| Subject: | [RESOGUIT-L] Interesting on: Practice, practice, practice | | Date: | Thursday, January 31, 2008 16:35:01 (EST) | | From: | KeimBob <KeimBob @...com>
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Practice often comes up on the list. Here is something posted on another
instrument's listserv that applies to the reso as well, no doubt. :
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I'm still slogging thru Daniel Levitin's book THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC.
He mentions some interesting studies showing that expertise (musical or
otherwise) is more of a function of practicing a lot than anything else. He
cites numerous studies which show ten thousand hours of practice is required
to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class
expert--IN ANYTHING. He says in study after study--of composers, basketball
players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players,
master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.
10,000 hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a
week, of practice over 10 years. No study has yet found a case in which true
world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems to take the
brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true
mastery. (neural pathways, brain chemistry, etc).
Levitin cites the classic rebuttal to the 10,000 hour argument: "Well what
about Mozart? I hear he was composing symphonies at the age of 4! And even
if he was practicing 40 hours a week since the day he was born, that doesn't
make 10,000 hours". Levitin points out Mozart didn't begin composing until
he was six, and didn't write his 1st symphony until he was 8. He says
whereas Mozart demonstrated precociousness early in life, that's not the
same as being an expert. He says Mozart had extensive training from his
father who was a stern taskmaster and the greatest living music teacher in
Europe at the time. Levitin says if Mozart practiced 32 hours a week from
the age of 2 to 8, he'd then have reached the 10,000 hour mark (& his papa
might well have pushed him this hard!). Levitin also says the 10,000 hour
argument doesn't say it takes 10,000 hours to write a symphony. The author
says clearly Mozart became an expert eventually, but did the writing of that
1st symphony qualify him as an expert, or did he attain his level of musical
expertise later? He cites experts who say the tunes Mozart wrote that were
at expert level were clearly after he'd been playing 10,000 hours.
I said to my wife (who played more than a major role in raising my 3 kids):
"gee, you were a busy mom for more than 3 hours a day in a 10 year period,
so that meant you were an expert", and she said, in essence, "no kidding".
My question: I started playing autoharp seriously at the age of 70, so when
I become an expert at the age of 80, who will notice & will I be able to
find my harp (RAR)? I'd better quit writing this stuff and get back to
practicing! Ron Bean, San Francisco (where surrounding mountain tops are
dusted with snow down to 1000 feet, but no earthquakes!)
**************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
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Interesting on: Pr
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