The Art of Failure

I feel that one thing all musicians have in common is the obsession over perfection. Whether it may be a whole piece or just a two bar phrase, we musicians want everything to be "perfect". We dread the thought of wrong notes, mistakes, or memory slips.. but what if we changed the way we thought about success? I decided to take a step back and look at the flip side: failure.

 "The Art of Failure" is an article from The New Yorker, written by Malcom Gladwell about how even the most experienced and professional people will fail, because no matter how much we practice or work, failure is inevitable. He used a very interesting example of the invincible professional tennis player, Jana Novotna's unexpected failure during her last round of the Wimbledon finals. Leading 4-1, she was just one point from being the champion, but at the tournament with everyone's eyes on her, her performance plummeted. She hit an overhead straight into the net, and missed her own serve twice, causing her to take home the runner's up trophy. When professionals at the top of their kind even fail, how can I expect to always succeed? As Gladwell states, “ We live in an age so obsessed with success.” I agree and believe that as a musician, I should view failure as something that I could benefit and learn from. For example, if a performance or competition turns out horribly wrong, I can use it as a way to step back and evaluate what I can change, either in the way I practice or even my mindset, that may have contributed to my failure in order to prevent it from happening again. I must also add that without failure there is no success; it's what keeps everyone working harder and trying over and over again. 

And in the end, as Disney said, "Failing is good, as long as it doesn't become a habit."