Levels of Learning

I'm going to say something here that might seem kind of mean. It's not really, though, and I'm going to explain it thoroughly. This is a very important concept for every student and parent to understand.

This is something that happens hundreds of times a year. A student will come into a lesson and play a piece for me, and make some mistakes. Then the student will say,

"But I can play it perfectly at home."

And then I will say,

"...I don't care."

There's a good reason for that. The level of skill that I want you to have is higher than the skill it takes to play it perfectly at home. It's easier to play it at home because you're not under pressure. In the lesson, it's harder to play without mistakes. That's why playing something perfectly at home is not good enough; you need to know your piece so well that you can play it anywhere, at any time, in front of anybody. That's the mark of a student who practices well.

I often say to my students, "I want you to know this so well that if someone woke you up at 3:30 in the morning and handed you a violin, you could play it with no mistakes." I'm not entirely joking when I say that. (Although it's okay to laugh.) Because when you're standing on stage with the bright lights on you and the audience staring straight at your face, sometimes that's just as much of a shock.

To me, there are five different levels of solidity when learning a piece of music. They are:

- At home, comfortable, no pressure
- In the lesson
- Playing with someone (group class, with teacher in lesson)
- Rehearsal with piano
- On stage

When you practice at home, you need to keep in mind that you're in the easiest situation possible. You're comfortable, surrounded by people you know, in a place that you're familiar with. So, when you're practicing, you have to be more solid than you think you need to be. This is what distinguishes students who are okay and students who are excellent: the students who are excellent are the ones who practice more than it seems like they need to, in order to make their skills SOLID.

This is also why I ask my students to repeat things so many times at home. Being able to do it only once is not good enough, because you need to be SOLID. You have to repeat things over and over until you can't do it wrong anymore, so that your skills are completely reliable.

Also, keep in mind that when we're in the lesson, I have to go with what I see and hear. If you make a mistake, I have to assume that you need more practice. It would be wrong of me to do otherwise. This is why telling me "I can do it better at home" doesn't work. Again, you have to practice your piece to a level in which the mistakes just don't happen anymore. At that point, it doesn't matter where you are or who you're playing for, it will always be right.

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