I read recently where it takes some 10,000 hours to become the master of a skill. Of course it’s a given we’re not talking about bussing tables here; and I ought to know. You see back when Nixon was yet a president in good standing I learned and practiced that little ’skill’ on a very high level.
No, we’re talking about such exceptionally rich and complex skills as playing the violin, performing brain surgery, and, say composing symphonies.
So let’s see now. If you practiced 5 hours a day, six days a week, 50 weeks a year, then we’re talking somewhere in the neighborhood of seven years to become Maxim Vengerov.
Sounds like a bargain to me.
What about you, is the violin worth that to you?
Even if it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to ‘take it on.’ After all, life is full of choices, and we may have several passions we want to indulge at one time. This is, after all, where art meets amateurism. And I mean amateurism in the best sense of the word.
One does not have to be Maxim Vengerov to derive great joy and pleasure from the instrument. But let’s take a look at what kind of time investment is typically required to reach some recognized levels of achievement.
In as little as an hour a day you can, in 3 years, equip yourself to the point of playing in community orchestras and enjoying a diversity of chamber music with like minded friends.
Push that up to 2 hours a day for 4 years and you’ll be qualified to teach beginning students, do paying ‘gigs’ and land a chair up in the front of the 1st violin section of your community orchestra. You’ll be playing early Beethoven string quartets quite credibly, I might add.
Let’s talk about becoming a professional.
Just add an hour a day to make it three. Do that for 5 years and you should be well qualified for any regional symphony orchestra. You will have the pick of the best paying gigs in your smaller city. You’ll even have the tools to develop one heck of a teaching studio.
But what about a major symphony orchestra, you ask.
Now we’re talking serious commitment. But add another hour and a couple of more years and you’ll have it. Yes, at 8,000 hours you’re there, would be the conventional wisdom.
By the way, competition for positions today is fierce. You really must be very close to the concert-artist level to win a major audition.
Now, would you be shocked if I told you 30%-40% could be cut from the figures I gave you by adopting a certain mindset and specialized practice tools?
Milstein told me that at the time he studied with Leopold Auer he only practiced 1 1/2 hours a day. He even brought this fact up with Auer, asking if he really should be practicing more.
Auer said to him, ‘Practice with your fingers and you need all day. Practice with your mind and you will do as much in 1 1/2 hours.’
OK, I think Milstein was exaggerating a tad about the 1 1/2 hours. Maybe his watch ran a little slow.
But in any case, I agree with the premise wholeheartedly, which is why I maintain a violinist with a fully conscious mind can do so much more in a given amount of time than the average Joe.
But you must not take anything you do for granted. You must be ALIVE and fully AWAKE when you practice. And you must take good advice seriously.
If you have one of my courses or have been to one of my masterclass/seminars you’ve benefited from some quality advice. After all, much of it comes from Milstein himself.
All you must provide is your full attention to the process. And there is nothing more nourishing and rewarding than doing that.
All my best & remember- “Keep Fiddlin’ around safely!!”
“Practice,practice,practice!!!”
Dr. Certain
About the Author
Maestro Certain began studying the Violin & Piano at age 2 - he was privileged to begin his Violin studies after his 'initial' Study Session with Dr. Suzuki himself at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Suzuki happened to be in Dallas as a guest Professor of Violin in December of 1964. After the Study Session with Dr. Suzuki, he 'highly suggested' to Mrs. Certain," that young Rand begin Private Violin Instruction immediately!!". Thus began Maestro Certain's 19 year Violin & Piano training under the instruction of Mr. & Mrs. Franklin Washburn of Dallas, Texas (University Park). Maestro Certain received instruction from the following respected teachers: * Franklin Washburn - Mr. Washburn studied with Ivan Galamian. In the early 1960's, Mr. Washburn created the Dallas Junior Honors Orchestra, as well as teaching the violin privately for more than 40 years. Maestro Certain studied with Mr. Washburn for 19 years, prior to attending the Hurley School of Music at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. on a full violin performance scholarship. * Laura Crawford - Mrs. Crawford is the founder and director of the Centenary Suzuki School. She is also on the faculty of Centenary College where she teaches violin, chamber music, string methods, and string pedagogy. * Samuel Applebaum - Mr. Applebaum was a noted and enthusiastic teacher of the violin. He wrote a number of respected books on violin instruction. * Yehudi Menuhin - Baron Menuhin was an American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. Yehudi Menuhin had one of the longest and most distinguished careers of any violinist of the twentieth century. By the age of seven his performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto had found him instant fame. As a teenager he toured throughout the world and was considered one of the greats long before his twentieth birthday. Maestro Certain attended the following: * Centenary College-Hurley School of Music * Oklahoma State University * Interlochen Michigan Maestro Certain has performed with the following orchestras: * Richardson Symphony * East Texas Symphony * Marshall Symphony * Shreveport Symphony Maestro Certain has performed with... * Violinist Itzaak Perlman * Fiddlin' Frenchie Burk * Chubby Wise * Randy Travis
If we are talking about is pure instrumental ability I think much of what you say it true. However, here's the thing, being a professional player these days requires so much more than being a brilliant player. With so many graduates from music schools technical excellence is a given these days.
Too much practice/teaching misses those other areas which make up the complete musician and which will elevate you above all your technically excellent peers. Things like marketing, business, social skills, conduct, conversation all help to a very large extent when trying to reach the very highest point of this business.
So think yes, but a broader perspective is much better than one focused purely on instrumental technique.
by Mike Saville — Wed Nov 11, 2009 @ 11:35 am
What was the name of the book?
by Ronnie Currey (Editor) — Thu Nov 12, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
What the simplicity of simple numbers miss is the other side of why some folks are chess masters and others are contenders. The other side is abstraction. How do we store what we learn. We can only know so many things. The "masters" know more by seeing inter-relationships between things. Thus when they encounter something new, it isn't really completely new. It is a permutation of things they already have seen. This helps them "know" more. The most commonly study of "masters" is in chess (since there is a clear scoring and ranking system). Thus the chess master can see the layout of the board and see it is one of say 50 layouts type A. She also knows that type A layouts are one of 10 layout that are of type X. Here A maybe layouts without a rook. Type X might be defensive layouts (studies are finding the mind is best with about 5-7 levels of abstraction). This is where the mental mastery comes in. What are the layers of abstraction that your mind uses to group things? Different ways of abstracting what you learn can require more or fewer layers. These internal models determine how efficiently we store knowledge. Thus two people with 10,000 hours can know vastly different amounts.
If these theories are true, this can explain large differences in how two human brains can have such differently levels of competency from the same "10,000 hours". Consider the math of it. If at each level of abstraction I had two categories (like offensives setups and defensive setups) and I had 7 level of abstraction I could identify 128 chess layouts. If I had 7 categories at each of 7 levels it would be over 82,000. Again this is a gross simplification of it all, but is gives the idea about the power of how we think about things.
by Joe Schmoe — Wed Nov 18, 2009 @ 4:08 pm
I'd like to hear more about your advice to music students for increasing their attention.
by David Motto — Fri Nov 20, 2009 @ 5:00 pm