How do we become better at our craft ? How do we achieve high levels of accomplishment be it in Art, Music, Sport, Science? Is it just a matter of continual, focused practise or do we have to have an innate gift?
Growing up, my very supportive mother was being told she should support my musical journey. She took the advise on board. Soon, my mam was learning how to play the violin alongside me ! She practised with me every evening in the kitchen. We did our Twinkle Twinkle & Lightly Roe from the Suzuki books. My mam didn’t just sit back & assume my musicality would take off. She helped me work & practise every day for the next 20 years ! So, what if someone is not natural at music or not sporty enough ? Should they give up immediately & try something else?
I recently noticed, in a school I give private tuition in, a big sign on the wall saying Hardwork Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard. It really made me stop & think about a number of things. It made me reflect how I approach my teaching. How each student, musical or not, has the ability to achieve a certain standard of playing, given the right support, guidance & commitment. But, can hard work beat talent ?
Talent Versus Hardwork
Firstly, lets break down what each means. Talent, in general refers to the natural ability of a person. It can be nurtured. Hard work refers to the continuous & sincere commitment towards a particular goal set by one self or as a team.
Musicians At Florida State University
To become an expert, in any discipline, Florida State University Professor of Psychology, Anders Erisson, states you need to put in an average of 10,000 hours of purposeful practice. Erisson & his colleagues asked violin students at a music academy to estimate the amount of time they had devoted to practice since they started playing. By age 20, the students whom the faculty nominated as the ‘best’ players had accumulated an average of over 10,000 hours, compared with just under 8,000 hours for the ‘good’ players and not even 5,000 hours for the least skilled. What seems to separate the great from the good ? Hard work.
The Table Tennis Challenge
A young table tennis ball coach from north London called Ben Larcombe, further tested this notion. He became interested in the idea that you can achieve mastery by the quantity & quality of practice, not just innate talent. To test this theory, he needed someone without experience in table tennis and without a natural aptitude for the sports. He gave childhood friend, Sam Priestley, who describes himself as an “unco-ordinated computer geek” more than 500 hours of personal tuition.
Most lessons were held in the kitchen of Sam’s kitchen table. Ben recorded every session & made a video compilation which shows Sam playing every day of the challenge. The result shows Sam improving dramatically. After six months he was holding his own against seasoned club players. However at the end of the years experiment Sam was still a way from his target. Rory Scott, a coach who trained juniors (who later played for England )was asked to assess Sam in a tournament. His verdict? “He is nowhere near the standard of the top under-11 player in the UK.”
So why did the project fail?
One reason might be that Ben chose the wrong sport “You have to play so much to develop the skill, co-ordination and timing”. Maybe the target goal was too unrealistic. But, as Ben states, “The idea of showing people what the average Joe can achieve by squeezing in table tennis training after work was a lovely one. However,to be successful someone would almost certainly need to do the challenge as a sort of gap year and play full time”. We could argue that if Sam were the ‘sporty’ type with a more natural feel for the game he may have achieved his target.
It’s clear that talent matters when it comes to things. However, its nice to see that anyone who works diligently & in a purposeful way, can achieve realistic goals.