How long does it really take to become a pro or a lesson from one violinist

Someone thinks that in order to become a truly professional in their field, you need to devote about 10,000 hours to it. Someone thinks that 4 hours a day is quite enough for this, but someone practices throughout their life, giving more than half of their time to work, and will never stop doing this, because there is no limit to perfection.

We rack our brains and are torn between the desire to become a pro and another part of our life that includes relaxation, joy, friends and family. Can you find your balance and enjoy life to the fullest without feeling guilty about the fact that one part of our life is suffering? Is there a middle ground, or is it just a legend invented by coaches to promise clients that they will achieve their dreams and make money from it? Or maybe the whole point is that we just do not know how to practice correctly?

It took Noah Kageima, a psychologist and violinist, to find this golden mean 23 years.

Noah learned to play the violin from the age of two and throughout his career he was tormented by one question - is he practicing enough to reach the peak of his skill? He studied articles in which musicians and other artists of world renown shared their experiences.

What do the greats say?

Rubinstein in one of his interviews said that he considers 4 hours to be the optimal amount of time for classes every day. If you need more time to reach your maximum, then you are simply doing something wrong.

Leopold Auer believed that you should train your fingers all day long. If you train your mind, you can keep within 1, 5 hours.

Heifetz believed that 3 hours a day was enough on average to achieve a high level of skill. He does it himself and keeps Sundays for himself for complete relaxation.

Noah thought that four hours a day was enough and relaxed. But then he heard about the work of Dr. Andres Eriksson.

What do psychologists say?

Dr. Ericsson's research formed the basis for the “10,000 hour rule”, according to which it takes about 15-25 years for musicians to become virtuosos. The numbers are pretty scary. So much so that we are missing one very important factor in the equation.

There is a special kind of practice called "deliberate practice" and it is this that contributes to the best result. In addition to it, there are other types of practice that we have not heard of and on which our speed of progress towards the set goal depends.

Unconscious practice

Have you ever watched the musicians rehearse? They usually follow several standard patterns.

1. Broken recording method. This is when one and the same particularly complex piece is played back to infinity, like a worn-out record. The same passage on the piano, exactly the same presentation - from the outside it all looks like practice, but in reality it is all just meaningless repetition.

2. The autopilot method. This is when we activate our autopilot and do not make much effort to complete the task. It's like playing golf or playing a piece from start to finish.

3. Mixed method. This is when you rehearse one of the compositions and play it from beginning to end over and over again, and when you do not like a piece of it, you play it several times and only then continue on. In the dance, the same thing happens: you repeat the link from beginning to end, and if some particular element is more difficult, you go over it again and again and only then repeat the link to the end.

In itself, this practice is not so bad. But there are three problems with it.

Problem # 1. It's a waste of time. Why? Because you spend hours on practice and, as a result, do not advance anywhere, as you repeat the same thing on the machine unconsciously. Moreover, you can make yourself even worse in this way, because you end up fixing the same mistakes. From which, by the way, it will be necessary to get rid of and borrow this time from future hours of practice.

Problem # 2. It makes us less confident. When the same piece is played an infinite number of times with repetition and correction of the same mistakes, confidence is lost by the time you enter the stage. The composition is memorized automatically and if we make a mistake on some other piece, there is a possibility that it will not work out beautifully and correctly. Since the autopilot is on, it is not able to take conscious action in case of unforeseen circumstances.

I'm not a violinist, but I went to a music school for a year to play the guitar and still remember this feeling of autopilot well. When the fingers pluck the strings themselves without much brain involvement. And when a few years later you pick up the instrument again, the same autopilot wakes up, but the material has already been forgotten and it is difficult to remember the whole piece. And if I trained consciously, then remembering the melody and picking up this piece again would not be difficult.

Problem number 3. It's terribly boring. Repeating the same day after day for several hours is terribly boring! Precisely because parents and many teachers do not understand this, a fairly large number of children graduate from music schools almost with tears in their eyes and then never touch this instrument again (to the delight of their neighbors). And in general education schools and universities, students always lose their thirst for knowledge.

