Classical piano is an extreme case that illustrates the problem. Almost no one makes a living as a classical pianist, because listening to a non-famous classical pianist just isn’t the kind of entertainment that people will pay for. So in today’s world, I think spending 10k hours on classical piano is a waste of time even if you have great musical talent, because other areas of music will give you better return on the same talent.
More generally in creative areas, even though they are competitive, you can somewhat control on what axis the competition happens. For example, many popular singers often miss notes, and many artists make a living without being able to draw a realistic human from imagination. Even though it only takes a few hundred hours for almost anyone to sing precisely or draw anatomy well. The reason people don’t do it is because they can capture the audience by other means. So while you’re spending your 10k hours on some creative pursuit, maybe it’s worth spending one hour brainstorming these “other means”.
On the other hand, spending say 2k hours on getting really-good-but-not-world-class on the piano may well be time well spent for any serious musician, because being a good pianist is really useful.
Classical piano is an extreme case that illustrates the problem. Almost no one makes a living as a classical pianist, because listening to a non-famous classical pianist just isn’t the kind of entertainment that people will pay for.
Classical piano is an extreme case that illustrates the problem. Almost no one makes a living as a classical pianist, because listening to a non-famous classical pianist just isn’t the kind of entertainment that people will pay for. So in today’s world, I think spending 10k hours on classical piano is a waste of time even if you have great musical talent, because other areas of music will give you better return on the same talent.
More generally in creative areas, even though they are competitive, you can somewhat control on what axis the competition happens. For example, many popular singers often miss notes, and many artists make a living without being able to draw a realistic human from imagination. Even though it only takes a few hundred hours for almost anyone to sing precisely or draw anatomy well. The reason people don’t do it is because they can capture the audience by other means. So while you’re spending your 10k hours on some creative pursuit, maybe it’s worth spending one hour brainstorming these “other means”.
On the other hand, spending say 2k hours on getting really-good-but-not-world-class on the piano may well be time well spent for any serious musician, because being a good pianist is really useful.
Yup. I think what you’re describing is the superstar effect.
Arguably a great example of deliberate practice for finding better methods.