why can so many drummers not play like this kid can?

[OptimalOptimus]

Too many don't understand music and think it is easy because you beat the poopie out of the thing ...

 

[MDBass]

Why is she better than most other drummers?

Because she's really enjoys playing, and as a result has already put in thousands of hours of practice.

Outlier's by Malcolm Gladwell explains the phenomenon very well: all of these "child prodigies" weren't simply gifted an innate skill, they put thousands of hours of work in before we ever heard about them.

Same with athletics: genetics play a role, but there is not a single professional athlete in any field who didn't start practicing those skills as a child, more than likely a very young child.

 

[MDBass]

Lots of comments about natural talent. I'm guessing she practices more hours a day than many here do in half a month.

I'm not discounting natural talent, but people don't realize how much goes into becoming a great musician. I doubt many people here practice (not just playing songs) more than a few hours per week. Ask the average student at Berklee how many hours per week they practice.

Yep.

Music students average around 8-10 hours of practice every single day: assuming the same ability to learn, that means they'll progress at a rate maybe 15x faster than the average hobbyist.

That exponential rate of skill growth essentially looks like "magic" or innate talent, when it's actually just work.

None of the awesome kid musician's being featured here were born with those skills, they've practiced those skills for thousands of hours to achieve that level.

 

[slagbass]

I wonder if there is a similar thread on the drummer's forum showing a 13 year old girl playing bass......

 

[OptimalOptimus]

 

[buldog5151bass]

Yep.

Music students average around 8-10 hours of practice every single day: assuming the same ability to learn, that means they'll progress at a rate maybe 15x faster than the average hobbyist.

That exponential rate of skill growth essentially looks like "magic" or innate talent, when it's actually just work.

None of the awesome kid musician's being featured here were born with those skills, they've practiced those skills for thousands of hours to achieve that level.

Not including gigging time.

 

[Lagado]

Yep. None of the awesome kid musician's being featured here were born with those skills, they've practiced those skills for thousands of hours to achieve that level.

No one said that they were born with those skills, but some certainly have a natural disposition. Like I said, not everyone can be Debussy or Mozart, how ever many hours they put in.

"That all men are equal is a proposition which at ordinary times no sane individual has ever given his assent."

Aldous Huxley - Proper Studies.

 

[MDBass]

Not including gigging time.

Assuming equal ability to learn, an adult hobbyist who has been playing for five years and practicing an hour every day will see their skill level surpassed by a child who started playing 6 months ago and practices 10 hours a day.

Exponential growth is crazy powerful.

 

[pcake]

perhaps funny story.

in 1994, i was looking for people i didn't know to jam with or form a band with. i was contacted by a drummer who set up a jam, and this dude was ORGANIZED. he found and gently vetted everyone we needed, picked out some songs in case we needed them, brought lyric sheets in case they were needed. he found and reserved the studio, arranged payment, talked to everyone to make sure they had what they needed. it was a great jam, it sounded like we'd played together for years, and he was a truly excellent drummer. he'd be an amazing band leader.

he also had just turned 16 years old, was in his first year of college, and had been playing drums for 8 years.

 

[MDBass]

No one said that they were born with those skills, but some certainly have a natural disposition. Like I said, not everyone can be Debussy or Mozart, how ever many hours they put in.

"That all men are equal is a proposition which at ordinary times no sane individual has ever given his assent."

Aldous Huxley - Proper Studies.

You left out the fairly important part of what I posted.

"Music students average around 8-10 hours of practice every single day: assuming the same ability to learn, that means they'll progress at a rate maybe 15x faster than the average hobbyist."

Even if they have the same natural disposition, which they likely don't, the group that puts in this kind of work rate will improve 10-15 times faster.

That's the aspect that is overlooked: having a natural disposition for something is exactly the thing that makes it possible, and enjoyable, to put in the amount of work hours required to achieve these kind results in a relatively short time.

Of course every classical composer won't be Mozart: they will still be an incredibly talented composer if they put in 10,000 hours of practice, but if they don't enjoy the work and the learning process they will never put in that amount of time.

 

[Lagado]

That's the aspect that is overlooked: having a natural disposition for something is exactly the thing that makes it possible, and enjoyable, to put in the amount of work hours required to achieve these kind results in a relatively short time.

Of course every classical composer won't be Mozart: they will still be an incredibly talented composer if they put in 10,000 hours of practice, but if they don't enjoy the work and the learning process they will never put in that amount of time.

You know the 10,000 hour rule was debunked years ago?

 

[Lagado]

The "10,000-hour rule" was debunked again. That's a relief.

 

[MDBass]

You know the 10,000 hour rule was debunked years ago?

It hasn't actually been debunked, according to the article you shared.

From the article, "Practice still mattered: It accounted for 26 percent of the difference between good violinists and the less accomplished students. But the original study claimed that practice accounted for 48 percent of the difference."

The idea that someone will still be a bad at a skill if they've spent literal years of their life hours working on that skill is silly.

These kids all had some amount of natural ability to learn these skills: they'll all also spent an inordinate amount of time practicing those skills.

It's both nature AND nurture: none of these kids would be this good without practice, and they also wouldn't be this good without natural ability, which is turn fuels their ability to practice.

 

[LBS-bass]

There are lots of people who think natural talent doesn't exist. Those people feel that way because they think everyone is like them. But when you've grown up around people who have talent like that, it's irrefutable. I had people in my family who, as kids, could sit down at a piano and play anything they heard, with zero training and pretty much zero practice. So I'm not going to say it doesn't happen. It's probably quite rare.

 

[Lagado]

It hasn't actually been debunked, according to the article you shared.

From the article, "Practice still mattered: It accounted for 26 percent of the difference between good violinists and the less accomplished students. But the original study claimed that practice accounted for 48 percent of the difference."

The idea that someone will still be a bad at a skill if they've spent literal years of their life hours working on that skill is silly.

These kids all had some amount of natural ability to learn these skills: they'll all also spent an inordinate amount of time practicing those skills.

There are a few articles debunking Gladwell's rule, of course practice will pay off, I've met plenty of good technicians, and then I've met musicians...

 

[Killing Floor]

Easy. Soul. 'Nuff said.

Natural ability? Don't know the kid but I assume there have been some lessons to direct the passion. Kid is nailing Zep pretty tight. But think about it. What separates a rigid and precise player from a great musician? Soul.

 

[MDBass]

There are a few articles debunking Gladwell's rule, of course practice will pay off, I've plenty of good technicians, and then I've met musicians...

...and those musicians have all put in a ton of practice.

Every musician we know and admire has put in thousands of hours of work.

 

[Lagado]

Easy. Soul. 'Nuff said.

Natural ability? Don't know the kid but I assume there have been some lessons to direct the passion. Kid is nailing Zep pretty tight. But think about it. What separates a rigid and precise player from a great musician? Soul.

Yes, a piece of you that can't be measured in hours.

 

[Lagado]

...and those musicians have all put in a ton of practice.

Every musician we know and admire has put in thousands of hours of work.

And many more we will never hear of.

 

[MDBass]

Part of this "child prodigy" dynamic is likely also due to children being able to learn and adapt at an exponentially faster rate than adults.

Athletic coaches have actually found that your mind's ability to increase your foot turnover speed reaches it's ceiling at a certain age, and it's fairly young: something like 7 or 9.

That means that after that age, the only way that you can actually train to run faster is by making your leg muscles stronger, which increases the length of each stride.

Kind of funny that during a pandemic, when gigging in many cities is still largely impossible, musicians would argue against the importance of practice

Cheers y'all.