In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.
Dan McLaughlin is testing this on himself, with 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice," in hopes of going from a newbie golfer to playing on the PGA Tour.
Dan, who is currently at about 1600 hours, started with very minimal golf experience. In fact, he had never played a full 18 holes of golf and had only been to a driving range a couple of times. He's an average guy by most standards; a 30-year-old commercial photographer with no previous experience as a competitive athlete and not in particularly good physical condition, with slightly under-average height and weight.
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To break this down what he's doing for you, his schedule is six hours of practice, six days per week, for about six years.
Would a newbie musician trying this get good results? Or is musical talent something we're born with?
Post thoughts below...
Haha, that's really interesting! It'll be fascinating to see if he manages to keep up that sort of rigorous regime in itself! I'm sure he can do it if he doesn't do himself an injury. And I think if someone put in the same sort of practice with music they would undoubtedly become very good, whether they were 'natural' or not. You would learn how to adapt to your own limitations and rise above them to make of your hard work the best that you can. You might become quite annoying in the process but that's a different issue!
Posted by: Atlumschema | June 26, 2011 at 01:51 AM
I think 10,000 hours would make you "very good" and possibly an "expert" at just about anything. Whether it will make you a true virtuoso is another story. A lot of decent players who have a reasonable amount of aptitude eventually plateau in their ability at some point before 10,000 hours. On the other hand having "natural talent" will help you greatly to flatten the learning curve so that the first few hundred hours are not as steep and painful as someone who is less musically (or golfer-ly) inclined. I'm not sure, however, what the recipe is for being truly brilliant at something. Maybe I should read the book :-)
Posted by: Deliriumdog.wordpress.com | June 27, 2011 at 11:52 AM
I remember reading this in Gladwell's book, and do agree with it. Sure, there are exceptions to this, but there are far more "naturally talented" people that took 10,000+ hours to get to that point. I am one of those - I've had over 10,000 hours of practice, and now I reap the rewards.
Mileage and results may vary, but I would say that this would be the case for most.
Posted by: David | June 27, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Being a pro golfer is not quite the same as being a good musician, and both are not really the same as an artist.
Having 10k hours under your belt will make you a good technician at anything, either an instrument or whatever, but creative ideas come from a place you can't really teach. It takes a frame of mind.
As an instrumental rock guitarist, I see and hear other guitar players who have put in thousands of hours shedding, and they certainly shred up the fretboard. Yet, their original compositions are not very listenable.
Of course, who says my noise is better than your noise? ;-)
Posted by: Marq-Paul | June 27, 2011 at 01:47 PM
Agree about the technicians, for the most part. There is an audience for that kind of thing and it's usually other musicians.
I think the key is to mix technical ability with the ability to sit back, put the song first, and NOT play.
Posted by: David Hooper | June 27, 2011 at 03:55 PM
I feel the 10,000 hour concept has some valor. Personally, 12 years ago I made many life-altering decisions which place me in square one in many matters. (which, for a minute, can be debilitating.)
Fair to say I am happier today.
peace, love & barbecue -
seanrox
Posted by: seanrox | June 29, 2011 at 05:07 PM
I believe it's a little of both. Coming from a musical family background is always a big advantage. But there are many many talented people out there who's family would shatter glass if they were to sing! ha ha ha. It all depends how hard and how long passion is put into it.
Stay cool! ~ Heather
Posted by: SocialAList | July 07, 2011 at 03:22 PM
This is a very good question that makes me stop, think, and realize that these good musicians are born with a talent and made to be better musicians with the help of the people around them, especially their family and friends. :-) So, born, then developed, not really made.
Posted by: James | September 02, 2011 at 03:20 AM