On perseverance.....

​One of the reasons I focus on adult students these days rather than kids comes down to one basic fact:  Adults are much more likely to put in productive practice time compared to youngsters. This not always the case, of course. I can cite many examples of kids I’ve taught as young as 7 or 8 who succeeded spectacularly on the guitar but they are by far the exception. In a macro sense it’s really not their fault. The primary learning experience they have is school where the learning process is fairly straightforward, at least in the primary grades. When confronted with a problem or task their results quantifiable; they are either right or wrong. Learning a musical instrument is almost always not…..that! 
You could make an argument that sports teach the value of practice and I totally agree, but there are other factors involved such as speed, agility and the natural tendency for a kid to compare their success to that of others. And these days the vast majority of kids’ experience in sports is in the organized variety. Rather than just having a pick-up game on a sand lot somewhere without the influence of adults who stress the “right” way to play, those sand lot games are great for learning to play in a relaxed manner without the potentially overbearing critique of some authority figure.
 
The huge gray area between failure and success is something many kids have never dealt with, especially with the emergence of “helicopter moms” (and dads!) who are devoted to making their child believe they have succeeded in tasks when that success is the result of those helicopter pilots smoothing the path so much that their child never has the opportunity to fail – and learn from their mistakes. 
 
In some instances, being less than successful on the guitar in the short term has to do with a kid’s perception of the passage of time. In the beginning, to say to a child – you must press down on sharp objects as hard as you can and yes, that will hurt, but in a month or so you’ll be able to play something that sounds pretty good – is a big, big “ask.” It’s all about faith. Faith that the teacher is asking you to do something that will yield results in spite of very little perceived progress on a day-to-day basis. I have many tricks and suggestions that will shorten the path somewhat but ultimately, I’m talking about the absolute necessity of regular practice. But all of us (adults included!) can find a reason to avoid tasks that really need to be dealt with; look at the paint chipping off my house for a prime example! 
 
Encouraging success and being a cheerleader are big parts of my job and sometimes I literally lose sleep trying to figure out how I can improve the playing experience for certain students who clearly WANT to play well but are very frustrated. But virtually all my adult students over the many decades I’ve been teaching understand that faith thing. When they do see and hear positive results it inspires more practice, which is a gratifying thing to behold. It’s a circle: Productive practice yields more positive results, which makes the student practice even more resulting in even more success, which makes the student want to practice more! What a wonderful circle that is!
 
Right now, I have a student who is one of the best examples of the art of perseverance I’ve ever seen. He is well into his “golden years” (please explain to me just what’s so “golden” about them?!). He’s been with me for about eight months and had limited experience on guitar before he started his lessons, enough to be able to employ mostly correct technique most of the time and a good collection of standard chords. Unfortunately, as with many of us at an advanced age he suffers from hand tremors that make formation of chords and rapid changes a much, much bigger challenge than what I usually see even with older students. But in spite of that I see more and more remarkable progress. I’m in awe of him. His is a perfect example of the benefit of committed practice. And….he’s doing this with a beautiful classical guitar that like most nylon-string classical guitars has a much wider and thicker neck than a typical steel string acoustic guitar, which make his accomplishments all the more admirable. Best of all, he is a truly nice guy and I always look forward to his lesson.
 
As I’ve mentioned before in this space, being able to take pride in even the smallest victories is hugely important. Remember: ALL accomplishments should be celebrated. Finally able to get a decent sound from a barre chord? Give yourself a virtual pat on the back because you deserve it! 
 
Another element that has a definite impact on how a student progresses is their exposure to music throughout their life. If music is part of a person’s regular daily routine, even just playing music on the car radio, you’re learning things on a subliminal level that can be brought out with the help of a good teacher. Having relatives or close friends who play is another huge plus. As I’ve written in this space many times, pretty much my entire family on my dad’s side were professional musicians going back many generations so my exposure to both listening and playing music was a given. 
 
Sometimes I get students with similar backgrounds but that is not usually the case. It takes three or four lessons for me to get a good idea of the direction we should take. The most important aspect at that point is helping the budding guitarist find gratification and pleasure in their playing as soon as possible. I can use just about any form of popular music to demonstrate the nuts and bolts of playing and this is why I give all my new students a sheet I call my “student profile” that I ask them to fill out and return to me at their next lesson. The last question on the profile is: Who are some of your favorite musicians and what is your favorite type of music? This helps me steer them into something they’ll enjoy practicing. All I ask is that they keep an open mind and avoid classifying certain types of music as good or bad. Sure, we all have preferences that determine what we’ll lean toward in terms of style and genre. But I firmly believe a student can learn valuable things from just about any style, things that can be applied to their preferred type of music. It took me decades to have that realization and I so wish my mind was more open in my early stages of learning to play guitar. I’m absolutely certain I’d be twice the player I am today if I’d resisted the trap of deeming some music good and some bad.
 
 
Don’t be afraid to ask yourself just why you want to play the guitar, and ask that question frequently because your answers may very well change as you progress. Be gracious about positive comments from listeners but also do not take criticism too seriously because 99% of the time that criticism is only in jest, even if it doesn’t feel that way when you hear it. In the immortal words of Mr. Dylan: “keep on keepin’ on!”
 
Peace & good music,
Gene