The One Thing…

Throughout my years on this earth I have yet to come across the person whose life ambition is to be mediocre or even less than ordinary.

Being good at something, especially an instrument, does not just happen magically. When you see someone perform publically you don’t see the hours of practice that has gone into shaping their skill.

The one thing that separates the “talented” from the “train-wreck” is just one thing; discipline otherwise known as “practice”. This is also the one thing everyone hates.

One of the most depressing things that I hate to see in life is when people are too lazy to reach their full potential. What a waste of a gift. In our society of fast food, instant messaging, the internet, etc – we always want the thing right now and generally we don’t have to wait. Mastering your gift and talent is the exact opposite, if learning an instrument was easy then everyone would be a musician.

When I drop a stick or hit a rim I do 10x Pushups (pu's)

Here are some examples of hard work that pays off;

The Beatles – it scares me young people may have never heard of the Beatles – The Beatles performed live over 1200 times, between 1960 – 1964. (from the book ‘OUTLIERS’, by Malcolm Gladwell). That is on average 300 times a year. For a normal band, in 2010, the average gigs were perhaps 25 times a year (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/archive/index.php/t-2631160.html).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -didn’t create anything noteworthy until his early 20’s. While he did write his first opera at the age of 6, he also had his father (a renound composer and music teacher) there to “proofread” his work and make his own “corrections” to Mozart’s pieces. (‘TALENT IS OVER-RATED’, by Geoff Colvin)

Jamie’s top 5 tips to successfully practicing

Routine – if you can set aside 15mins a day, that is better than one practice of 45mins once a week. Even if you practice in the ad breaks of your favorite 30min tv show, that is 10mins worth of practice right there.
Keep track of practices – have a book dedicated to recording WHEN you practiced, WHAT you practiced and HOW LONG you practiced for. Looking back over 2 weeks you can actually SEE how you have improved (and have the evidence if a teacher asks “Have you been practicing this week?” )
Metronome – always play to a metronome. Timing is the hardest part of playing an instrument. It is the fundamental difference between average and great. Its not only a drummers responsibility to play in time, but every musicians. If you have to rely on someone else’s talent to get you through, then obviously you need to improve.
Practice with purpose – don’t just pick up your instrument and start strumming, bashing or yodelling your way through a practice. Practicing without purpose is a waste of time. Set yourself clear goals, or have a song in mind you want to play properly. Don’t just practice what you already know, push yourself to practice the hard things- thats when things get interesting. If a music teacher has given you an exercise; dedicate 10mins (minimum) of practice time to that and reward yourself with 5mins free time. (it’s like getting ice cream after dinner)
Make practice fun – No-one controls the quality of your rehearsal time but YOU. Think of ways to motivate you to practice harder and more efficiently. ** One way that I practice is by listening to my ipod on ‘shuffle’ and playing simple sticking patterns like RLRR LRLL along to the song- (this has extended my practicing from 30mins to 1hr and 45mins, time flies when you’re having fun)

A page from my drum practice book

Tawa Suleman said it best with the words; “Practice doesn’t make perfect, it just makes you better.” You can never reach a place where you never need to practice again, the more you learn the more you learn how much you actually don’t know.

By James Walsh

Drums/Guitar Teacher

(jameswalsh@gsma.com.au)