Actually, the article gave examples, e.g., "the number of hours of deliberate practice to first reach “master” status (a very high level of skill) ranged from 7

Actually, the article gave examples, e.g., "the number of hours of deliberate practice to first reach “master” status (a very high level of skill) ranged from 728 hours to 16,120 hours," where 10k was not necessary. Of course, nothing in the article refuted the study Gladwell cited, among a group of talented musicians, those who practiced more were superior. I'm fairly sure no one took away from that the notion that people with no musical talent could become concert musicians if they practiced for 10K hours. The debate is silly, but the studies cited were interesting; would that they had been presented less sensationally.