Courtney- Coyle- Ch. 3-4

 Chapter 3

Summary:

This chapter focused on historical examples of talent hotbeds and what they all had in common. It discussed The Bronte sisters (whom I love) and how at one point historians attributed their success to inborn genius. Coyle tells us that later biographers revealed that the Bronte sisters kept notebooks of (terrible) stories, and that this narrative of natural genius was false. Like the Z-Boys and the artisans of the Renaissance, they also practiced deeply. 

Application:

I drew two major conclusions for my own practicing from this chapter. First, my practice is worth it! Even though I don't always realize it consciously, when I'm getting discouraged I sometimes get it in my head that I am not supposed to be a good singer, or that I just wasn't born with the necessary talent. I don't entertain this thought, but it's often present nonetheless. My second takeaway is the importance of listening to and working with mentors and others who have the same goal. Feedback and guidance from other musicians is a powerful tool in building skill. 

Chapter 4

Summary:

"The Three Rules of Deep Practice" discussed three ways that we can put ourselves in "the sweet spot." The first one was chunking, and chunking in a variety of ways. The first chunk is to understand the whole, so in the case of music, the whole piece. Then we can start breaking it down into smaller and smaller pieces. The second strategy is to repeat it. This gives our myelin opportunities to wrap over and over. The third strategy is to learn to feel it, Coyle includes a number of descriptions on what deep practicing feels like to students in talent hot beads. 

Application:

There was a lot of good information in this chapter, and it was easy for me to get quickly overwhelmed trying to decide how to apply all of it. I tried to focus on just a couple of things I could do better. First, I need to remember that chunking can be done from a lot of different angles. By that I mean that I can chunk by phrase or measure, but I can also chunk my technique, musical aspects and how I structure my time. I also need to be more willing to slow it down in practicing and then remember to speed it up. I often get caught up in one or the other. The third application that stuck out to me was to pick a target, reach for the target, and then evaluate the gap between the target and my attempt. This means I will spend more time thinking in my practice sessions than I sometimes am apt to do.