A part of me has always been drawn to the “no pain, no gain” mentality. The idea that if you’re not actively engaged in effortful activity, nothing is happening.
But I’ve come to appreciate that gains don’t always happen when we’re in the midst of an activity. I’ve learned, for instance, that muscle growth doesn’t happen during a workout, but between workouts, when we are in recovery mode. Hence the importance of proper nutrition and sleep to help our bodies recuperate.
And as it turns out, learning might be enhanced by the right kind of rest as well. Where instead of feeling guilty about breaks and time away from your instrument, maybe you could be looking at rest periods as a way to maximize the learning that takes place in practice sessions, lessons, rehearsals, and performances.
Of course, it’s important to note that not all rest activities are created equal. And there’s one rest activity in particular that may help you learn more effectively.
And what is that activity exactly?
National vs. international junior athletes
A group of researchers in the Netherlands (Jonker et al., 2010) conducted a study of 222 young competitive junior-level athletes to see if there were specific factors that separated the national-level athletes from the more elite international-level athletes.
In particular, they were curious to see what differences might exist in how effectively the athletes were able to guide their own learning process.
Previous research suggests that “self-regulated” learners, who are better at planning, monitoring, and evaluating their performances, are likely to attain a higher level of performance than learners who rely on others to tell them what to do.
So, all athletes were assessed in six different areas of self-regulation – planning, self-monitoring, evaluation, reflection, effort, and self-efficacy.
Then, the national level athletes’ results were compared with the international level athletes to see if there were any differences between the two.
And were there any differences?
One difference
Turns out there were no significant differences on these key self-regulation measures between the national and international level competitors – except in one area.
Namely, reflection.
All of the elite international athletes had average to high reflection scores, while the national level athletes’ scores varied quite a bit.
The authors suggest that in order to perform at the international level, it might be that an athlete has to have at least an average amount of skill in the area of self-reflection.
Reflection & effort
This was something that also came up in a Dutch study (Toering et al., 2009) of 444 elite and sub-elite youth soccer players conducted around the same time. Although in this study, the elite athletes tended to have high scores not just in reflection, but effort as well.
The authors suggest that reflecting on training and competition may help the elite athletes more clearly identify the weaknesses in their game, which makes it easier to strategically plan how to work on these in subsequent practices and games. Which may increase motivation to address these areas in future training session as well.
The reflection process
The idea is that since you don’t really have time to do any meaningful reflection during a performance (or surgical procedure, important speech, or important conversation with your partner), reflecting on these experiences afterwards can be a key part of the learning process.
As described in one of my favorite books, Make it Stick, “Reflection can involve several cognitive activities that lead to stronger learning: retrieving knowledge and earlier training from memory, connecting these to new experiences, and visualizing and mentally rehearsing what you might do differently next time.”
Caveats
It’s important to keep in mind that Jonker and Toering’s studies were correlational in design, so we can’t know for sure if reflection was the key factor that caused the difference in performance, or if it was just some incidental variable (click here for some amusing examples of statistically significant correlations, where there’s clearly no causal relationship between the two things being measured).
That said, self-reflection is an integral element in the self-regulated learning process, for which there is a good bit of evidence (like here). And it’s something that comes up in a number of other studies, and even in surgical training. So it’s a pretty good bet that there’s something there, and that self-reflection is worth experimenting with in your daily practice and performance preparation.
Take action
So, the next time you finish practicing, rather than rushing out of the practice room to whatever is next, try taking a minute to reflect on what you learned in your practice session. And what you might try differently in your next one.
Or after your next lesson, reflect for a moment on what you just learned (or, if you are the one teaching, maybe it’s worth saving a minute or two at the end to help your student do a bit of self-reflection on what they learned?).
Or after your next rehearsal or performance, reflect on what happened and what you might change next time to make things even better (in fact, try this structured 5-part process after your next performance or audition).
References
Jonker, L., Elferink‐Gemser, M. T., & Visscher, C. (2010). Differences in self-regulatory skills among talented athletes: The significance of competitive level and type of sport. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28(8), 901–908. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640411003797157
Toering, T., Elferink‐Gemser, M. T., Jordet, G., & Visscher, C. (2009). Self-regulation and performance level of elite and non-elite youth soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(14), 1509–1517. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410903369919
[…] is the mental one. You have to work on your mind like top performers in any field. You have to reflect on what you are doing. In your spiritual practice you make errors and figure out a way to improve […]
Great article.
