Teaching a number of my students this week has led me to reflect on perfectionism. Whilst in many ways a desire to achieve the highest possible standards is a welcome and positive character trait in students, there are some ways in which an inability to accept that mistakes and flaws are part of the learning and creative process can really hinder progress.
Working in a high achieving school is in most ways a joy. My students are polite, motivated, supported by parental interest and instilled with a recognition that education is a good thing. However, when this desire to ‘do well’ tips over into despondency when students perceive that they are not ‘achieving’ as well as their peers, or even as well as they can as an individual, a perfectionist character can really suffer.
Today I taught L, a young singer who shows huge amounts of promise in her singing, and has already achieved a high level of technical control for someone her age. Last week, I gave her a new piece to look at, and she arrived at the lesson having got to grips with the basic notes and rhythm. Before she even sang it through she apologised that it ‘wouldn’t be very good!’ L proceeded to sing the song with a good legato line, mostly open vowel shapes, and a lovely open tone, with only a few slips on the very highest notes, and some breath control problems in the longest phrases. “See” she announced as the last notes of the accompaniment died away, “That was rubbish”.
Rather than allowing this negative line of thought to continue, I asked L to think of three things she had done well in her performance, before she was allowed to mention anything else that she felt was ‘rubbish’. When she thought about it, there were several things she was able to mention (although a few criticisms did slip in too!). Once she had analysed her performance with a more friendly pair of ears (I call this the ‘audience perspective’: no-one ever goes to a concert hoping to hear a bad performance, and therefore your average audience is far more likely to focus on the positive aspects of anyone’s performance than the mistakes), I allowed her to focus on one or two things to work on, so that she was happier with her performance the next time through (the ‘examiner/adjudicator perspective’: one who listens for points to improve, as well as praise). These problem areas then became the focus for the rest of the lesson. At the end of our time she sang through the piece again, and we went through the same process. L was able to hear that some things had improved whilst others still needed work – and of course those are the things that she will be practising this week!
Of course, in order to become a better musician it is important to develop critical awareness and the ability to step back from your performance and look for areas which need improvement. It is these skills which form the basis for practice, and help us to make changes necessary to improve. However, this criticism must be tempered with an ability to recognise what is good in our performing, so that we are able to keep doing those things well, whilst making changes to other areas of our playing or singing. A student who is too critical of their performance can be just as destructive as one who cannot hear anything which needs improving. The creative arts can be punishing if you only see and hear the negative side of things, and a lack of positivity can crush one’s enjoyment and love of the activity completely.
A ‘perfect’ performance is nigh impossible to achieve; even the greatest performers and musicians say that the number of these truly ‘perfect’ performances can be counted on the fingers of one hand in a lifetime (and even then don’t always coincide with an actual public performance!) Evidently, those students looking for perfection so early in their musical development are going to have a very hard time of it…
So to L, and all students who give yourselves too hard a time: remember that is is natural and healthy to make mistakes on the road to making your performances the best they can be. Allow yourselves to make errors. Hear them. Try not to repeat them. Finally, forgive yourself when you do, pick yourself back up again, and keep trying! Be a little more gentle on yourself, for in life there will always be other people who will gladly offer you criticism – even if and when you don’t ask for it.