Comments on: 10,000 Hours of Taiko

By: Sarah Bergstrom

Sarah Bergstrom — Thu, 12 May 2011 23:08:34 +0000

Hey I just wanted to note that I recently read the outlier chapter referring to the theory of 10000 hours of practice being the key to mastery in my high school senior english class and then came upon your site here… the whole concept sounds very appealing to me and seeing your progress as an individual working towards your goal is encouraging for the rest of us with dreams and goals. I personally don’t really know much about taiko, and I have never practiced an instrument before today for several reasons, but just learning about this theory and reading about your diligence makes me feels intrigued and challenged. I have been contemplating learning to play an instrument for some time now, and although I am somewhat financially challenged, I feel more inspired to start up a goal such as yours sometime in the near future. Thank You for being a model and inspiration for others and keep up the good work, surely in the end it will pay off.

By: imwired

imwired — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:07:46 +0000

This is incredible. I’ve had the idea of starting up a blog, but the staggering number of 10,000 proved to be quite the deterrent.

Congrats and I look forward to the day you attain the grand title of… Master

By: Wanda Welbourn

Wanda Welbourn — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:51:23 +0000

Kris Maz…put a link on my facebook page of the family photos of Shasta Yama. Thanks to you both for all of the hard work and play you brought to the performance.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:08:28 +0000

A happy coincidence, I have to say. :)

I’m intrigued that the proportion of what you consider real practice time has shrunk because you don’t count the time you spend generating source material to practise; I wonder if that’s being too purist. Does it make sense to discount the time it takes to realize that one lacks a skill and figure out what practice will develop it, counting only the practice by which one acquires that skill? Aren’t all of those steps essential to progress?

I think intention is critical to progress generally, but what about unintentional skill acquisition? In other words, could you develop skills other than the one you meant to develop while practising? (Or is that just the flip side of acquiring inadvertent bad habits?)

Luckily, running out of obvious technical challenges to focus on is a purely theoretical risk for me for the foreseeable future. :)

Cheers & please keep us updated in Year 2! And please say more about your basic kata philosophy….

By: kris

kris — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:23:44 +0000

Thank you very much for the anniversary note, Margaret! How did you know it’s been exactly a year this morning?! I’m moments away from publishing my thoughts on the last 365 days of practice…

By: Margaret

Margaret — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:03:44 +0000

Humble congratulations from afar on completing Year 1 of this great experiment. Has your philosophy of practice changed in any way as a result?

By: Nicki

Nicki — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:05:13 +0000

Love this and love your thoughtful tabulations. It’s surprising that in a year you might only have 316 hours (2001, for instance), less than an hour a day. I’m trying to think of all the conclusions that can be drawn from this: that sustained, concentrated practice is extremely difficult; that “work” is not the same as “practice”–for instance, you could not count a 40-hour work week for fifty weeks a year as somehow 2000 hours towards mastery of your job; how very few available hours there really are in a year; how I’ve got to get cracking at becoming master of something :) , though right now I feel like I’m on my way to being master diaper-changer. Must get some more rest before the next round of nursing, diapering, rocking the baby to sleep gets underway. Way to go, Meat.

By: Jeni

Jeni — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:58:47 +0000

Hey its jeni thx for a great week of taiko

By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:05:45 +0000

Indeed it would. And I think a longer squiggle would be *more* motivating. That four months of relatively diligent practice and record keeping show up as that tiny little line is a bit discouraging. :)

The problem is that I don’t have detailed data for anything prior to June 22 of this year, so the line would be formed of straight sections that span whole year periods. Somehow such approximations aren’t as satisfying to me in the graph. Although the squiggle is tiny, if nothing else, it’s an honest representation of daily progress. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Margaret, you’re a great practicer… you should implement a tracking system too!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:10:31 +0000

Hey, wouldn’t the red squiggle look more impressive if you started the timeline and hours of practice at your zero point (1996) instead of halfway through 2009? Or is that less motivating? :)