YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A MASTER | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
So many people make New Year ’ s resolutions , and the start of a new year is really a great time to have motivational talks with our students on setting new goals and aspirations for themselves … figuring out what they want to master and become an expert at , and helping to then develop a game plan strategy for them . It ’ s about setting goals and working toward that goal in some way every day : small blocks of concentrated time that creates the compound effect . And doing this will more than likely have them continuing to be goal minded and timeaware for the rest of their lives . Achievement in anything always begins with a set goal .
“ Most people do not plan to fail , they fail to plan ”. – John Beckley
So true ! One of the questions we get asked by our students all the time is , “ How long is it gonna take to get good ?”
Well , that depends on what you define as “ good ”. We all mean something different when we ask that , but for this article , lets focus on what it takes to become a master . In 1987 , K . Anders Ericsson went to Berlin for two years to research the achievement of violinists . He wanted to study the standard of graduation performance with the number of hours practiced . The violinists were placed in the following categories : world-class , very good , competent , and amateur . All of the violinists in the study began learning around the age of five and practiced about the same amount of time in the first three years . But after that , their practice time changed dramatically from student to student , and the results were amazing . The violinists who were considered “ world-class ” had practiced for at least ten thousand hours . That ’ s a lot of hours ! Excellent violinists practiced about eight thousand hours , competent violinists studied about five thousand hours , and good amateurs practiced approximately two thousand hours .
The relationship between skill level and hours practiced was predictive , and what ’ s known as the “ ten-thousand-hour rule ” was born . Ericsson also found that the best musicians did a certain kind of focused practice , which he calls deliberate practice , which is the type of practice that is not enjoyable , but it ’ s measured by the progress the student makes , which makes the end of the effort very rewarding . Excelling in any skill requires both short- and long-term goal setting .
And these days , video games and social media is just an epic time waster ! Anywhere from 2-5 hours per day is a typical amount of time a student spends scrolling through TikTok and playing games . Wow ! It ’ s wise for us to take inventory of the time we have in every day , and where and how we spend that time . There ’ s an old saying , “ Life is too short to do what I have to do ; it ’ s barely long enough to do what I want to do ”.
So , think about your personal goals and desires . Ask yourself , “ Is this something I really want to do ? Will I enjoy doing it ?” Don ’ t do something because other people want you to do it , this just leads to burn out and frustration . Especially for young people and students : it ’ s easy to say yes just to please parents , teachers and friends . But stay true to what you desire to do , and the goals you personally want to achieve .
We ’ ve seen this hundreds , if not a thousand times : if a student loves what they ’ re studying , they will spend extra time and will be selfmotivated and goal achieving . If a student is only doing something to please other people , there is a lack of progress , no joy in the hours of preparation and practice , and many times even depression and anxiety . We have 8,760 hours in a year ( to be exact ), let ’ s use all of those doing something we ’ re passionate about ! And by spending ten thousand hours of practice doing what you already love doing , you become a world class master ! And you will be an incredible inspiration for so many people along the way .
We should all consider setting aside time in every day to sharpen our skills for the glory of God so we can do the amazing ministry that He has made us for . We wish you a successful , joy filled and inspired 2023 !
May you be blessed as you pour into or become the next generation of worship leaders and musicians !
Vance & Michelle Shepherd Founders of The Shepherd School of Music in Las Vegas , NV , where they work with youth to raise up the next generation of worship leaders and musicians . facebook . com / shepherdschoolofmusiclasvegas www . ShepherdStudiosLV . com