Sure, I can teach you how to play the cello. But we all know it isn't that simple, right?
Consider:
I can teach your mind how cellos get played.
I can show your body how to play THIS cello.
I can teach your mind how human bodies learn skills.
I can show your mind how to teach YOUR body THIS specific skill.
I can teach you how minds learn from their bodies.
I can show you how YOUR mind learns from YOUR body, completing the skill-polishing loop, so that it becomes self-sustaining…
The bodymind learns the way the bodymind learns. You need all of the pieces, or it won't work.
But for any of it to matter, you also have to DO THE WORK. Otherwise, none of that theoretical or practical knowledge will have any meaningful effect.
Muscles and tendons need training, yes.
Fingers need toughening, yes.
Nervous system command-and-control needs optimizing, yes.
But before any of that work can be done, you must solve the problem of MINDSET.
You have to buy into the idea that doing the work IN THIS WAY THAT I AM TELLING YOU TO DO IT will work for YOU.
Otherwise, you won't do the work, and it won't work for you.
The bodymind learns the way the bodymind learns.
And for you to buy into that learning process means TRUST, and it means PERSISTENCE, and it means DESIRE.
So, as teachers, we must start by establishing those three things as early in the game as possible.
Practice has theory.
Theory has practice.
The bodymind needs both.
ALL of it needs desire.
Trust me.
Now, go forth and practice!
This post is not [just] about cello playing.