"Don't let your physical limitations interfere with your musical ability."

This quote came up during my piano lesson with May Phang on Thursday when she was trying to convince me to focus on phrasing instead of the notes. At the time I merely took it at face value and turned my attention to the phrase in question. However, that simple sentence has been bouncing around in my head in different contexts ever since my lesson. Previously, I learned pieces (horn, piano, and voice) by mastering the notes and technical skills first and adding in the musicality later. However, that comment turned my practicing world upside down.  Incorporating the nuance, phrasing, etc. from the beginning will help me have a better sense of the piece overall and not get so frustrated when I can't master something immediately. Also, my overall musicality will improve, because I will be able to decide how I want a piece to sound in the end instead of basing my interpretation on how I learned the technical skills within it. It seems like such an obvious concept now.

This is one of the main reasons musicians come to college. By this point in our musical careers, we are mostly capable of learning notes, rhythms, dynamics, etc. on our own. The professors are there to help with those when necessary, but mainly they help us see with a new perspective. It could be a new way to practice, a tip to improve technique, an insight about a composer's intentions, or why music notation exists the way it does. Just like the concept of spiral learning we just heard about, there are always ways to improve upon previously established skills and knowledge, and our professors can help us find those. I'm going to start paying closer attention to the bits of wisdom. I will never know what I could have learned if I had taken the time to internalize them.