On Practice

“Be Patient, Grow Daily”

Jul 18, 2025

Something to listen to:

I recently started using Melodics1. It is a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) enabled learning platform for drums and keys. I started a learning plan for keyboard starting from the very beginning, with playing C and progressing into learning tempo, scales and intervals. I just completed the Harmony lines course, using intervals to create harmonies and am about to enter the course on building chords. Despite having produced music for years, I recently had to face the fact that I was operating below a very low skill ceiling because I never properly learned to play an instrument. The basic chords using only white keys only went so far without the use of the transpose button, and even with it, I lacked knowledge on many other aspects of music, so I became a beginner.

This is a newsletter about practice

This time around, I want to commit to actually practicing the instrument. Melodics is a typical gamification project that takes proficiency and converts it into experience points. It also tracks a daily streak and requires proficiency in a current course to move on to the next one. At first, the courses were a bit too easy (as a false beginner). I was able to effortlessly play the required music, getting perfect scores repeatedly.

As I progressed, I got to a point in a scales lesson where I felt resistance. In melodics, before playing a lesson (the test), there is a practice mode that goes over what notes would be used in that lesson and which fingers to play with. Once I felt like I had done enough reps of the notes, I started the play-through. Hand to keyboard, the metronome guided me in, and I struggled. I lost my grip. I was messing up the timing of notes and playing wrong notes altogether. My 100% scores of previous courses transformed to 60%. I actually had to try to practice the notes over and over to get my body and mind in tune with the music. That was my point of resistance. It reminds me of the reason I gave up on learning an instrument as a child. It wasn’t easy anymore.

I have been a false beginner2 many times before. After having gotten to an intermediate level in Spanish and French, I stopped learning and spent time in linguistic limbo.

I speak the languages, but not with fluency, often restricted to the same topics in conversations based on the ~1,500 words and limited grammar understanding I have. Being a false beginner is the experience of coming back to learning something you already knew because you did not practice enough to master it. It is a term[1] mainly used in language learning that I think applies to other disciplines; after all, art is a language. In my experience with Melodics, I felt resistance to practice. The fastest growth I experience is right at the start, when things are easy enough to follow and come naturally. I describe the resistance that appears at the point of a challenge as a dull pain, a discomfort and aversion to trying. It’s the easiest point to accept the plateau or give up altogether, but recently I have been wanting to challenge that resistance.

Melodics is one way. I am embracing a simple statement, “Be patient, grow daily,” which is a motto from an artist I listen to, Sango. Impatience is what causes me to take shortcuts or give up. It has been necessary not to compare other people’s years of practice to my current stage in my craft. I am not a beginner, yet I have not accomplished the feats of a masterful artist. With time and with practice, I have seen improvement. I hope to continue to grow.

Some Things I’m Enjoying Lately: