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What if we chased familiarity instead of perfection? | Musician Tips

flute in front of sheet music

Musicians fret about perfection, but what if we focused instead on familiarity?


Think about this backwards. When you have played a piece of music almost perfectly, (perfection is fake!) did something about it feel familiar? Maybe you worked really hard on this music, so you were deeply in touch with the phrasing, note patterns, etc. Even if you were sightreading, an almost perfect read-through would imply familiarity with the key signature, the rhythms, the scale patterns, and the overall process and fundamentals of music-making.


On the other end of the spectrum, when you have played a piece of music poorly or it felt bad to play, did you know every inch of the piece intimately, or were there measures that felt scary, overwhelming, or unfamiliar?


As a flute teacher, I've been thinking about this with my flute students. They make the most mistakes when they are unfamiliar with their music, or when they are trying SO HARD to play it perfectly that they play with frantic energy and tension.


But why would you be able to play something musically and fluidly from beginning to end when your brain and muscles are still unfamiliar with what it feels like to play the tricky moments, the transitions, and everything other than the very first few measures?



Unintentional Repetitions


If you play from the beginning of your music until you make a mistake, and then start over at the beginning until you make a mistake, and then start over at the beginning until you make a mistake... etc... which part of the music are you most familiar with?

An A flat major scale with blue lines underneath
unintentional repetitions, starting from the beginning every time

For this Ab Major scale, assuming these blue lines represent each repetition, the first 3 notes are the most familiar because you've played them over and over again. But the frantic pursuit in getting through the entire scale perfectly NOW leads you to make mistakes. You forget the Db and start again, and then forget the Db again and start again. Then you finally remember the Db, and keep going until you forget it in the second octave, so you stop and start again.


(Exhausting even to read, right?)


The part where you keep making a mistake (the Db) isn't getting the attention it deserves because you keep abandoning it to start at the beginning again, and the beginning is now rushed because you "should be able to get through this" and it's the only part that is solidly in your fingers.


Three key signatures labeled B flat major, E flat major, A flat major

If a flutist is mostly used to playing the Bb and Eb Major scales, then it would make sense that the newest flat note (the Db) is the note causing mistakes, because it's the least familiar so far.


One (of many) fixes: play only the surrounding notes to get used to the tactile feel and the way it sounds (C - Db - Eb) back and forth. Then add a few more notes, and a few more in different combinations, repeating fluidly to build familiarity.


[Here is a tool for practicing scales just like this with built-in, intentional repetitions.]




A musical example


If, in your music, the "hard part" isn't in the very first measure (it usually isn't), and you start every practice session by just playing through your music until you hit a problem, then you will have practiced the beginning part, the "easier part," much more than the "hard part."


If you don't intentionally spend time with the tricky part, the familiarity gap will widen. The beginning gets more and more familiar, while the tricky part gets only marginally more familiar, and barely any easier.


Here is a visual representation of this in the Gossec Gavotte, starting every practice session from measure 1, then scrambling at the 16th notes in measure 20.


Flute sheet music for Gossec Gavotte with lots of green lines and a red squiqqle

If you only work on measure 20 when you eventually get to it, you set yourself up for disappointment. If you can't yet play that measure comfortably up to tempo, you'll have to stop the flow of music abruptly by either trying and failing to play it at tempo, or drastically slowing down.


Side note: I know you're playing your music all the way through because you just want to make music, but I also know this unfamiliarity, this discomfort, isn't satisfying.



Familiarity instead of perfection


Trying to get it perfect from the start implies immediacy, frantic energy, and force. But how would it feel to just make it a little bit more familiar?


Ask yourself these questions about any "hard part" of your music:

  • Is your brain familiar with the rhythm?

  • Are your ears familiar with how this spot is supposed to sound?

  • Are your fingers familiar with the tactile feel of this combination of notes?

  • Have you played it slowly enough, or a small enough section, to give yourself a chance at getting it right?

  • Have you played this area enough times to know it's not getting neglected?


When familiarity is centered, the energy is calm and grounded. Familiarity isn't about performing perfectly, it's about understanding deeply.


Gaining familiarity is how we progress at all levels of the learning process.

​

How can you get 5% more familiar with the music you're working on?


  • Spend 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 3 minutes, and look over your music without your instrument. Just look at it. Don't call it score study, don't make it boring, just look at your music. What do you notice now that you usually gloss over?

  • Spend 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 3 minutes, and practice just an inch of music where you usually hesitate or make a mistake. Write something in your music so you don't make that mistake again.

  • Spend 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 3 minutes, and practice only transition areas, including both mental and visual transitions: a tempo change, a page turn, the end of one line to the next line, one phrase to the next/breathing, a low note to a high note.

  • Spend 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 3 minutes, and play. Get your instrument out of the case. Play anything. It can be bad. Play. Play. Play.


What if we chased familiarity instead of perfection? What would that feel like?




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