How to Enjoy Practicing

The Beatles are perhaps the biggest band of all time. They have had more number one albums, sold more records and topped the charts for longer than any other band in the history of music.

In the ten years they played together, they collected 7 Grammies, 15 Ivor Novello Awards and were included in Time Magazine’s list of the hundred most important people of the 20th Century, alongside Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and Einstein.

What was the secret of their success? Malcolm Gladwell, in his book ‘Outliers’, studied the Beatles in depth and found that incredible achievements and worldwide acclaim came down to one decisive factor that set them apart from the rest. Practice. Gladwell describes how in their formative years, the Beatles would play eight hours a night, seven days a week whilst living in Hamburg, Germany.

By the time they became a worldwide success, they had performed live an estimated 1,200 times, more than most bands play in their entire careers. The Beatles wrote some of the most memorable songs of the Twentieth Century, they were clearly gifted, creative and inspired individuals. However, it’s important to remember that their success didn’t just happen by chance, or come easily. It involved a huge sacrifice and commitment, because practice makes perfect.

The first key to enjoying playing together is to practice. Many of us have busy lives, so it will be costly. For some, it will mean carving out time each day where you can be alone to worship with your instrument. For others, it will mean using your morning commute to listen, study, think about the songs you’re learning. Rehearsing regularly, both on your own and with others, is vital to enjoying playing together.

Practice has a several benefits:

Firstly, practice has a physical benefit. Musicians have been described as athletes of the small muscles, in that we rely on very repetitive actions to be good at what we do. We have over thirty different muscles that operate in our hands alone, which all need to be used regularly if our hands are to respond to what our brains are telling them to do. For this reason, we must be mindful of our physical preparation, learning to warm up and warm down before playing our instruments. Paul writes to Timothy, encouraging him that “physical training is of some value” (1 Timothy 4:8) because practicing helps the body form helpful habits that soon become instinctive.

Secondly, practice has a mental benefit. Over time, practice trains the synapses in our brains to respond so that the playing becomes second nature. Musicians can’t learn without repetition, and can’t repeat with practice. Learning requires attention, and neuroscience tells us that the brain’s ability to absorb new information decreases rapidly after three to five minutes if sustained concentration.

For this reason, it is better to practice little and often, even if it is just a couple of minutes, than to leave long periods of time between sessions.

A man was once lost on the streets of New York City, and was trying to find the prestigious New York concert venue, Carnegie Hall. After frantically dashing from street to street, he flags down a fellow pedestrian and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The man turns to him with a smile and simply replies, “There’s only one way to get to Carnegie Hall… Practice, practice, practice!”