy Willock

One often overlooked factor that can make or break the effectiveness of your practice is how you set up your practice space. Most of us probably haven’t given the subject much thought (me included until recently!), but having a space that has been set up thoughtfully can have surprising effects on your musical progress and enjoyment. In this post I’ll look at the benefits of having a good practice set-up, and give some tips for how to make the most out of your music space.

Starting A New Instrument As An Adult

Leave a Comment / Learning, Practice / By Amy Willock

I often hear adult students expressing regret that they either gave up an instrument as a child, or never learned one in childhood at all. They feel that they are late to the game, and most seem to hold the belief that they would have found the learning process easier or been able to pick the physical technique up faster had they started younger.