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 The Good Life. |
| One of the lesser frequently-asked question among prospective clients of my music school is, "How long will it take for me/my child to master the instrument?" Um. This question never ceases to baffle me. I try to look at it from the perspective of non-musicians who truly have no clue what's involved, but in my imagining, that only makes it worse. Looking from the outside at the task of studying an instrument, with zero music experience, it might seem almost insurmountable. Yet some inquirers seem to believe that learning music has an end date, like it's a crash course: Learn Piano in Just Twelve Weeks! And then you get your certificate, and you're an official Certified Musician. No. I had this conversation with a dad seeking voice and/or piano lessons for his 6-year-old child yesterday. I gave him my typical initial reply, which satisfies less than half the askers of this question: "The study of music is a lifelong endeavor." The parent acknowledged what I was saying, but tried to clarify what he was asking: "Yes, yes, of course. But how long until she can do it on her own?" I understood exactly what he meant the first time. What he really wanted to know is, How much is this going to cost me? He's just trying to budget, and I get it. Being a parent is expensive. I can't answer his question, though, because... it depends. It depends on how quickly your daughter learns. It depends on how much she practices, which depends on how much she loves it and how much you enforce it at home. It depends on whether she reliably attends her lessons every week, and whether you stay consistently enrolled or withdraw every summer for travel. Most importantly, it depends on your definition of mastery. That's my favorite part of these conversations - the client can't define mastery to pin down what their question even is. They flounder and reword and shrug helplessly and expect me to define it for them, for me to explain what the end of learning looks like - because isn't that the question they're asking, after all? Musicians with PhD's on their instrument are still learning. How long does it take to master a language? I don't know about you, but at age 50, I'm still learning English, which is my native language. How long does it take to master the art of writing? The mechanics of writing? The business of writing? The marketing of writing? We. Are. All. Still. Learning. Hopefully, I have successfully answered the question, and you now know exactly how long it takes to master an instrument. I'll close with a short (<2min) video about learning. With my apologies, it's a YouTube Short and cannot be embedded: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zpR6AEKAZuc Educationally, Michelle    Min 10 min/day on current novel Review work tasks list 3 days/week Two poems for "PromptMaster !"  One short story for "The Bradbury" One themed blog post (music/writing) One review Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" |
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