You Can't Rush the Ear

You can rush your fingers.
Drill the scales,
force the speed,
grind the reps.

You cannot rush your ear.

The ear grows slowly,
on its own schedule,
through hours of listening
you can't shortcut
no matter how badly you want to.

That's why beginners
play the right notes
and it still sounds wrong.
The hands arrived.
The ear hadn't.

Hearing what's off,
hearing what's missing,
hearing the difference
between fine and beautiful —
that only comes
with time in the sound.

So be patient
with the part you can't force.
Keep listening.
Keep playing badly
in the direction of good.

One day you'll notice
you can hear things
that used to be invisible.

The hands were always the easy part.

The ear is the whole game,
and the ear takes as long as it takes.

– Serguey Asael Shinder