“Level of Incompetence” reached?

[thereallyniceman]

I was once told that in the business world people are promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. Judging by those at higher levels in organisations I have worked for, this seems to be true.

 

Unfortunately I am beginning to wonder if I have reached mine in banjo playing. Some weeks ago I decided to arrange a medley of 1920’s dance tunes. All went well until I tried to play it. After about 1000 times through I still couldn’t get it clean so abandoned it to transpose Fred Van Eps’s performance of “Sitting on Top Of The World” from a 1926 recording (which can be heard in the onsite JUKEBOX).

 

Here lies the problem. I have been practising this over and over for ages now and still cannot get it anywhere near suitable for recording. Perhaps it is beyond my capabilities. I feel that I may be  becoming demoralised with playing the banjo and wonder if I have hit “THE WALL”.   To all you other players out there how on earth do I get past the Wall?

 

The more I practise the worse it seems to get and I am neglecting other pieces so have forgotten them too. Perhaps I have just reached my “level of incompetence” and cannot improve any further.

 

HELP….   Moral support is needed for poor Ian !!! 

 

[Sylvia]

Hi Jody, thank you for the lesson of no self criticism, I am determined to try and carry it through. I have had various musical lessons over the years and must have been a right pain to my teachers because I have always been self critcal, hopefully no more.

Jody Stecher said:

I learned the technique of no self criticism from Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.  His was the 18th generation of a family of musicians and music teachers of the ancient Dhrupad music of north India. He was sort of an amateur psychologist and would teach by finding whatever strong points a student had and would reinforce these and build on them. Whenever a student would criticize his/her own playing (including silently) he would kindly say: Look, it's MY job to correct mistakes. You are wasting energy doing my job for me. Your job is to play/sing as best as you can. I am listening. Even if I say nothing I am listening and I am noting which parts need some help and I *will* help at the appropriate time. Right now I want to hear you play. But instead of playing you are playing AND criticizing. That's too much for your brain. This is hard music to play and you need all the brain power you can muster. Please don't divide it by wasting your attention on evaluating your playing. Just play. I'm here.  

And this was said with humor and kindness. All resistance would melt away in the student and one came to accept that it was appropriate for a student to sound like a student. With the mind freed to concentrate only on  the music and to some extent on the mechanics of producing it one naturally began to play better.  And sure enough practical advice was given by the teacher but the main thing was the freeing of the mind from counter-productive evaluation.  Instead of condemning one's own playing one came to notice that there were errors with an equanimous attitude. Then one took steps to correct the problems. The beauty of it all was that the student didn't have to adopt or pretend to adopt an "eastern philosophy". It was a simple matter of directing attention in an effective manner.

Sylvia said:

Perfectionism, yes I can identify with that. Why do you think I havn't posted any more videos , I'm never satisfied with any piece that I play, I sit here and listen to you guys and think " why the heck can't I do that".  I only have to make one mistake and the piece is relegated to the bin. I'm like Jodys student C always beating myself up .... 

[Steve Harrison]

I find that revisiting tunes that I once had issues with and trying again is quite beneficial. Often, second time around, I seem to have less problems and I put this down to some immeasurable improvement in my overall technique. I tend to 'dip' into tunes of varying degrees of difficulty and have several on the go at any one time and I rarely practice just one from beginning to end. I now play most things at a much more sedate speed than I once did and have given up trying to turn the clock back.

[Alan Sims]

I always look back one year and see how ive progessed .Icame to this site last october knowing a couple of blue grass tunes ,now i have ten tunes in abook that ican play at different degrees which icould not play then.

[thereallyniceman]

That is brilliant Alan. I hope that we on here have helped, if just a little, with your progress in Classic Style. 

Why not try out a recording, video or audio sometime? I can guarantee you a 5***** reception for everyone who posts, beginner or advanced. It all adds to the fun on the site.

Now, get back to your practice... and don't forget the sock we discussed "-)

Ian

[Alan Sims]

hi Ian, i would like to purchase a camcorder in the near future .what kind would you recommend ,as i have not have clue what to do when ive bought it , i need some help regards . Alan

[thereallyniceman]

Hi Alan, sorry for the delay. I missed your post. I assume you want a video camera for personal use and well as banjo use?  I have a Canon HF10 digital camcorder. You can buy secondhand, but make sure that you get digital, not tape or disc..they make a real racket which is picked up by the microphone. I record in MP4 format and that seems pretty standard. I am no expert, so let Google be your friend.

REVIEW OF HF10   This is an old review and second hand HF10s are around £200 -£250 on Ebay.. and worth every penny!

Any other suggestions? There are lots of low cost recorders around too... Jody, you have one don't you?

Ian

Alan Sims said:

I always look back one year and see how ive progessed .Icame to this site last october knowing a couple of blue grass tunes ,now i have ten tunes in abook that ican play at different degrees which icould not play then.