Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Less is More



Frances Wilson on Marginal Gain Learning:
Learning music is hard: from the junior student faced with just three or four lines of music to the advanced pianist embarking on a full-length piano sonata or multi-movement work, the learning and upkeep of all those notes is a daunting prospect and requires many hours of consistent, thoughtful practise. For me, MGL is a way of “being kind” to yourself as a musician while also enabling one to practise and process music in a meticulous and mindful way. The trouble is, we tend to define achievement through one significant moment – learning a whole page or movement of a piece of music, for example – and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis which accumulate to create a significant whole.  
MGL is a training strategy that emphasizes making tiny incremental gains over a long period of time in order to maximize performance. I particularly like how Frances explains her process in utilizing these strategies for both music learning and teaching.

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Musicians have much to learn from the world of training and productivity processes. Over the next while I'll be looking at how I use several of these to drive pedagogical and organizational aspects of the work I do at present.


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