Education Versus Learning

An education is a wonderful thing. It opens doors to certain career paths that nothing else can.

Let's remember, though - an education is a product.

You pay a certain amount of money for tuition, you do your X number of years, you check all the boxes, keep out of trouble, receive your diploma or degree, and you're done. You now have an education.

But that's different from learning, isn't it.

Everyone who took 12 years of grade school, received their education, and still had to learn how taxes work in the United States knows what I'm talking about.

Similarly, in most fields, many people say they learned the most when they were on the job. Learning through experience. Making mistakes. Experimenting. Adjusting.

This is one of the beautiful things about studying a musical instrument - you get to learn how to learn. Most classes don't cover this in school. They focus on the final products - tests, papers, and grades.

We only see our students once a week. Most of the learning and developing happens during that time between the lessons. It is self-directed, with some guidance from the teacher and parents. It is a beautiful thing when it works.

This is why not everyone plays a musical instrument. There is no dollar amount you can pay, no education you can just buy, that will grant you the ability to play a musical instrument well. And that just doesn't jive with the system most people are used to.

Learning to play...learning just about anything out there deeply...comes from a love of learning, and a love of learning how to learn. 

And that makes all the difference.