Practice Till It's Perfect?

Often when beginning students practice an aikido technique they are frustrated at their inability to do the techniques correctly. (Actually, although they may be working on a different level of refinement, advanced students often feel the same way!) I have had students ask me whether we couldn't just focus on a few techniques until they get them "right," and then progress on to the next set, etc. I have never taught that way, mostly because my instructor doesn't teach that way, and Sensei doesn't teach that way. After a number of years, I realized that I did have a grasp of a great number of techniques, although I never remember devoting particular attention to any one.

It was my piano teacher, David Leonhardt, who articulated why this worked in a lesson this morning. I asked, "Are you sure I should be moving on to the next exercise? I'm still pretty sloppy on this one in a lot of ways."

He said, "Your goal in playing music isn't to play perfectly. Your goal is to evoke a response in the listener. And along the way, the process of learning is rewarding as well. Playing perfectly doesn't mean you're more likely to evoke a response. You need to have a repertoire of tunes and of techniques, or tools, that you can use, and the best way to do that is to build and practice in more rounded way. Just like if you went to the gym to become stronger, you wouldn't just do bicep curls on one arm. Or if you did yoga, you wouldn't just stand on your head all the time."

How often, since I gained experience in aikido, have I learned a technique for the first time, and realized that it really isn't that difficult, not only because I already know the basics of posture, calmness, one point, etc., but because so many aspects of the movement are familiar from other techniques? It's funny how I knew this in terms of aikido, but I needed a teacher to point it out in my music.