Why Do Musicians Hate to Practice?
As a music minor who is amidst college musicians almost daily, I find there to be a common trend among music students: everyone complains about practicing.
The irony is strong with this. During my days of college visits, every school said that your major should be the one thing you can't stop talking about. Students in the music building are all there because they want to be. Their passion led them there. So why do students hate to practice what they love?
While the dread of practicing is a commonality among music students, so is the desire to be great. No one's idea of "great" is locking themselves away in a cinder-blocked practice room for two hours, scribbling in correct fingerings in their music. Practice time is tedious and frustrating, and all we want is results. We want to cut straight to the performing, the fun part. In the early stages of practicing a new piece, the music hasn't become a part of the artist yet. Music as a field is competitive, no doubt. Everyone wants to rise to the top, reach their peak performance state, not facing the fact that practice is the journey to that destination.
My music theory teacher during my very first week of college once provoked an interesting thought. He said that eventually will come the day that you play your instrument for the very last time, whatever the circumstance may be. Let's say the +'s below represent the number of days you have left to play your instrument before you set it down for the very last time. The red + represents the last day.
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + +
Now let's say you say to yourself today, "I think I'll skip practicing today" and you erase the first + representing today. Looking at the the rows of signs above, you'd think, "That's no problem, I still have x amount of days after today." But what if the + that you erased was the red +? It's harder to envision that as "just another day." Erasing the red + would simply just be pushing your last day of playing your instrument to a day sooner. It makes it a little harder to sacrifice a day of practicing knowing that it could be your last.
As distressing as that image is, and while I'm not saying you are literally moving your last day of music closer, what I am saying is that time is precious. We take it for granted. Skipping one day of practice is minuscule in the moment, but it eventually becomes two days. Three days. And then the days add up. Suddenly after a year, you're 365 steps behind what you could have become. Finding the motivation to practice your instrument becomes a little easier when we look at the bigger picture and the long haul.
The "greats" do not take the day off.
As distressing as that image is, and while I'm not saying you are literally moving your last day of music closer, what I am saying is that time is precious. We take it for granted. Skipping one day of practice is minuscule in the moment, but it eventually becomes two days. Three days. And then the days add up. Suddenly after a year, you're 365 steps behind what you could have become. Finding the motivation to practice your instrument becomes a little easier when we look at the bigger picture and the long haul.
The "greats" do not take the day off.
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