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Do you want to know more about deliberate practice?
The psychologist and scientific researcher K. Anders Ericsson established in 1993 that it requires at least 10.000 hours of deliberate practice (about 10 years) to achieve an expert level of performance in any given domain. Musicians need about 15-25 years to attain an elite international level.
There seems to be a universal limit for how much deep practice human beings can do in a day. Ericsson`s research shows that most world class experts( including pianists, chess players and athletes) practice between 3 and 5 hours a day, in session lasting no more than 1 hour-1 hour 30 minutes. Here are some reasons:
Deliberate practice is not inherently enjoyable.
It requires to identify the elements of performance that need to be improved and to work especially on them.
It is above all an effort of focus and concentration.
This is what makes deliberate practice distinct from the mindless playing.
It`s highly demanding mentally.
It also involves monitoring one`s performance and continually looking for new ways to improve. You must be observant and aware of what happens, so that you can tell yourself exactly what was wrong.
Great performers choose to rest in the learning zone. That`s the location of skills and abilities that are just out of reach. We can not make progress in the comfort zone because those activities we can do already easily, while panic zone activities are to difficult. The three zones are constantly changing. As you operate in the learning zone, you will get more comfortable with the current skills and they will start to move into the comfort zone. The tasks of the panic zone will move to the learning zone and the cycle will continue.
"If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, than everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest."
Deliberate practice requires effort but is the most effective way of learning to play music at a high level!
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