(Your one sentence summary seems to be a little long… 🙂
Your subject today – reflection – is right on target for me. I had a big concert last night and a dress two days before. In between these events I got the idea that spending some time in thought about problems I encountered at the dress rehearsal might be beneficial. So I engaged in quiet reflect over each phrase of each piece of music to pinpoint the problem areas. (Note: I play trumpet and most of the problems involved accurately hitting very high notes that ran rampant throughout the entire program.) During my period of reflection I tried to determine how I might marshal my energies to play more accurately during the concert itself. I am happy to report that I totally nailed every note at last night’s concert and I fully attribute that to time spent in quiet reflection. Thanks for your always helpful “lessons!”
The process of learning is very long, not instantaneous, it’s like when I eat, that’s not because I ate that I am nourished, there is what we call “digestion”, the food goes through all the organs (oesophage,estomac intestine, grele intestine) and apart from rice, there is a part of the food which is useless to the body and rejected.
Great article. As a surgeon, flutist and educator I often suggest the mental imagery of performing a surgery prior to the moment that the learner surgeons are scrubbed into the operating room, and run through the necessary steps with them. I will definitely include reflection after giving the feedback on what portions went well, and what steps could have been performed better.
Read your blog every Sunday am without fail.
Karlotta Davis
Hi Karlotta,
Interesting! It seems that there are a lot of folks in the medical field who are (or were) musicians as well. Are you familiar with Lisa Wong’s book Scales to Scalpels?
Spot on! This is another reason why I advocate micro practices for young beginners. I hadn’t thought too deeply on reflecting on the previous practice while away from the instrument, but isn’t this just what a very keen parent will do. This must have a lot to do with the comparative success of musicians who had a lot of nurturing support as beginners.
Another fine article, thank you!
This fits well with my research linking Flow (ideally relaxed/focussed state for practising or performing) with other mind-body concepts, such as Ericksonian Hypnosis and Feldenkrais Method.
In the “Awareness through Movement” sessions that characterise the Feldenkrais Method, gentle physical exercises are interspersed with short periods of rest and reflection. During these moments, the conscious and unconscious mind “compare notes”, so that learning is consolidated on multiple levels. It’s a bit like working at the computer, and saving your work every few minutes – the data gets stored properly.
Ericksonians consider music teaching to be the type of concentrated, focussed interaction, with intense absorption and good rapport, where teacher and student may well spontaneously enter a shared, natural state of trance. Good solo practising can be a kind of self-hypnosis. Experienced hypnotists know that the moment when a client re-orients out of trance is particuarly delicate, a brief time where both the trance-state just ended and the real life about to continue are available to conscious awareness. This is an ideal moment for Reflection (solo, or guided by a teacher), so that insights gained during practice (i.e. in trance) can be shared between unconscious and conscious mind.
The lesson for teachers and practisers alike is that brief moments of Reflection are certainly not a waste of time. Ideally, one should develop the habit of including these moments, and develop also the ability to make optimal use of them.
All best wishes
Andrew
The idea that reflecting after practice is as important as protein, carbs, and sleep after a workout is very fascinating. I just cracked open a 2nd practice journal (the first one is all filled up with two years of data) and I never thought of it as more than a refrence log to track progress or remember details of a breakthrough moment. But now that I think about it, my biggest break through moments happened while I was no where near my cello, but was instead thinking or writting about my latest experienes.
This is probably why I always look foward to reading your sunday blog posts ;). They are some of the most thought provoking on the internet.
Reflection vs. dwelling is certainly an important distinction. I often catch myself over-thinking my most recent lesson, concert, or practice session. I’ll say to myself “what’s the take-away?” and then attempt move on. A difficult behavior to keep in check, for sure.
Thanks for the article.
[…] Why a Little Reflection Should Be a Regular Part of Your Practice Routine This is why I end every coaching session very ‘SOS Piet’ wise with the question “What are the most important things you have learned today?” Dear singers, ask yourself this question EVERY time you study! It works. I promise. […]
[…] Why a Little Reflection Should Be a Regular Part of Your Practice Routine This is why I end every coaching session very ‘SOS Piet’ wise with the question “What are the most important things you have learned today?” Dear singers, ask yourself this question EVERY time you study! It works. I promise. […]