Is there an alternative to this familiar and boring practice method?

Deliberate practice

Deliberate practice is a systematic and highly structured activity. Let's just say it's a more scientific approach to mastering new skills or improving those already acquired, which gives us the opportunity to replace meaningless trial and error with active thinking and constant search and testing of new hypotheses.

This is when you do not automatically play a passage over and over again, but gradually master each piece separately. You study it and look for the perfect sound. And only after all the pieces of the puzzle are perfect, you put them together into a complete composition.

This is a constant analysis that allows you to get to the bottom of the essence, and not meaningless memorization of material, which is given out by us unconsciously and is forgotten after a fairly short period of time. Because perfection requires more than just knowing certain rules, formulas or notes by heart. To do this, we must understand the essence and decompose everything into its components, make complex things simpler and easier to understand. And find a better solution or option.

It is not enough to memorize the periodic table. If you understand the laws by which it was built, any deviation in the teacher's question from the main line will not confuse you. In the same way, understanding the relationship of relief with minerals and climate will help tell about the country to a solid four (11?), Even if you did not have time to read the required paragraph. We study, analyze, look for alternative ways, put it in pieces and improve, and do not repeat thoughtlessly over and over again until the fingers themselves can not repeat it at any time, and the words of jagged text will not bounce off our teeth even if we are woken up in the middle of the night - this is all a waste of time and effort.

How to accelerate the acquisition of new skills?

Noah Kageima brought out 5 principles to speed up the process of acquiring and improving new skills, which he would gladly share with a younger version of himself. Hope they help you reach your perfection in less than 10,000 hours. And the rest of the time you will find what to spend;)

1. Focus is the main thing. Hone your skills for as long as you can stay focused on the class. It can be 10-20 minutes, or 40-60 minutes or more - it all depends on your personality characteristics.

2. Timing is everything. Track the periods of time during which you feel a surge of energy, and try to practice at this time. Again, it can be different for everyone. Some are most active early in the morning, some in the afternoon, and some are even a nightbird. During this time, you are the most productive and the time spent will be used profitably. What is the use of practicing if you are unable to concentrate on even the simplest action?

3. Don't trust your memory. Don't trust your memory and write down your main goals, as well as how the workout went and what you would like to add or change. You can do this both in special programs and in paper version. The main thing is to seize the moment and write everything down at the moment when you are at the peak of your productivity and clearly see what exactly needs to be corrected.

If you write down all the ideas and adjustments, you will see how many things actually come to mind and it is almost impossible to remember all the points. Why miss out on something that might help make things even faster and more perfect?

4. Smarter, not harder. Sometimes the length of the workout really matters. But sometimes there are times when you need to go a little different way. Somehow, rehearsing over and over again one of the most difficult passages, instead of success and moving forward, Noah received only sore fingers and a feeling of despair. But he forced himself to stop and instead of continuing to torment his fingers and the tool, just think a little about what exactly prevents him from completing the job and, having found the reason, fix it in another, more humane and quick way.

As far as I remember, a straight line is not always the easiest and shortest path between two points. This is just the case when diligence and work will obviously not be enough.

5. Model of problem solving and focus on results. It's easy enough to just drift in a sea of uncertainty and pointless practice. To achieve the fastest and best results, you need to stay focused on the goal.

The problem solving model contains 6 steps:

1. Definition of the task. What result do we want to achieve?

2. Analyze the problem. Why exactly does it not work out the way we would like?

3. Identifying potential solutions. What can I do to make everything work the way I want?

4. Testing possible solutions and choosing the most optimal one. What improvements work best?

5. Implementation of the best solution.

6. Track results. Do the edits you make help you achieve the desired result?

Our life is too short to spend 15-25 years of invaluable time on achieving one goal, which cannot be bought for any money and achievements. Just think about the opportunities that thoughtful practice opens up to us and about the time that we can save with its help and spend it on something else, no less important.