I was recently talking to a teenager at my church in Hudson Falls, NY and he was telling me how he had just started learning the French horn.
“Cool!” I said, “How much do you practice?”
He gave me a quizzical stare before saying, “Maybe three hours a week?”
“Pffffffffffffttt……….!! that’s it?”
“Yeah I thought that was a lot!”
Honestly, though he’s right. Three hours is a lot for most people just learning an instrument. But unfortunately mastery of an instrument does not come in three hours a week. How much time do you need? Well there is not definite answer, but one source (Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers) suggests that 10,000 hours is the required amount for mastery. That’s the equivalent of working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for 3.5 years. The problem is that most people need to eat, work, attend school, and fulfill other responsibilities during that time.
If this young man wants to become an expert at the French horn, he will need about 65 years to do so if he is going to practice only 3 hours a week.
One of the main reasons that I play and practice the guitar is so that I can use that talent for the Lord. I am a firm believer in doing things for the Lord as first class as possible and that includes playing music. I feel sometimes that Christians will practice more for a recital at school or some other performance and not invest much time or effort in performing at church. This is completely the opposite of the Biblical approach to music.
Remember Psalm 100 that says we are to make a “joyful noise” unto the Lord? This is in the context of sining with our voices and the Lord’s priority is that we are singing and making noise to praise him. That’s biblical and people shouldn’t be afraid or embarrassed of their voice when they sing out unto God. However let’s also add another verse into the mix:
Psa 33:3
Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
While we should always be singing and making noise, God wants us to also play skillfully! Do your best for the Lord!
Unfortunately that means a good dose of PRACTICE is in order. What!?!? Yes practice.
I recently posted a video of myself playing “Power in the Blood” and I intend to play this as a special in church. But I decided that I could do much better than my first video and kept at it for a couple of weeks. Now the song has improved quite a bit. I’m still not an expert by any means, but I am a lot closer to “playing skillfully” than I was several weeks ago.
Compare the two versions and let me know what you think:
New:
Old:
Related posts:
June 30th, 2010
1 Comment at "Why Christians Should Practice Their Instruments!"
Wow, my students need to read this article. Of course, that might just discourage them.
10,000 hours is a lot of practice.
Truly, though, most people don’t want to be experts. They just want to play around and have fun with their instrument. What they don’t realize is that it is more fun to play when they can actually play well.
Nice chords in the chorus of your song. It added flavor.
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