I’ve loved learning about Growth Mindset in one of my classes recently because it’s something that aligns completely with the experiences I’ve had in music education. The reason I’m reflecting on this at the moment is because of many discussions over the years I’ve had with someone who I won’t name who would regularly say things to me like “I’d give an arm to be able to know a fraction of the things you know [about music]” or “I wish I could play music like you can.” For years this has made me upset, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint why until earlier this year as I was starting my Bachelor of Education. Finally, it hit me, and I spoke up for myself and argued back “I just enjoy sucking more than you do.”

Translation: I could put up with,  push through, and eventually begin to enjoy failing at something, and this is why I continued to excel in music where this person kept picking it up and putting it down and ultimately never practicing (failing) and therefore never getting anywhere. This person hated being bad at music, and therefore, hated practice. This person would even purposefully leave the building when I needed to practice. They would go on a walk so that they wouldn’t have to listen to the sound of bad music.

Growth isn’t pretty. Growth isn’t about perfection.

At the time for me this was an epiphany (holy stitches I’m a masochist!). As a result, I was able to share with this person how and why we were different and bridge the gap between my feelings and their words. And to find out it actually has a label in Education? That was pretty cool too. Now I know what this difference is called. I have a “Growth Mindset”, and this person has a “Rigid Mindset.”

In a journal entry I wrote for EDUC 421, I wrote that if there was one thing I wanted to pass on to my students in music, it would be “practice better, not longer.” Efficient practice creates accelerated growth in music, and inefficient practice makes for slow progress and for some students minimal progress. When I’m specifically teaching the skill of playing an instrument, I want to pass on to my students the elements of a practice mindset and skills that I learned in my Bachelor of Music and Master of Music.

I’m a maker, a creator, a doer, a figure-it-outer, and a sucker-until-I-get-better, and I want to share that with my students. I want to be able to light fires of creativity and perseverance through failure and challenge. I want my students to say “I can do anything” rather than “I can’t do it.” I don’t want my students to give up. I don’t want my students to look at someone with a skill they want and feel jealousy — I want them to look at that person and say “Wow, what an inspiration! I’m going to learn how to do that too.”