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Time to go Fast!

Writer's picture: Ryan ReedRyan Reed

This summer has flown by! I have been very fortunate to be pretty busy during this time. This has been my busiest year in terms of writing. I spent two awesome weeks with the Madison Scouts and I just got home earlier this week from two equally incredible weeks with Southwind. Both of those teams should be pretty special this year and definitely worth checking out!


In doing all these things this summer, there has been one common thread that I have been thinking about - how many and how fast decisions are made. As a teacher, we make the best laid plans out for every day but any number of things can change those plans. One thing I have never done before this year (and had to do at Madison) was type out an educational plan for the day. Now, I plan for all my rehearsals but rarely do I write that plan done. It is amazing to see how the plan adjusts based on a concept being learned faster (or slower) than anticipated, weather roles in and you have to move, something happens and a meal has to be moved, a late unload, extreme heat the forces more breaks than normal...the list goes on and on.


One little change forces a sequence of decisions that have to be made. Do we continue to work on this skill, or move on and come back? If we keep going, what do we push off until later? What is the absolute longest we can spend on this? If we do this and this, do we still have time for the large goal (which is always something that has to be accomplished)? What are the things we have to hit everyday, and how much time do we need for those things? We lost X amount of time due to weather, where do we take that time from? There are a million more decisions that could be mentioned.


The nice thing about having this many decisions is that once one is made, there is another tree of decisions that need to be made. So even if you make the "wrong" decision, you can get out of it if you move fast enough. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I have been in rehearsal, decided to do something, heard 1-2 reps of the thing and then moved on. Maybe we don't have enough time to really dig in enough at that moment to see improvement. Maybe I realized we needed to hit something else before the members could be successful at the thing I really want to get to (this definitely happens). When this specific one arises, I move on so quick that I usually forget we tried it.


The whole reason I am talking about this, is because that need for speed has come up in my mind many times. We just finished my high school's percussion camp, and a few times the words "think faster" came up. I always refer to "think faster" when talking about previous knowledge. If you know something (or how to do something), just do that thing. There is no need to analyze how, or why, or what to do. You have the knowledge, so do it. I find more and more that younger students want to stop, think, think more, make sure they are comfortable and then try. The problem with that is that in all that thinking time, your teachers can't address anything...we aren't mindreaders (thankfully!). However, the student that has tried and failed 4 times while you are thinking, now has 4 repetitions worth of information to work with. Again, when gaining new information you can only go as fast as you can gather that information. But once you have the information, execute FAST!


If I can be honest, that is the biggest thing that holds students back from elevating to their next level. You don't have to be right every time, but your teachers can't give you information without seeing you try. Remember failing is only failing if you quit. Failure is a step closer to success as long as you keep going!


Once I left Madison, I tweaked the template of educational planning and continued to use it at Southwind. I think it was helpful to see a plan written out and how it was being adjusted in real time. I think it helps give clarity to what the focus is at any given time when you see something being moved away from in favor of something else.


So take your time when you are learning a skill and make sure you learn it correctly. But once you learn something, move like lightning and see how far that speed will take you!



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