Diligence versus Talent
Posted: 20 Jul 2014, 10:51There is a study that concluded that dedicated practice accounts for almost all – at least 80% - of the difference between an elite performer and the dedicated amateur. That was the inspiration for the “10,000 hour rule” – the number of hours said needed for expert performance. The study applies to sports, music, chess and other endeavors.
That is good news for talent-challenged people like me. At least, there is hope.
A new paper, reported in this week’s International New York Times (the former International Herald Tribune, an excellent newspaper), attributes a smaller contribution to practice – about 20% - and making inborn talent a more important factor. This is bad news for me.
However, the new paper has been criticized because it lumped playing for fun and casual practice into “practice.” The older study suggests that it is dedicated study that is critical and which would account for the 80% difference. That would be practice, for instance, with a teacher providing critique and continually upping the standard. I think I agree with this view, which supports the first study.
The paper also reported that scientists separately have found actual performance – a form of dedicated practice I suppose - an important component. For guitarists, I think that is true. My level skills rose steeply with shows for a paying audience (but admittedly they were pretty dismal to start with, so any improvement was monumental).
I thought this might be interesting for us guitarists here.
Andy
That is good news for talent-challenged people like me. At least, there is hope.
A new paper, reported in this week’s International New York Times (the former International Herald Tribune, an excellent newspaper), attributes a smaller contribution to practice – about 20% - and making inborn talent a more important factor. This is bad news for me.
However, the new paper has been criticized because it lumped playing for fun and casual practice into “practice.” The older study suggests that it is dedicated study that is critical and which would account for the 80% difference. That would be practice, for instance, with a teacher providing critique and continually upping the standard. I think I agree with this view, which supports the first study.
The paper also reported that scientists separately have found actual performance – a form of dedicated practice I suppose - an important component. For guitarists, I think that is true. My level skills rose steeply with shows for a paying audience (but admittedly they were pretty dismal to start with, so any improvement was monumental).
I thought this might be interesting for us guitarists here.
Andy
