Are children better learners than adults?

One of the challenges of the fluency method is playing for playing’s sake.

If you’re used to a system of learning where the learning process is viewed as a means to an end; a necessary labour that in the end will be ‘good for you,’ then adjusting to a method where the practice itself must be embraced as being inherently enjoyable can bring challenges. 

We’re taught that progress is achieved through gritting our teeth and putting in the hard yards.

But to become a fluent musician we must abandon this concept and instead commit to fully embracing a practice full of intention and joyful expression.

It's like being served a delicious meal and thinking only of the dessert to follow instead of savouring the flavours in front of you. And of course when the dessert does come we do the same thing again - thinking about what’s next and denying ourselves the richness of the experience of each moment. 

Fluency takes time. Have you ever tried to learn another language? You cannot cram if you want to become fluent. You must spend lots and lots of playful, curious time until things ‘click’ into place. 

Adults tend to put far more pressure on themselves than children. They expect certain outcomes and place all kinds of expectations on themselves. 

But young children don’t have such burdens and so the learning process is all the more light and natural. They learn the unimaginably complex task of language by simply listening and experimenting (speaking). There’s not much more to it than that. No verb tables, text books or grammar rules. They absorb in a practical way that is focused and relaxed. 

But more than this, it is intentional. Each simple word is used to express real intent and meaning. This is essential for fluency to develop.

This is how you are able to read all these letters in front of you right now so easily. 

It’s no small task for adults to adopt the mindset of a child but it can be done.

And when it is, learning becomes effortless through a sort of relaxed focus that each of us has available to us. What we need to do is bring ourselves back again and again to remembering what it was like to play and learn in a childlike way.