What is it about practicing a musical instrument that makes us cringe? Why do we despise the monotony of it and look for any reason to be excused from it? Why do we view it as a daily grind? Does practicing have any redeeming features or qualities?
If you have ever tackled a new activity that requires an enormous amount of repetitive work for success, you may want to consult Phyllis Sdoia-Satz and Barry Satz's book Practicing Sucks, But It Doesn't Have To!: Surviving Music Lessons. This book strives to make the onerous palatable by offering ideas and tips to optimize the time spent perfecting a skill. It addresses ways to set realistic goals and objectives and provides positive reinforcement throughout the work. It offers practical suggestions to parents which try to ease the burden of their child's studies. Teachers may also discover creative, original methods of engaging their pupils in relieving their boredom and frustrations.
As the Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski said,
"If I don't practise for one day, I know it;
If I don''t practise for two days, the critics know it;
If I don''t practise for three days, the audience knows it."
