DCS pace of development

[Archduke]

 

It is full day job to train for classical instrument. It doesn't sound so fun to play something 8-10 hours a day. And then in your career you might need to relearn away your learned stuff by learning a new style that takes again years.

 

Well, practicing 8-10 hours isn’t really possible except for pianists. Violinists like me practice 5-6 hours max, after this time you will be absolutely tired and make too many mistakes (and it takes much longer to correct mistakes than to learn it correctly the first time).

 

However when you play at the level of a professional musician you won’t really have to relearn anything. Your instrument is like an extension of your body, you’re playing instinctively. You might change some minor detail in your technique (something the audience won’t ever notice) but nothing more.

[Fri13]

However when you play at the level of a professional musician you won’t really have to relearn anything. Your instrument is like an extension of your body, you’re playing instinctively. You might change some minor detail in your technique (something the audience won’t ever notice) but nothing more.

 

I know three world famous musicians who has changed their styles, one even a three times and is now 75 year old. All have said it took years to learn a new ways because old habits die hard. It is like learning to be left handed when you were right handed. It is not just "minor" things I am talking about.

 

the same thing is in programming. It takes time to learn a language, and many can learn multiple ones. But to really master a programming in given area is challenge. Solving a problem with different language can be a major challenge.

[Archduke]

 

I know three world famous musicians who has changed their styles, one even a three times and is now 75 year old. All have said it took years to learn a new ways because old habits die hard. It is like learning to be left handed when you were right handed. It is not just "minor" things I am talking about.

 

the same thing is in programming. It takes time to learn a language, and many can learn multiple ones. But to really master a programming in given area is challenge. Solving a problem with different language can be a major challenge.

 

Yes, that's true. Especially star performers do this sometimes, e.g. Yehudi Menuhin who got into a complete crisis and changed his compete technique. So I don't want to argue that this never happens, because you're right. :-)

 

But world famous musicians are quite an exception. They are geniuses with abilities that normal people won't ever reach, no matter how much they practice. They are always in the limelight and they always try to evolve their technique. And sometimes they get into crises and change everything. That is not a problem for them, because they are unbelieveable fast-learners and so flexible in their abilities that they can just adopt a different technique.

 

But as a mortal human :-) you build your technique while you grow up. In university most times your teacher will change parts of your technique substantially but generally when you get your Masters degree you've really mastered your technique and will only change specifics later. And the reason is: You won't get a job if you're constantly changing your technique. That takes unbelievable amounts of time and during this time you simply can't practice for auditions. And if you're not completely on top of your game you won't ever win an audition - so no job. And if you've gotten lucky and have got a job as an orchestra musician you've much to much to do with daily rehearsals and concerts to start tearing down your complete technique. There simply is no time.

 

Maybe a better analogy to learning different programming languages would be to learn different concertos. That also takes lots of time and each piece will need different playing techniques and styles. In that case I don't change my basic technique (bowing, shifts, vibrato and so on) but I adapt to the needs of the concerto. I think this is similar to programming in different languages because some basics will always be the same.

 

 

I hope that clarifies my point regarding changing one's technique as a musician. Sorry that I got so longwinded. :cry:

[Archduke]

I just noticed that of course it's the same thing with regard to flying. I'm a hopeless rookie atm especially with dogfighting. So I'm learning - making mistakes, identifying them, correcting and relearning these parts of my evolving technique and so on.

 

But if you've attained a certain level of proficiency you will do certain things instictively in the best way - that's your technique. It frees your mind from basic tasks for the workload of thinking about the fight. And then you will change your style to best match your opponent. From what I've seen you will fight a Cat differently from e.g. a Viper (or a different aircraft). But this is not changing your basic flying technique (the thing I'm struggling with atm).