The quote of the week comes from France. A proverb there says: ‘Be patient, all things are difficult before they become easy.’
This seems absolutely logical and understandable. Learning simply takes time. It has to develop gradually and as a learner it is necessary to keep at it and continue even when setbacks occur.
For example learning an instrument takes time. I play the saxophone myself. In the beginning, it was challenging to get a sound out of the instrument. The first notes squeaked or were too loud. It takes many hours of practice before this stops and the notes can be played cleanly and the embouchure is very good and can be played without squeaking. Nevertheless, the question remains for me, are things really getting easy? I can only half agree and would half disagree.
To stick with the instrument, after the first few lessons, hitting the notes with the right fingerings should be easy. But if you don’t stick with it and keep practising, the embouchure gets lost and the fingerings are forgotten. Then it becomes more difficult to play ‘squeak-free’ notes and to use the right fingerings for the notes. It is easy to stick to the subject if you practise what you have learnt every day and constantly.
It also happens that you overestimate yourself and think things are easy because you used to be able to do them. If you used to be a safe and good driver, it can happen that after a long break you underestimate your driving and overestimate your own reactions, which is a dangerous misjudgement based on supposed ability. Skills are learnt and you become good at them, which is why they seem easy. If you don’t stick with it, they can be forgotten. Professional musicians never stop practising.
The saying fits accordingly that you have to be patient to learn something, it takes time and then it becomes easier, but it becomes difficult again when you stop working on it.
