Many of my students want to play the study pieces I give them “perfectly.” I’m sure we all want to play our music “perfectly.” Sadly this is almost impossible. What is perfection and why chase it? Small mistakes we face with in real time help build fundamental characteristic’s that make a musician able to deal with the problems that will most certainly arise. I do not take off points for mistakes. I take off points if a mistake causes a negative reaction. Cursing, throwing temper tantrums, and trying to fix the mistake is what will take a performance down. We must learn to just keep going. Never stop. Never apologize. Never ask “ can I start again?” These things create terrible habits that we can repeatedly fall into. A good reminder is go to the light side. Laugh at yourself, smile and keep playing. Dealing with mistakes in real time and reacting to them well is the beginning of improvisation…
It’s not about the mistake-it’s how you react to it!
Are you able to fail with grace? We all need to lean how.
Thank You David, that’s a very refreshing post. I am a bit of a perfectionist by nature, which can be a blessing and a curse. As I continue to expand my repertoire, I am making more mistakes with some of my older, often played tunes. I’ve been a getting annoyed with myself, so your words are very reassuring.
I tend to reflect on how much ability is ordained by genes and how much is determined by practice time and conscious effort. It’s nice to be reminded to just play and enjoy it.
I used to get very frustrated until I decided to make mistakes learning experiences. I may be wrong but the only few people that made no makes never did anything. I learn more from mistakes than when I get the occasional tune correct. But this is just me.
I do feel until they break this bad habit of throwing a temper tantrum because of a mistake they are slowing their progress to a halt. Their mid is out of control and learning something will never take place. Maybe if they hear this some of them will realize they are their own worst enemy.
I am sorta like this but realize if Herp Alpert said he never mastered the trumpet never will I be close to perfect. The only type of person that does not make mistakes is someone that never tries anything, which in my opinion is a mistake.
I am proud of what progress I have made but will always want to improve. No do overs.
Mistakes while improvising are rather baked in right? The whole point of improvising is to be free while composing on the spot. What most people think of as a mistake is just an opportunity to adjust.
As for real mistakes, the main mistake I see is “I think this sounds great but when I listen to a recording of myself, ouch, it does not.”
When this is happening to us (because it happens to us all), the issue is that our ears are in the wrong place. Ears need to be focused on listening to the music, and not just on the relationships between the notes we ourselves are playing.
