I had a mentor (back when I had a “day job”) that talked and taught “skill vs. will,” and it’s always stuck with me that it really applies to so many things. I’ve applied it to my teaching, and it has really changed my approach to performance issues. The basic concept is that there are two components to being successful at any endeavor, skill and will. The skill part comprises of knowing how to do what it takes to accomplish a goal. The will part is having the drive to do what it takes meet the goal. Skills can be taught. Will is a much more difficult problem.
Who of us hasn’t struggled with this very problem? We know exactly what we need to do, but actually doing it is overwhelming, unappealing, or just plain scary. So we avoid it or skip over it and maybe we promise ourselves we’ll come back to whatever “it” is later. And sometimes we do, but sometimes we don’t. Every student I’ve ever had has struggled with this as well. They struggle with the same few measures of a piece for weeks simply because they don’t make the effort to fix the problem. Or they use the wrong fingering for a note over and over because it’s easier to do it the way they way they always have, even if they squeak every time and it sounds terrible.
Once you know that they know what to do, and just aren’t doing it, it’s a question of throwing a little extra motivation at them to solve the problem. Who doesn’t need a little extra motivation now and then?
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