Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE

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Stick at it

If you stick at something long enough, eventually you get a breakthrough. I am referring to the process of learning a new skill such as a golf swing, ice-skating, learning a language, drawing, needlecraft or playing an instrument. For me it's the learning to play the violin. I'm not now going to say that 'I've learnt it', but sticking at it despite problems is paying dividends.

It's a little over 3 years since I started playing the violin and some 40 years after my previous attempt as a 12 year old that only lasted two years before I gave up with dispirit and disappointment. A change of teacher resulted in my being told my technique was all wrong and I must start again. Frustrated and disillusioned I quit. However I kept my fiddle and still have it to this day. A grain of interest and enthusiasm lingered in my system for all those years until I woke up one morning 40 years later and decided to start learning again. After such a long time, I was truly back at the beginning. But learning to play in one's fifties is not like learning as a child.

When we're young we can learn so quickly as it goes deep into our brain and co-ordination. Virtuoso violinists have usually started playing at the age of 3 or 4. If the child has enthusiasm for the activity and puts in the hours (willingly), then they can make it to the top. Talent accounts for around 10%; the rest is hard work. Starting young gives us a real chance of achieving the highest standards. This approach applies to sports such as tennis, motor racing (Lewis Hamilton started driving karts at the age of 6) and any activity you care to mention.

When we learn as an adult, we may have postural or mental habits to overcome or contend with; we may also be out of the habit of learning. It also takes a great deal of repetition of movements for them to get into our muscle memory. Now as I learn to play my violin it takes an age to learn and for the skill to be retained in my co-ordination. I'll never be a concert performer for which one needs to start as a child, but I can have a good deal of fun! One shifts one's expectations to a different level. I take pleasure in small improvements; I'm beginning to make a nice sound with vibrato, but I'll probably never play Paganini.

Sometimes it feels like my progress has hit a brick wall, that nothing is improving despite hours of practice. Sometimes it feels like I'm getting worse. Shall I give up? If I do that, I've wasted the 3 years and the thousand and more hours I've applied to it already. If I carry on when feeling stuck I endeavour to not be frustrated. This is the time to really stop thinking of progress and success and start enjoying the simple process of doing small things. It is most important that we have a good example to copy, we need accurate and correct guidance from a good teacher so we do not pick up bad habits while learning. We may feel like we're stuck for weeks; we practice daily and nothing seems to be improving. This is when working on technique is so important and fundamental. Who wants to focus on their posture, the looseness of their arms and neck, the precise hold on the golf club or support of my violin when all we want to do is play the damn thing? The answer to that is 'We Do'. We need to work on the basics, breaking the action and play down to the smallest considerations. The master stroke that wins the tournament or the virtuoso performance of a top violinist is made up entirely of the smallest considerations, one after the other. If we apply ourselves to basics and keep on at them with the most diligent of attention, we will gradually make progress.

If you stick at something long enough, eventually you get a breakthrough. We may be too old to win the cup or play the Wigmore Hall having started to learn with passion at an older age, but we can have fun. Having fun with basics and having fun in the process of learning small stages brings contentment. Even if we've 'hit the wall' and no progress is happening, stick at the principles and eventually we will have a breakthrough. Great.

This happened to me the other night when I had a violin lesson. For weeks I had been plugging away at my exercises and nothing was coming together. Now it is, and my teacher remarked how much I had moved forwards! I hadn't noticed particularly but he could. Now I'm really glad I've kept going and am enthusiastic to carry on. Sometimes it takes hard work to have fun.

Posted by Noël on February 22, 2008 8:15 AM | Permalink