Relaxation when Learning a New Instrument or Difficult Lines
Learning to play new instrument or a very technical line on an instrument you know well can be fraught with frustration. Both complicated instruments and complicated parts have steep learning curves, otherwise they would not be complicated. Many people take up an instrument but give up too early: if they’d committed themselves enough just to learn the basics, they might very well have progressed further.
The reason I write this article is because I am learning to play piano. I am already an accomplished guitarist, but this is entirely new to me. I am a poor reader of music, and can only read it very slowly. Nevertheless, I practice continuously and to a metronome. My progress so far has been quite astonishing considering my lack of experience, but ‘raw talent’ is something I am having to do without.
One finds frustration in learning many new things, but the difference between success and failure often comes in preventing the frustration from building a barrier. For an instrument, it is usually the feeling that your fingers do not do what you ask of them, or it seems impossible or just sounds terrible. One can tell if they are becoming frustrated if:
- They stop breathing, or breath becomes quite shallow.
- They repeat the bit they’re working on endlessly but while staring into space.
- They feel like they’re getting annoyed or not getting anywhere.
There is nothing wrong with a little frustration. Most new things can lead to a little resistance as we learn them. It’s only important to control it and this is done by not letting it build up. The answer is to stop, periodically, and check one’s breathing. If breathing is shallow, relax and let breathing become normal, and then resume. If it seems like too much effort, have a break of just a few minutes, and then get back to it. Don’t give up or try and put it off, doing so will only make the miserableness last longer!
But remember, practice makes perfect!