by Katy Carnaggio
Socrates once said, "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." This quote captures the essence of integrity—aligning your actions with your intentions. In music, as in life, this alignment is achieved through honesty, particularly in the way we assess and refine our skills. Honest feedback [as self-assessment] is the bridge between who we are now and who we aspire to be. It’s the tool that allows us to transform our intentions into real-world actions, living up to the ideal we set for ourselves as musicians.
While “giving feedback” doesn’t typically fit into the flashy category of mental training like meditation, emotional intelligence, or discipline, its results are certainly worth the effort. Quality self-assessment is the difference between, “I’m rushing,” and, “I’m rushing because I’m compressing each second set of sixteenths. I need to play them evenly, about five clicks slower to match the tempo.” This level of detail allows you to know what happened, why it happened, and what you need to do next.
Great Feedback = Great Data + Great Deduction + Great Delivery
Data
Accurate self-assessment is like having a precise map to your goals. To navigate effectively, you need two types of data:
- Knowledge of Performance: Your internal sense of the movement, like the feel of playing the horn.
- Knowledge of Results: External data on how well your actions matched your intentions, such as, “That note was 20 cents flat.”
We’ve all experienced how our feelings can cloud our judgment. So, how can you ensure your observations are reliable while playing? Adams’s Closed-Loop Theory suggests that you perform by comparing ongoing movements to an internal “perceptual trace” developed through practice. This perceptual trace serves as a reference of correctness. By minimizing the difference between current sensations and your internal reference of correctness, you can execute skills accurately without external feedback.
However, your reference is only as accurate as your practice. If you’ve learned a technique differently from how you now wish to perform, your body might signal that a movement is correct simply because it aligns with your perceptual trace, even if external feedback suggests otherwise. To minimize uncertainty, establish accurate references early and often—away from the horn—through physical stretches, breathing exercises, mental rehearsal, or singing along with a reliable recording.
To further ensure that you’re working with great data, augment your internal feedback with external tools. Regularly using a recording device, a metronome, a tuner, or even a decibel meter provides reliable, objective information, helping you avoid the common pitfalls like bias or inconsistent practice environments that might otherwise influence your senses.
Deduction
Improving the content of your self-assessments requires ongoing task deduction—breaking down the complexity of performance into easily comprehensible and precise movements—and working through them in a systematic, logical progression. For instance, Frank Lloyd’s video on multiple tonguing offers a detailed task deduction breakdown that can make even challenging techniques more approachable.
Work on refining your ability to give only the most pertinent info, distilled into succinct and detailed form. Consider your in-the-moment execution, mood, and motivation. Encourage change and reinforce accurate learning with informational feedback focused on descriptions or prescriptions. Encourage energy, direction, and resilience with motivational feedback focused on acknowledging improvements or progress towards your intention. Balancing these two types of feedback creates a holistic approach that supports both technical growth and emotional resilience.
Delivery
The way you deliver feedback is as important as the feedback itself. Sometimes, how you say something can be just as impactful as what you say. Before giving feedback, shift your mindset from an internal focus on execution to external self-coaching. Approach feedback with grace, humor, self-trust, calm, and confidence. This positive approach not only makes feedback more effective but also more enjoyable, fostering self-trust and competence through consistent action.
Feedback is the tool that bridges the gap between who you are and who you aspire to be. It’s the gift that turns good into great and great into exceptional. Ultimately, feedback is the quiet, powerful force that shapes mastery, guiding you forward, one insight at a time.
