Practice Make What?

It’s not uncommon for me to ask my piano students, “Practice makes what?” To which new ones will always reply with great certainty and faith, “Perfect!” And with just as much zeal, I respond, “No! Practice makes permanent.” And I go on to explain to them that they can practice hours and hours at the time, but if they aren’t doing it correctly, for example not counting properly or are playing the wrong notes, it will not be perfect. Just permanently incorrect. Which can actually make it more frustrating than having not practiced at all because their muscle memory now comes in to play and that is a stubborn motor skill to correct.

Of course, muscle memory is not a bad thing. After all, it’s how we ride our bikes, drive our cars, type our emails, enter our PIN numbers and a host of other numerous activities we perform throughout the day. And, quite frankly, I am really grateful for it, because it has gotten me through many a piano recital and musical performance. 

And so what do we do when a student comes to his or her lesson having established a “permanent” muscle memory? We begin to tear it down by playing over and over and over the correct phrase or note pattern. The incorrect music previously learned has to be overridden and destroyed by the correct way. And that takes intentional reshaping of the muscle and muscle memory. Not to mention a lot of patience on the student and teacher. It can be excruciating … just ask my husband who listens from another room. But it’s necessary if the student wants to perform well and accurately and do justice and give integrity to the composer.

I am now in the process of retraining my own muscle memory. Not a physical one but a mental muscle memory. As I sat before the flickering flame of my Advent candle this morning, participating in and reading the Divine Hours, I realized the way my mind kept going to an unhealthy place of thinking; a place that I now know I had been training for decades through constant practice. I thought of those students and that “practice” that “makes permanent” and knew that’s exactly what I had done. I was (am) stuck in an incorrect pattern of thinking. And one that seems to unbiddenly overtake everything else.

So now comes the hard work; that of behavioral therapy. Of putting into practice what I have been teaching for so long. But not the hands on a keyboard kind of retraining; rather that of rehearsing new thought patterns. No doubt, as any exercise is, it will be grueling. It will also need to be intentional because this thing puts up a fight. But it is necessary if I’m going to perform well this particular melody that is mine alone to play, and honoring the One who composed the music. The good news is that the Teacher Himself sits next to me, advising me, encouraging me and taking great delight with every correct note and rhythm I play. And if I listen closely enough, at times I can even hear Him humming along.

So what about you? Got any muscle memory that needs transforming? If so, give me a call. I know the Name of an amazing Instructor.