practice without frustration
Have a look at this it may help.
www.singingwood.com/Frustration.html
thanks for posting this. I know the inner critic well. Good advise in the article
I struggle with the self doubt and inner critic issues a lot. I have told myself that I will never learn something and that I cannot play in certain venues many times. There are many, many things I have not learned and many that I will never learn - has anyone learned everything about harp playing? More than once I have been told after asking "picky" questions to just play the harp and listen. I think we can get so caught up in trying to be perfect (and we never will be) that we take all the fun out of it. Over thinking paralizes me to the point that I can't play what I can play. While I do think it is important to work on material to gain ability, if it gets to the point that it makes you want to quit, you need to just listen and play for a while
Bob,
There is an idea in Freemasonry that there is no perfection, that no one is perfect, nor should one even attempt to be such. In fact, when a craftsman constructs something that approaches perfection, he should purposely insert an imperfection. In Masonry, there are many examples, most so small you wouldn't know them. In the Grand Lodge of Philadelphia, a single embroidered flower is left out of a vast carpet of flowers. In the famed Rosslyn Chapel of Scotland - a site many believe was built by early followers of Masonry - there is a wonderful work of art known as the Apprentice Pillar. It is said that a master mason's apprentice carved the pillar so perfectly, that his master flew into a rage and struck the apprentice in the head with his maul, killing him. As punishment, the master mason's face was carved into a corner opposite of the column, so he could gaze upon the perfection for eternity. But even with that, a lesson was passed down to followers of Masonry that only God (which in Freemasonry can be any higher deity, not necessarily a Christian one) can be perfect, and man should not even attempt to be so.
There is much to be said about that ideal. While we can attempt perfection, we shouldn't expect it, and in the end, it is the tiny imperfections that make us unique - and sets our art apart from the rest. As there are unintended brush strokes in even the greatest of master's paintings, or even in the music of Mozart - a Freemason himself - you will find that we cannot be perfect. Nor should we even try.
These comments and observations run parallel to David's lesson strategy and communication and are a great reminder of how to feel good about the progress we make as individuals and not compared to others.