Published on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month

Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work

Jun 4 2007, Mike Estep

I've been giving private music lessons for 22 years on bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, vocals, and music technologies. My many students have covered the gamut of ages (5-75) and walks of life (carpenters, electricians, housewives, politicians, doctors, lawyers, students, teachers, farmers, ranchers, pastors, etc.). In some ways I've felt like a counselor, having been in a position to observe much about human behavior.

Whenever a person wants to develop skills in any area, it is advisable to go to experts who have the fruit on the tree. For example, seek out people who have been using such skills several years longer than you, have an excellent reputation, and can show you practical information and true shortcuts. One of my great passions in this life (since age 8) has been the pursuit of various aspects of music performance, theory, technology, philosophy, and instruction. Over the last 39 years, I’ve developed a certain expertise in this field. Therefore, students usually come to me because they feel I have information that can help them learn to play.

In all the time I've been teaching, it has never ceased to amaze me that many students have an aversion to practice. I generally expected this to be more common among children, but it is just as common with adult students. This is especially perplexing when you consider that the adults are personally paying me to teach them.

I've also heard the gamut of excuses, which generally includes a statement similar to "I didn't have time to practice this week." What this usually means is: "I didn't feel like practicing this week", or "Practice isn't fun so I didn't want to do it."

I don't expect my beginning students to spend an exorbitant amount of time in practice either. I suggest that they put in a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 4-5 days per week to see decent results within a 6-month period of time. This is not unreasonable. Even so, many students won't pick up their instrument until they come to the next lesson.

I'm not a slave driver or forceful in my presentation. I spend much time trying to paint pictures in the minds of my students, helping them to see the possibilities and that they can learn to do the things I show them – if they implement what I say. However, it's common for some students to want the skills to magically appear without having to work at it.

So far, I’ve been talking specifically about music instruction, but these points also apply to anything that is worth pursuing in this life.

We live in an instant society. With the push of a button we can turn on lights, air conditioners, microwave ovens, television, radio, etc. We create technologies to help us increase comfort and convenience. But in this pursuit, people can neglect developing delayed gratification. Therefore, it is quite easy to become lazy and have an underdeveloped work ethic.

However, if we want to develop skills and knowledge in anything, it takes dedicated effort. Sometimes learning and training will not be fun, but this is a poor excuse for procrastination. If we have time to watch TV, we have time to spend on developing a skill.

Having said that, here are some techniques that can help us motivate ourselves to do the work, if practiced regularly and consistently...

  • Tell yourself out loud statements like: "I'm good at what I do...I can do this...I learn easily...I remember easily."
  • Visualize what you want as if you are already able to perform it. Include positive emotions – pretend it is fun.
Given these types of information, the subconscious part of your mind doesn't distinguish the real from the imagined. At some point, it starts to react to what it is given, which in turn can help change your behavior to what is desired.

If you don't believe this, consider what happens when you watch a fictional movie. Has the scenery in a movie ever made you angry, brought you to tears, provoked you to talk to the characters on screen, or had you sitting on pins and needles? The emotions and reactions you experience are real even if the movie is fictional. This is because the subconscious part of your mind does not distinguish the information as fiction. It instead reacts at an emotional and behavioral level to the information perceived as if it were real.

Therefore, using the above mentioned techniques can go a long way in helping you to be in control of your mind and thus make better decisions.

These truths are simple and work for us if we work for them. So, roll up those sleeves and get to work on developing skills and knowledge – in music or whatever area you pursue.