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Eh, I am not so sure. After watching my kid go through Suzuki Method violin through Volume 10 (a Mozart concerto) -- my observation is that it is incredibly im

Eh, I am not so sure. After watching my kid go through Suzuki Method violin through Volume 10 (a Mozart concerto) -- my observation is that it is incredibly important to not practice-in mistakes. The typical Suzuki Method attack is to identify "special spots" (you don't tell a 4-year old that it is a "difficult section") and for those special spots, identify drills that work that spot. The spot is probably 1 or 2 measures long. There are a lot of different technique-builder drills, but one example: In La Folia there is a challenging run, at performance tempo it is very fast, and the timing is a 7-tuple, if I recall. One drill is to play that scale run forwards and backwards, slowly, concentrating on perfect intonation, even timing, and percussive finger landings. Only when that drill is perfect, is that integrated into the piece. So, no. Don't allow yourself to make mistakes. Take the challenging section, come up with a drill for just that section, and work that section until it is perfect at the same tempo where you can play the rest of the piece. The first rule of time-efficient practice is to spend your time on the sections that need perfecting! Just playing the piece through over-and-over is not a good use of practice time. Another thing that I found a bit mind-bending, given my own music education, is that our teacher had the philosophy that first you memorize the piece, and only after the piece is completely memorized without intonation and tempo mistakes, is it possible to start really working on perfecting it. That is the point where she really started teaching the piece. Maybe that is a violinist thing where there is a culture of memorization, but it was a bit of a new concept for me. Another teacher at a violin camp used to say: "After you first succeed, try, try again." Meaning, don't stop after you get it right! After you get it right, you need to play it correctly at least as many times as you played it incorrectly, just to reach net-zero learning. Only then can you play it correctly many more times in order to perfect it.

dota_fanatic 5y ago
Ah, well, I've poorly portrayed the idea that Huberman shared on his podcast regarding neuroplasticity. I think we may even be in agreement. Lemme give this one more shot. > Don't allow yourself to make mistakes. Take the challenging section, come up with a drill for just that section, and work that section until it is perfect at the same tempo where you can play the rest of the piece. Work that section until it is perfect implies that when you start it's not perfect, i.e. mistakes are made. You can't just be perfect with everything all of the time. How would you even know where to start such as to "make no mistakes"? Finding perfection is the process I tried to describe above, you aim to play perfectly and get as close as possible. Nevertheless, errors are inevitable. Embrace their necessity for they are the stuff of learning. > One drill is to play that scale run forwards and backwards, slowly, concentrating on perfect intonation, even timing, and percussive finger landings. Reiterating, doing 50 reps of the above is bound to have some errors. You notice them, your brain notices them. If you only ever played things that you can currently do perfectly, or said differently, vacant of any mistakes, how would you ever get better or play new things which are bound to have things you can't already perfectly do? I think what I failed to portray is that yes, don't "allow yourself to make mistakes." Care about trying to be perfect. You'll still make mistakes and that's a good thing. As you constantly improve and take on more and more challenging tasks, you're also baking in countless reps that are strengthening the "right" networks in the brain and pruning out the ones that aren't right. I recommend checking out the podcast because I'm definitely not doing a good job of replicating his lessons / sharing of what the latest in neuroscientific literature shows.
- darkerside 5y ago
  Have you considered that you might be wrong? It's OK to be wrong (in the spirit of your post!). I don't know what your background is with musical instruments, but there is a mental wall to break through when it comes to how "acceptable" errors should be.

dota_fanatic 5y ago

Ah, well, I've poorly portrayed the idea that Huberman shared on his podcast regarding neuroplasticity. I think we may even be in agreement. Lemme give this one more shot. > Don't allow yourself to make mistakes. Take the challenging section, come up with a drill for just that section, and work that section until it is perfect at the same tempo where you can play the rest of the piece. Work that section until it is perfect implies that when you start it's not perfect, i.e. mistakes are made. You can't just be perfect with everything all of the time. How would you even know where to start such as to "make no mistakes"? Finding perfection is the process I tried to describe above, you aim to play perfectly and get as close as possible. Nevertheless, errors are inevitable. Embrace their necessity for they are the stuff of learning. > One drill is to play that scale run forwards and backwards, slowly, concentrating on perfect intonation, even timing, and percussive finger landings. Reiterating, doing 50 reps of the above is bound to have some errors. You notice them, your brain notices them. If you only ever played things that you can currently do perfectly, or said differently, vacant of any mistakes, how would you ever get better or play new things which are bound to have things you can't already perfectly do? I think what I failed to portray is that yes, don't "allow yourself to make mistakes." Care about trying to be perfect. You'll still make mistakes and that's a good thing. As you constantly improve and take on more and more challenging tasks, you're also baking in countless reps that are strengthening the "right" networks in the brain and pruning out the ones that aren't right. I recommend checking out the podcast because I'm definitely not doing a good job of replicating his lessons / sharing of what the latest in neuroscientific literature shows.

darkerside 5y ago
Have you considered that you might be wrong? It's OK to be wrong (in the spirit of your post!). I don't know what your background is with musical instruments, but there is a mental wall to break through when it comes to how "acceptable" errors should be.