Facing a Challenge? Here's the One Question You Should Ask

If you’ve made it as far as reading this blog, you’ve probably figured out that making music isn’t easy.

Rewarding, yes! Worthwhile, yes! But easy?

Definitely not.

And for the most part, that’s a good thing! Engaging in a complex procedural activity like music, something that combines mental and physical and emotional and social exertion, is a great way to keep our minds and bodies flexible. Challenge is good for us, and when we challenge ourselves through music, we are making space in our lives for growth.

But here’s the thing: Not every challenge is productive And learning to distinguish between productive and unproductive challenge is an important part of your musical development.

Productive challenge is the only way we can grow and evolve. Unproductive challenge just makes things pointlessly difficulty.

For a long time, I struggled to make this distinction. Sometimes I still do. If we have successfully nurtured the mindset that challenge is good, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that all challenge is good. And, even more perniciously, that backing down from challenge is bad.

It isn’t. When we choose our challenges judiciously, we’re better able to focus our energies and bring our full capabilities to bear. And we’re not wasting time and energy waging battles for no discernible gain.

So how on earth do we tell the difference?

There’s actually a really simple question you can ask yourself that cuts to the heart of the distinction: Will this challenge help me grow? If the answer is yes, full speed ahead! But if the answer is no, it’s worth taking a step back to consider if there’s an easier way.

Here are some examples of productive vs. unproductive challenges.

Productive Challenge: Reading alto an octave up. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, you could rewrite everything to avoid it, or always refuse to do it. But if you tackle this challenge, you’ll be better able to read more music and participate more readily in recorder groups. Will it help you grow? Absolutely!

Unproductive Challenge: Reading small print. Yes, it’s hard. Will it help you grow? Nope. I guess in theory practicing reading small print will help you get better at reading small print…but I haven’t seen good evidence of this, and anyway why would you bother? Consider enlarging your music for ease of reading.

Productive Challenge: Playing scales fluidly. Playing fluidly (in a relaxed, even, connected, and supported way) builds your technique over time. It is challenging, and generally requires practice at slower speeds, and progressing more slowly, than you might like. Will it help you grow? Absolutely.

Unproductive Challenge: Playing scales quarter note = 144. If you’re simply shooting for a specific metronome marking without thinking about fluidity, connection, and support, you’re more than likely practicing bad habits like tension, unevenness, disconnection, and air dropoff. I cannot tell you the number of players I have seen who have achieved a specific metronome marking by sacrificing technique and sound. Will aiming for a metronome marking help you grow? Unless you’re doing it very intentionally and carefully (see above), probably not.

Productive Challenge: Getting back in when you get lost during chapter meeting. Guess what? You're going to get lost. I get lost. My colleagues get lost. Everyone gets lost. And if you’ve never practiced getting back in, guess what you’re going to be really bad at? Will practicing getting back in be enjoyable? Maybe not. Will it help you grow? 110%

Unproductive Challenge: Never getting lost during chapter meeting. Not only is adopting this goal naive, but it has the potential to be enormously destructive. Sure, we’d all rather not get lost. And we do hope to get lost less frequently over time. But those who prioritize never getting lost not only tend not to practice the essential skill of recovery, they tend to play with enormous tension and fear. Will never getting lost help you grow? Nope!

So the next time you come up against something difficult, my challenge to you is to ask yourself our key question: Will it help me grow? Whatever the answer is, it should help guide you forward!