Similarities Between Performances Of Music And Sport

One’s skills and talents define what someone does and how others perceive them. In Outliers, Gladwell speaks of the “10,000 Hour Rule”. He says that if one practices a skill for 10,000 hours, then they will master that skill. Some musicians, like the Beatles, are known for their music and their musical talent, because they practiced over 10,000 hours. Their musical skills help develop their identity and how others recognize them.

Becoming a musician is a difficult laborious task that requires absurd amounts of time and how little it is emphasized is concerning. “time was reduced from daily classes of 20–30 minutes to a weekly offering of the same length”. (Encyclopedia of Education) 20-30 minutes a day is little enough as is, 20-30 minutes a week is ridiculous! I know know full well that not every

Have you ever been treated unfairly? Do you remember that anger and frustration you felt? Well That’s how I feel about music not getting the equality it deserves; music should be treated equally to sports.

What is Musical Talent? How is Musical Talent defined or tested? Musical Talent is a person having an excellent eye or ear for music and playing or creating music. There are several ways that musical talent can be tested the most known one being Seashore’s Measure test. Which will be explained later on in the paper, however the question is whether Genes cause musical talent or if the person’s environment causes them to be musically talented. This paper is going to be focusing on what causes musical talent, the genetic aspects of musical talent as well as the environmental aspects of what causes musical talent, and some ways that measure musical talent and the reliability and validity of the

The road to greatness is a long path filled with struggle and time. Based on research by the best-selling author Malcom Gladwell inside his book Outliers popularized the idea of 10,000 hours of guided practice “the magic number of greatness”(Gladwell, 47). With enough practice he said anyone could achieve any work that of a professional. While some say the 10,000 hour rule is the key to success I believe that success is based on genetics, talent, and time period. It is whether one was born with the talent, achieved it later within life or was born during the wrong time period is what makes a master out of someone. Where the 10,000 hour rule is not a truth.

Practice isn’t the thing to do once you are good. It is the thing that makes you good. In the novel “Outliers", in the chapter “The 10,000 Hour Rule”, Gladwell introduces a theory that signifies that 10,000 hours is the approximate amount of practice time it takes for someone to become a master at something, and therefore likely to become a successful being. Gladwell backs up the theory by discussing a study that was performed around the 1990s by K. Anders Ericsson. In the study, Ericsson and his colleagues examined the long-term practicing habits of musicians at an elite musical academy in Berlin. Gladwell exposes the practicing habits of a few well-known successors to prove his theory such as, Bill Joy, The Beatles, and Bill Gates. Psychologist Michael Howe even applied the rule to Mozart, greatly considered a child prodigy.

Early specialization is characterized by year-round training in a single activity, beginning at a young age, apart from other activities with the goal of developing expertise (Ericsson et al., 1993). Ericsson and his colleagues studied pianists and violinists of varying skill levels and discovered that the expert musicians typically began training between ages four and five while the non-experts started training later in life. Moreover, a pattern emerged indicating that the level of performance attained related to the amount of deliberate practice. By age 20 the best performers had spent over 10,000 hours, an intermediate group had put in 8,000 hours, and the least accomplished group only 5,000 hours. In their theory of deliberate practice, Ericsson et al. (1993) suggest that talent plays no role in the development of expertise, rather it is an effortful activity motivated by the goal of improving performance. Typically, deliberate practice requires a high amount of concentration and must be carried out over time. The obligation to significant amounts of deliberate practice in one sport from a young age has been demonstrated as one approach to developing elite athletes (Helsen et al., 1998).

Imagine a third grader, small and blonde, standing on a stage that practically swallows her. She gazes in awe at the bright lights that seem to tower miles above her head; likewise, she follows with a stare, fixating on the hundreds of darkened faces that remain directly in front of her. Unlike her classmates who fidget with nerves beside her, she feels a rush of adrenaline. What may have seemed to some an ordinary choir concert in a dull auditorium, was, to me, a life changing moment. Ever since this day, for 9 years now, I have had an unwavering passion for music and performing. As I aged, I found myself excitedly learning how to play 7 new instruments, but even considering the vast number of bands, orchestras, choirs, and instrumental lessons that I joined, I noticed myself

* “when you speak with great educators, and look behind the test scores, the lessons learned in studying music, learning to play an instrument, playing in a band, learning to read music, all provide a richness to a child's education that will last a lifetime,” (par 1).

Many paths to success can be taken, however spending 10,000 hours practicing in order to hone your skill might not be enough though.

“A theory of general psychology that states the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain. (Ericsson, K. A).”

In the short article “Scholarship, Performance, and Virtuosity” written by Curtis Price, universities are renowned for having talented musicians focus on the mainstream idea to “allow scholarship to inform performance” (77). Price argues however, that this idea should be implemented as “performance to inform scholarship” because technique and style are unique talents for musicians.

My first impression was that I was listening to a rock star. I had a notable physical reaction to the music; I felt a rush of adrenaline and my heart rate increased. The music was fast-paced and intense—undoubtedly physically and mentally demanding on Garrett. I am a pianist myself, and I felt a sense of empathy. I was exhausted on his behalf by simply hearing his talented performance. The music would slow down in some parts, only to pick back up with even more intensity and speed. The music aroused a familiar sense of pressure, such as the pressure to complete a difficult yet important task in a short period of time. The pressure and difficulty build to near unbearable proportions until the work is finally finished, and dissipates into the euphoria of accomplishment. If that scenario had a theme song, it could be Paganini’s “Caprice No. 24”. The music was passionate, chaotic, and ultimately satisfying. I felt that I had witnessed true mastery of the art of the violin in both Paganini’s written work and Garrett’s performance.

Cote et al. (2007) points out the principle of the power law of practice, where great improvements are seen in the initial stages of practice, but the improvements level-off as one becomes an expert. This power relationship seems to be converted into a more linear relationship with increased deliberate practice. Violinists were studied, and time spent in deliberate practice was examined. By 18 years of age, experts accumulated 7,400 hours of practice, whereas intermediate-level performers had 5,300 hours, and lower-level performers only completed 3,400 hours. This linear law of practice seems to be generalizable to other domains, namely sport and chess (Cote et al., 2007, pp. 185). Although deliberate practice is very important, it is not the sole predictor of elite-level

Sports and music have both been around for hundreds of years. Sports are physical actives. Music is something you listen to. People think there are many differences, but there are more similarities between music and sports, but they are a lot more like in practice, performance, and career.