In my professional pursuit of music, I have learned many invaluable lessons. The first and hardest lesson was the realization that talent is not enough. Wait what?!? This seems to be an overlooked concept in the minds of musicians. As songwriters, we perform the magic trick of literally making something out of nothing each time we sit down to create. If we are able to write something that remotely resembles a song, we believe that we possess a particularly excellent aptitude to make music, even if we don’t. With that misguided belief, the logical conclusion is each of us has what it takes to be successful in the music industry as a music professional. Wrong answer. If talent were enough in any pursuit, then everyone would be wildly successful with zero effort because everyone has gifts and talents by virtue of being human. But I am learning on a daily basis that talent is the starting point not the destination. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author, journalist and staff writer for the New Yorker, there is a phenomenon known as the 10,000 Hour Rule. In his 2008 New York Times bestselling book entitled, Outliers, Gladwell contends that in order to achieve a level of mastery in a particular area, “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” In expounding on this concept several years later, he stated “that practice isn’t a sufficient condition for success. I could play chess for 100 years and I’ll never be a grandmaster. The point is simply that natural ability requires a huge investment of time in order to be made manifest.”
So does practice make perfect? When I thought about the concept more deeply, what came to mind was the facelift that the adage was given by famed football coach, Vince Lombardi, when he said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Meaningful practice and dedication seems to be the hallmark of the 10,000 Hour Rule, which makes perfect sense. The combination of talent and deliberate preparation, through the meaningful dedication of time and energy to a particular vocation or pursuit, will likely yield successful results. Though Gladwell later stated that the concept doesn’t apply to sports, I submit that even Serena Williams, LeBron James, Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter all became upper echelon athletes because of meaningful practice and the intangibles, like attitude, determination and work ethic. If each had their innate natural athleticism but never dedicated themselves to the learning and mastery of their respective sport, would any of them have reached world class status in their area? Conversely, the stories of those who had all the natural aptitude but never reached their fullest potential, are legion. Sometimes they were products of their environment and circumstances prevented their ascension, but in other situations, they had the talent but lacked the character to dedicate themselves to the pursuit in any meaningful way that ensured success and longevity.
Don’t get me wrong. God-given, natural talent is necessary. It is, in my opinion, the foundation. Misty Copeland, the first African-American female principal dancer for the prestigious American Ballet Theater, did not begin ballet classes until she was 13. In the dance world, she was virtually a geriatric. But her natural talent, in combination with the meaningful dedication of her time and energy to ballet, played a significant role in her success. Then add the intangibles: the good attitude; the stellar work ethic; the never quit mentality; and a million other strong character attributes and positive outside influences, and voila! As a soloist during the ballet season, she rehearses from 10am-7pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Clearly, it is more than talent that allows her to maintain such a rigorous schedule and keep her performing at such an amazing level.
So what am I saying? In a nutshell… it takes talent to get in the race, but a lot more to get across the finish line. At my stage in my own music marathon, I don’t even know what it takes to cross the finish line in first place! I suppose you have to ask Misty, Serena, Lebron, Peyton and Derek. lol I am still working out the particulars but if I find out, I will let you know. What I know now is practice is a necessary component to add to your natural talent, and lots of it, if you desire to become a music professional. But let’s be clear that practicing just anything and reinforcing bad habits are not the solution. If you want to be a professional guitar player, practicing on a guitar with one string for 10,000 hours is not the meaningful practice, the perfect practice, that will achieve that goal. I read in a recent blog that if you apply the 10,000 Hour Rule to songwriting, assuming that it takes 4 hours to write a song, then one would have to write at least 2500 songs to become an expert. While I believe that number to be a benchmark that simply cannot be applied without consideration given to talent, meaningful practice and intangibles, the theory is not wrong. I am a much better songwriter today than I was even last year because I have dedicated myself to learning about the craft and practicing deliberately and meaningfully. I am absolutely getting out what I am putting in and I believe that my efforts will continue to reap benefits. Just yesterday I was issued a challenge by a music professional who basically told me to dare to be great. Good writing is not good enough because greatness is possible. Well amen. That statement brings me back full circle to the first and hardest lesson I have learned: Talent isn’t enough… so practice perfectly!
