Blog
The Habit of Practice
On Saturday, we hosted V on the Plaza, an end of year final hurrah to celebrate the sheer joy and creativity of Music and Dance.
We experienced a complete spectrum of emotions during the day (and, incidentally, in the planning stages, when the Covid road-map led us to thinking we wouldn't be able to hold the event at all!) ranging from the high-spirited finale, through the toe-tapping flash mob and there were even one or two points where those present had to reach for the tissues...
What an apt metaphor for the year that it's been!
There were so many wonderful comments over the course of the day, complimenting the talents of our students, and of course their teachers in choreographing lessons, rehearsals and the event itself. That is, of course, undeniable. However, it struck me that talent isn't the only factor at work, because dedication also plays a huge part; no-one performed at V on the Plaza without first having committed hours to the art of practising.
Practising is hard. We don't always enjoy it, so we have to be resilient and persistent. It's probably quite rare to start a new performance piece and run it through from start to finish in immaculate fashion.
Instead, rehearsals involve breaking down the piece into small chunks, concentrating on the most painful aspects – in other words, the parts that aren't going well - and going over and over them until they click into place. That part is challenging, hard-going - perhaps even boring - but the ultimate goal is pure joy, fluency and enthusiasm.
No pain, no gain, as the old saying goes.
Our sports people, of course, know this process well, and our Drama students, too - those lines and stage directions don't learn themselves, and we can't acquire fitness and skill by just watching someone else play.
There's a useful link between these disciplines and our school subjects, too. We are creatures of habit and our brains definitely benefit from practice: whether that's making sure we can recall key facts, or remember appropriate quotes, or still manage to solve maths equations six months after the lessons in which the techniques were learned.
There is a significant take-away related to our very own school values from all this:
Excellence is not an art, it is the habit of practice.
Aristotle
