Incredible Music Lessons I learned through gardening

by Sean Reusch

For those of you who know me well, you know how much I love spending time working in my garden. For me gardening is such a peaceful time, a time to clear my head and appreciate how amazing nature truly is. As a kid, I was very fortunate to learn how to garden from the best - my dad and both of my grandpas. All three men always included me when they worked in their gardens and that meant the world to me as a little boy. At the time, I had no idea of how many life lessons I would learn while working with them. Today as I work in my garden, I reflect on all of these important lessons and I realize that so many apply to music. It’s astounding to me how we may learn important music lessons in something other than music. Below are some of the lessons I learned through gardening.

1. Plan ahead!

Just like in gardening, one must plan ahead for the things one wants to grow. It’s always important to have short-term and long-term playing goals in mind. Make a plan of very specific things you want to work on before you practice. You will be much more efficient during your practice session and improve much faster. Be sure to make a plan that addresses your weaknesses!

2. With consistent fundamentals, great growth will occur!

In gardening, one must have fundamental things like sunshine, water, and great soil for plants to grow into a healthy, mature plant. In playing a musical instrument, one needs to focus on fundamentals to reach one’s potential. Do your best to always play with your best sound, play in tune, and play with great rhythm. To do this we must practice things such as long tones, lip slurs, tonguing, scales and arpeggios every day.

3. Good things require hard work.

Having a beautiful garden require a lot of hard work. As a musician, consistent practice is essential. Remember that your rate of growth is directly related to the amount of quality practice, not the quantity of practice. Focus on the tiny details and strive to improve every day by at least 1 %.

4. Learn from your mistakes.

All gardeners make mistakes – over or under watering, too much sun, too much shade, the wrong fertilizer. ALL musicians make mistakes as well - the important thing is to learn from them! As a musician remember that mistakes are just feedback that we need to continue practicing until we can play the something well. Do things like practice slowly, mark accidentals, record yourself, take notes in a journal as a reminder of things you noticed during your practice, look for patterns in the music, practice with a metronome, sing and conduct, buzz, use wind patterns, and listen to amazing musicians. Do whatever you need to do to make your playing better every time you practice!

5. Water your plants daily.

In gardening one gets incredible growth with daily watering. In music, one will improve very quickly with daily practice. It’s great to break your practicing into small chunks to help stay focused and keep your chops fresh. Becoming a great musician requires MANY correct repetitions.

6. Clear out weeds.

Weeds take away water and nutrition from plants. For musicians, the equivalent of weeds are bad habits. Replace bad habits with new good habits. Remember that practice makes permanent and that it takes about 66 days to form a new habit. Focus on the new habits you want to create in every practice session. Take things slowly to make sure you aren’t using the old bad habit!

7. Patience is a must.

It’s easy to be impatient as a gardener. Sometimes I check many times over a few days to see if a tomato has ripened! As a musician, it is also essential to learn to be patient and let things that you work on ripen. Initially most of the growth of a plant is unseen because the growth is in the root system underground. It takes a while to see changes in the plant. Likewise in music, one might not see the results of great practicing for a while. Be patient, practice consistently and well and eventually you will see amazing fruits of your labor. Remember, from a tiny acorn mighty oaks will grow. It just takes time and patience!

Best of luck in your practicing!