Originally written on Medium: July 19, 2018

Predictable books, movie, and media tend to do badly in business. They are boring and lacking in depth. They display the same pattern — never improving and often, getting worse each time.

To no surprise, predictable musicians also tend to do badly in performance. Their work lacks creativity and freedom. I define predictability as when a student stops being creative in their music and rather, turns to a strict routine when practicing their music. They will usually play their piece from start to finish several times throughout the day and call it “practice”. This predictable practice isn’t practice at all — it actually prevents kids from deepening their understanding of their music. The root of this could be a lack of confidence or disinterest in the music. Either way, the result is a mediocre or even worse performance.

If your child is practicing in a predictable way — as in, without the proper practice methods that make a student actively enage with their music — the notion that their performance will turn out well is unlikely.

Practice is like building a house that will be tested with an earthquake. The house needs a proper base with all the detailed elements inside of it so that when the earthquake rolls around, the house is safe. In this metaphor, the earthquake is the performance. If you apply predictability to that house, then the house would lack the details, potential for earthquake-safe technology, or fine architecture— it would be built carelessly.

Lefty Sheet Music

When parents tell me, “My child is practicing”, what they mean to say is that their child plays their piece a couple times a day from start to finish. The thought process the student should have when they practice looks something like this (keep in mind, this is regarding older students around 10 or 11, and not five-year-olds):

“I am playing this piece but my left hand sounds off-rhythm. Let me play with my left hand only. But wait, my left sounds fine. Maybe the problem is the coordination between my left and right hand. I should practice slowly.”

This thought process is far more effective than playing the piece all the way through. There is active engagement and learning. At the end, if the proper practice methods are applied, the student will sound incredible in the performance. After all, what you put into your practice is what you will get out in the performance.

Those practice methods could be using a metronome, splitting the piece into different parts and practicing them individually, playing slowly, experimenting with dynamics, or counting out loud. There are so many different ways to practice effectively but the one harmful practice trait is being predictable.

The second the students gets into intermediate or advanced music, playing from beginning to the end of their piece will actually make them worse. Each time the student does that, they lose the opportunity to develop their skills. They should play the piece through once or twice a day at a maxiumum. But the student cannot get into a routinely, predictable practice method. It needs to be creative and free.

JT