An ancient bad joke: “Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” “Sure: Practice, practice, practice.” And then there is the even older saying, “Practice makes Perfect,” which is clearly untrue since there is no such thing as perfection in the arts. But the point has to be taken – no matter how much natural talent you have, you need to practice to gain skill. And not just have to practice, you need to practice a lot. For instance, a professional musician often puts in far more than the normal work week of 40 hours in practice alone. That is not including rehearsals, performances and recording sessions.

I put a lot of emphasis on my blog about my new studio setup. I’m finding I had reason to make a big deal about it as I’m now beginning to reap the benefits of the new setup. I have been practicing more and better. I have continued to do my scales, finger exercises and classical songs, but now I often just rock out. I’ve been learning new material and creating new music.

Of course practice goes far beyond music. I have written over 70 new short stories for this blog in the last year and a half. To me this is fantastic practice for when I want to write longer forms. I’m also about to reach my 500^th post on the blog, again great writing practice. I sometimes cringe when I reread some of my earliest short stories, but I’m sure I’d cringe just as much if I listened in to some of my early music practice sessions.  My work is getting better.

I’ve been skimping on my visual arts practice lately, but in the past I’ve spent hours drawing studies of mundane objects. Before I make a painting I might do a dozen drawings and studies. I’m now out of practice so it would take me a while to get back into it, but if and when I return to the visual arts you can be sure I’ll put a huge amount of practice in before I post anything.

I am far from perfect in any art and will never come close even if I quit my job and practice full time. Still, I can see the benefits; the results are tangible. I really notice the results when I stop practicing. My writing becomes sloppy and my playing is no longer crisp and clear.

How seriously do you take your practice?