Why the Slowest Horse Learns the Best

In my late teens I was a student of martial arts. I had as my teacher a wonderful Korean gentleman, a 5th degree black belt. After an early demonstration of Ki energy, in which he literally chewed up a coke bottle in front of my eyes, I realized how important it was to stay on his good side.

One day after a particularly challenging workout, in which a new technique was introduced that required more flexibility and body control than I possessed, I complained about the slowness of my progress.

He answered with this, ‘In Korea we say, ‘The slowest horse learns the best.’’ Of course, when he said this to me my first reaction was of chagrin. I didn’t take to the idea of being a ‘slow horse.’

Over time, though, I’ve learned to accept the benefits of being the slow horse. Yes, I’ve learned a few things very well indeed over the years.

I’m sharing this with you today because a lot of folks get impatient with their progress on the violin. Some techniques can be a challenge.

The last thing you want to do, however, is force the issue.

A few years ago I resolved to learn the 5th Caprice of Paganini with the 3 plus 1 bowing he indicates in the manuscript. It’s something I’d tried many years before and dismissed as impossible; at least for me.

Fortunately I didn’t allow that thought into my head during the 2 solid months I spent mastering the technique on my return attempt. And today I can, within a few minutes, play any passage of 16th notes with the bowing.

Now the point about being a ‘slow horse’ is not that you practice with an empty head. Not at all. You want good, solid pictures in your mind. In the pictures the form you want to hold must be quite clear; there is just no point in trying to play way out front of what you can visualize. Doing so is the surest way to mediocrity I know.

So, where to the mental images come from.

In part they come from thoughtfully Watching others do what you’re after. Yet often this is not enough. There is much that is unseen to the eye; the Thoughts, the exact Feelings that go along with the doing.

This is where my courses can save you time and a great deal of expense, but only if you are willing to be patient and focused.

Over the weekend I received another email having to do with learning vibrato. From what was written I could tell the good fellow not only didn’t have one of my courses, but that he really didn’t have a clue as to what a vibrato Feels like. He didn’t know where to start.

After receiving my answer to his question – telling him he needed a two-month commitment to practice in a very specific way – he invested in a full year subscription to Violin Mastery Beginners Circle.

A great move on his part. Aside from the very in-depth look at creating a fluid, well-formed vibrato, he also can look forward to many, many hours of coaching covering all manner of fundamental violin technique.

So if you’re even a Slightly discouraged beginning player, and the way forward seems uncertain, this may be just the ticket for you as well.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. So many times we hear someone say, ‘You’ve just got to FEEL it,’ without being able to communicate just exactly what the ‘feeling’ is. Well, here’s a great place to have those feelings laid out in a way you, too, can partake.