Ah, learning. Isn’t it great? Sometimes we absorb so much so quickly; filling in the blanks, checking off the correct answers like a pro only to wake up another day and feel like we are getting nowhere and unable to remember the last sentence we read. This can be frustrating and quite discouraging – to think that we are spending all this time learning a new skill and feeling like we are getting nowhere.
But if we would take the time to peek beneath the surface; to see that, while we may be struggling to grasp a new concept, we have unconsciously grasped some of the ones we previously had trouble with. I call this planting and tending seeds of knowledge.
While this article is intended to speak of musical seeds, I’d like to relate my experience, briefly, with learning Spanish.
I grew up in a part time Spanish speaking household. I can speak with an authentic accent, yet I am far from fluent. I desperately need to learn the various tenses: past, future, conditional, etc., and add to my vocabulary. I signed up and am taking Spanish online with the Babbel app. I breezed through much of it, already knowing the present tense and many basic words and phrases. But then it started to get challenging. I doubted my ability to ever learn the difference between ” I wanted” and “I would have wanted.”
But as I stumbled through these new challenging courses, I became aware that, although I was not completely understanding these new lessons, I was easily understanding most everything else – even material that just a couple of weeks before was giving me trouble. I had learned a lot while trying to learn even more.
And so I find that some of my music students, while working on some new and challenging chords or rhythms, are able to quickly and easily answer a random question I pose about something we learned (and had trouble with) weeks before.
Here are my directions on how to grow some musical skills:
How to grow musical skills:
Planting seeds starts by simply opening the package.
Look at those new and challenging chords and try to play them.
Place the seeds in your brain soil.
Try the chords again and tell yourself that you really, really, want to learn them. Introduce them to your brain!
Open another package of seeds.
Start to learn something else; new chords or new strumming patterns.
Tend to your seeds – old and new. Nurture them.
Don’t forget about those seeds you first planted. Visit them daily, and make sure they don’t wither and die. Practice those old chords often, even if you have to look at the chart again and again.
Plant more seeds.
Begin to learn more. Pat attention to your new seeds, but continue to visit and tend to the ones you previously planed. They need attention, even if they haven’t yet sprouted. Keep trying to play those challenging chords and rhythms while trying some new chords and rhythms.
Pay attention…
One day, while carefully planting some of those new seeds you got, you will notice that some of those earlier planted seeds will have begun to poke their little heads out of the ground. You may have even forgot you planted them.
You will be trying out a new chord, perhaps; reading a chart for a song you like, and without realizing it, you will have played several chords instinctually, without thinking about them, in perfect rhythm,as you were so focused on the upcoming, difficult chord.
You have successfully reaped your first harvest of musical skills. Don’t stop there – plant some more.
You might think this is wishful thinking on my part, and that you will “never get it“, but I urge you to first; believe you can do it, and then, try it.
I have observed so many students learn things while claiming that they haven’t, and it was only after I pointed out their achievements that they became aware of them.
Oh, and, by the way…
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All In Good Time 