Why fixing mistakes won't make you a master of your instrument

You can’t fix yourself to mastery.

If you take every flaw of yours and correct it, you will not become a master of your instrument.

If you address all your weaknesses, one by one, even meticulously, even with discipline, you will not start playing masterfully.

If you correct everything, there will be no magic.

At best, it will be an excellent performance. Not a magical one. Not one where boundaries of body and instrument disappear to let the soul of the music soar, unbound.

Instead of starting your practice by tackling the most challenging spots, try this: Take something you’re already happy with, and improve it further. Breathe. Allow it to be effortless. Listen to your body. Surrender to gravity.

Listen to the silence before the passage. And the silence after.

Experiment, try new things, explore - but most importantly, continue to listen to silence.

Warm up to your violin (or whatever instrument you're playing). Care for it. Hold it preciously. With gratitude. A friend who doesn’t betray.

Sure, instruments have their moods, fluctuating with weather, temperature changes, humidity. But if it plays, it plays. And that’s a gift.

A moment of practicing is also a gift. It’s you, your instrument, and no one else.

Don’t rush into playing.

Observe, listen, feel.

Be a receiver.

And that passage that you were already satisfied with, see if you can let it emerge without decision on your part. Without control. Without preconception.

Allow it to surprise you.

Go slowly.

Welcome the unknown.

With the bow, allow your arm to “fall through” the string, in complete smoothness. Slow down or stop before it gets uncertain.

Work with slow movements, with relatively small but not consistent amounts of bow.

With the left hand, let gravity and the weight of each finger pull the string down. It takes barely any effort to push down the strings on a violin. Most players press five times stronger than needed.

And when that passage that was already good got better, then you have achieved a level of mastery, which will stay with you when working on difficult passages.

One note. Slowly. Perfection, flow and silence.

Inspiration consists of being on the receiving end.

Inspired music making is not so much about creating as it is about sharpening your sensitivity.

Master the easier passages through awareness, sensitivity, breath and gravity, and you will access what you cannot access by fixing, correcting and focusing on difficult passages: Inner flow and mastery.