029 - The Cost of Perfection (A Teaching Story)

Music and perfectionism often go hand-in-hand, don't they?

In music school, we're trained to pursue excellence, to strive to be the best. We're taught to set high standards for ourselves, to work hard, and live up to the high standards our teachers have for us.

The thing is, there are two sides to perfectionism.

The value of perfectionism is that it's a commitment to achieving at a high level. But the cost of perfection is a crippling fear of failure, an unwillingness to try new things, negative self-talk, and an unrelenting pursuit of something that may not always be attainable. In fact, it might not even exist.

I mean, have you ever had a perfect performance? What does that look like? Of course, there's technical perfection — the right notes and the right rhythms with the right fingering at the right tempo and the right dynamic level, whatever that might be for you — but is that what we're aiming for, technical proficiency? Or is there something more?