We have all heard the expression that practice makes perfect, I believe that the goal is not to become a perfect piano player but rather an improved piano player. Sometimes the focus of practicing to make perfect a piece of music should not be the goal because it can induce anxiety and foster a belief that a person is not good enough, not smart enough or not talented enough to play the piano. Quite simply, I think that the aim for perfectionism can actually sabotage a person’s efforts in learning to play the piano because perfectionism is so black and white – you either make the grade by being perfect or fail to be perfect and consider yourself inadequate .
While these statements are obvious and most people would agree that perfectionism is good as a general guide, but certainly not the standard we should insist on achieving, we still can sometimes place too high of an expectation on ourselves to play our piano pieces perfectly. I have seen it way too many times when piano students think that they are failing because they are not perfect. Actually I would say that the main reason why a piano student quits piano lessons, is not because they are not good enough but because they tell themselves that they are not good enough. Once that false belief is cemented in their mind, then they don’t practice as much as they used to and then progress slows down until they are not making much progress at all. Basically they are creating a self fulfilling prophecy.
In all the years I have been teaching the piano, I have never had a piano student quit lessons because they have simply lost interest in playing the piano. A few times I have had students stop taking piano lessons because they have gotten to a point where they have all the skills they want to have and can play all the music that they are interested in playing (which I think is the best reason of all to stop piano lessons). Some have said they were quitting piano lessons because they didn’t have time anymore, which would be true for some but for others it would be a way of covering up the fact that they don’t believe they can learn anymore – they feel like they are not good enough.
We all play mind games with ourselves from time to time and lack the belief in ourselves that we can learn something new and yes, that includes me too (I’m not that great with learning new technology). Really the truth is that if you really want to learn to play the piano, then maybe think more about the concept of ‘practice makes progress’. Practicing does make an impact and an improvement, not just some of the time, every time you practice with some effort, you do make a small improvement that over time will make a large improvement.
What makes this hard is that you don’t really get to see those small improvements that can happen on a daily basis. As a piano teacher that sees students on a weekly basis, I can notice a huge improvement in only a week. Furthermore, because of my experience, I can usually accurately guess how many days a piano student has practiced in the previous week. I can hear a difference with only one practice. Quite literally, every single practice produces some improvement.
Rather than thinking about practicing and perfection, I think it is much more useful to think that practice makes progress because with each practice, whether you hear it or not, you are most definitely making progress.