What Steph Curry Teaches Us About Practice
High school sophomore Maddy arrived for her piano lesson at 7:30 AM –yes, in the morning before school. I knew she had taken her driver’s ed test last week, and I asked how she did.
The picture below says it all.
When a student has a late start at school on Wednesdays, gives up sleeping in, and drives herself to an early morning lesson, it’s clear that her passion for music-making is alive and well. She’s not just a student, she’s a pianist and a piano teacher’s dream come true.
(My only regret? Not being better about taking a photo every time a student drives independently to lessons. Maybe if I had clever sign to celebrate the occasion I would remember? Something like this, maybe?
Maddy began studying piano with me after her first teacher graciously passed her along. It was during the heart of Covid so we didn’t get to meet in person until about a year later.
This lesson was like all the others with Maddy. She read and followed her assignments at home. She learned the next part in her Chopin waltz, moved forward in other assigned pieces and notated the next section in her original composition.
Maddy practices because it’s clear she is interested in what she is doing. Maddy is driven by what psychologists call harmonious passion.
“Harmonious passion is taking joy in the process rather than feeling pressure to achieve an outcome.”
-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential, p 91
I first heard of this phrase in Adam Grant’s book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things (affiliated link). After reading through my Guide for Caregivers of Budding Musicians, the ever-brilliant Paul Myatt recommended Grant's book.
The phrase harmonious passion resonates with me because that’s how I, along with I bet many other musicians, feel about music–it’s hard to draw the line between work and passion.
Maddy spoils me, and I admit, is an exception. It’s not easy to nurture and grow piano students who want to return year after year and resist the tempting snooze button to show up on time for lessons. Students often get pulled away by sleep (!), sports, horseback riding, and other activities, and some just don’t like to practice because it’s hard.
I bet you’ve had a few piano students quit because they didn’t like the work involved in learning piano. I sure have.
Unfortunately, harmonious passion requires effort, so some will miss out. Good news…Adam Grant states that persistent hard work can translate to passion through deliberate play.
"Deliberate play is a structured activity with novelty and variety that’s designed to make developing a skill more enjoyable.”
-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential, p 92
The concept of deliberate play extends beyond music…thus the title of this article! 😉
In Hidden Potential, Grant tells the story of Golden State Warrior’s point guard, Steph Curry. In high school and college, he was underrated and overlooked until he worked with a coach named Brandon Payne, who followed a basic principle:
“There is no boring in our workouts.”
-Brandon Payne, Hidden Potential, p 99
Fun combined with discipline resulted in progress and made Steph Curry the best shooter in NBA history.
“Deliberate play creates a game-like situation with pressure which means you have to stay locked in and focused.”
-Steph Curry, Hidden Potential, p 100
Can deliberate play help our students become superstar concert pianists? Perhaps not, but maybe it can lead to harmonious passion?
From the countless games, themed music, and activities that piano teachers offer, it’s clear that most teachers understand the importance of play during lessons. Keep it up!
It’s also a reminder to show our students how to integrate deliberate play at home.
It turns out that the 24 practice strategy cards that come with the Caregiver’s Guide for Budding Musicians encourage deliberate play. The strategies “break complex tasks into simpler parts so you can hone a specific skill.” (Hidden Potential, p 92)
Link and Chain Practice
Ann was playing a piece far too fast and stopping to fix mistakes about every two measures. So I pulled out my jumbo paper clips and I asked her to play the last measure of a phrase until she played it with zero errors. She earned one paper clip. Then she played the measure before about 3x times until it was error-free and earned another paper clip. Next, she played the two measures together and when there were no mistakes she linked the paper clips together.
The smiles and giggles as she met the challenge transformed each repetition into a mini-game, successfully showing her that she could play with flow while avoiding monotonus repetition.
Plan A and Plan B
I’ve used these V shaped clips for several years to mark what pages students are to practice. Students place large clips on Plan A pieces–those that need more work or require super brain power or aren’t as enjoyable to play–and small clips on Plan B assignments or favorites. Inviting students to label their assignments Plan A or B can coax them to the piano. Some days they may not have the time or brain power to work through Plan A, so they may let themselves off the hook and just play Plan B. Or, when Plan A is practiced students can reward themselves with Plan B pieces. This keeps the habit of practice going through the week, allows voice and choice in what to practice and encourages “play” time.
“Where the world melts away and you become one with your instrument. Instead of controlling your life practice enriches you life.”
-Adam Grant Hidden Potential, p 91
Mix it Up
Research shows that things stick in our brains when we mix them up which is called interleaving. To help students understand interleaving, I created a small pattern with magnets. Then we chose a Plan A assignment and practiced it at the lesson. We moved to another assignment and then returned to the first to see what the brain could retrieve. Next we moved to two other assignments and then retured to the first and tried again.
I explained that the brain needs to practice the struggle of retrieving something in order to make it stick. Each time they were asked to try Plan A again, they were eager to see what stuck.
These are just a few ideas that provide a scaffolding for deliberate play. Modeling them at the lesson and assigning students to practice assignments the same way at home is the key to making each practice like “game day.
As Grant puts it,
“The best way to unlock hidden potential isn’t to suffer through the daily grind. It’s to transform the daily grind into a source of daily joy. It’s not a coincidence that in music the term for practice is play.”
-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential, p 99
Here’s wishing you and your students harmonious passion…
BTW…the practice strategy cards I mention come with the A Guide for Caregivers Guide of Budding Musicians.
Watch the video where Paul Myatt interviews me about the guide, and make sure to catch the discount code at the end.
Last week I gave my students Progress Planner to help them plan their weekly practice. I was tempted to call it a practice planner but I liked progress planner—it shows that I believe in each student’s ability to practice for progress.
Grab the planner HERE and inspire your students to integrate practice—deliberate practice—into their busy schedules.
One mom said to her daughter after seeing the planner (I’m paraphrasing slightly)
“You can spend tens of thousands of dollars on a life coach or take piano lessons to learn how to plan your life!”
What are your favorite ways to help students integrate deliberate play at home practice?
