Mastering a piece of music

There is nothing more satisfying than finally having a music piece memorized. It takes an unusual amount of patience and perseverance. You have to put in the time. I'm sure it would be easier to just read the music and play from there. But then, you have to be one heck of a site reader. I'm not there yet. I think you sacrifice something when you are trying to figure out notes at the same time you are searching for spots in the pan. You have more of a chance of hitting a clinker note if not careful. Accuracy is key for me. I'm sure even the professional musician's still memorize their music even if they are reading in concert.

So how long does it take before I get a piece? Not sure. I guess it depends on the piece and the complexity.  I just finished a piece called Jouvert Morning which was huge. It took three - four weeks for me to finally feel comfortable that I knew it. It was a ton of listening to recordings, reading the sheet music, playing it over and over again. Then one day, I didn't open up the music and played it. Voila.

I read recently that it takes about 10 years or 10,000 hours to reach an expert level of performance. But how do you break that down by music piece? Who knows. It's funny. There are a ton of sites on the web on the topic of practicing. It is a struggle for musicians, athletes, etc. I get that. But I honestly feel I cannot improve or be anywhere close to performance level if I'm not deliberately practicing every day. So when I accomplish learning a piece, I definitely feel a sense of achievement. Totally worth it. I guess  for the stuff that is important, you put in the time.