Sweat the difficult bits
When artists practise, every detail – a note in a musical scale, a step in a dance routine – is worked on until it is perfect in itself.
When artists practise, every detail – a note in a musical scale, a step in a dance routine – is worked on until it is perfect in itself.
Not just OK, perfect. When a virtuoso musician pays a scale, there are no weak moments. The timbre doesn’t fall off as they reach the highest notes; the timing doesn’t falter when the fingering gets difficult. Every note in the scale is a little moment of perfection.
When a dancer practises a routine, they work until every move is microsecond-accurate and flows like water.
When an actor practises a speech, they don’t just get the words right, they work to reveal the precise meaning and emotional weight of every phrase. They think about the intonation of every word.
Most of us tend to ‘fluff’ the hard parts and decide things are ‘good enough’.
For a top performance, ‘good enough’ doesn’t work. Every aspect has to be perfect.
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