Criticism is something that every single musician will be subjected to in one form or another whether you want to or not, so here are some thoughts on how to make the most of criticism. These ideas should work for any musician, regardless of genre or instrument.
To accept it or not
The first thing you need to remember is that not all criticism is justified or valid. If you’re standing in front of your teacher in class, or if you’re at work playing in a band or orchestra, then it’s likely that some good points are being brought up and you should probably pay attention. If the person criticizing you is a friend or someone just randomly stopping you to tell you what they think about your playing, it is possible that they are doing it out of envy or just to cut you down. Some people are just the know-it-all type who will have something to “teach” you, no matter how you play, and regardless of if they actually know something about the subject or not. So you need to learn to recognize if the critique is valid or not, and whether it will do you any good to listen to it. If you don’t think the critique is justified or valid, then simply ignore it.
But there’s a big “But” here: Don’t take it too far. Don’t ignore the critique just because you don’t like it. Critique is important for your progress, so if you become the kind of person who never listens to what anyone has to say and just does what he/she wants anyway, you are likely to not improve as much as you would otherwise, and people might start thinking you’re an arrogant bastard. Not worrying too much about what others think is one thing. Making yourself blind to things that could help you is a different thing altogether.
Separate yourself from your work
Some people just can’t give critique in a good way, even if the critique itself is justified. They might have excellent points to make, they just can’t make them in a way that isn’t offensive and mean. So to avoid feeling like you’ve just been axed along the ankles, you need to learn how to interpret any kind of critique in a constructive way, regardless of how it was expressed. This will take some practice and getting used to, but believe me, it’s an incredibly useful skill to have.
So how does one accomplish this? One way is to learn how to separate “you” from “the result of your work”.
Let’s say you’ve just performed a piece of music, and your teacher/boss/other person tells you something like “Wow, that really sucked. Your tone is horrible, and that phrasing was way off.”
Ok, so first of all, that person is not very competent with giving critique. But more importantly, you can choose to interpret this in two ways: You can either take it personally and feel crushed and sad because you think you suck. OR you can interpret it in a more constructive way: You didn’t play very well this specific time.
Everything that person said can be taken to mean that what you just did wasn’t the best performance you’ve ever made. It doesn’t mean that “you” suck as a performer, it only means that “the result of your work” wasn’t optimal, and that is easy to fix. No-one plays optimally all the time. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or the best musician in the world – there is not one single musician out there who doesn’t at least occasionally perform at a lower level than their best. It doesn’t mean they are worse musicians than they were the week before, it only means that that particular performance wasn’t as good. The solution is simple: Just practice it some more and the next time you perform it, it will be a lot better.
Constructive or not
Critique can be interpreted in several ways. It’s very much up to you to decide how you take it. If someone tells you that what you just did sucked, you can choose to take the actual words personally: “I suck.” Or you can focus on how you can make the most of that critique: “Ok, so if that sucked, what do I need to change to make it better next time?”
A competent conductor, boss or teacher will give you constructive criticism. They will give you suggestions or ideas on what you need to change and what you need to do better. Focus on those parts, not on the “that sucked” part. If your conductor/boss/teacher doesn’t give you any hints on what you need to do differently, ask for them (unless you already know yourself what you need to change, which is often the case if you actually did perform poorly).
When you don’t get any valid reasons
Some leaders will just make you play the same thing again, and again, and again… They’re clearly not happy with what you just did, but they won’t say anything helpful, they’ll just make you do it again. If they do that, and you’ve played the same thing a couple of times and they’re still not happy, ask them. Just straight out tell them that you’re not sure about what it is they expect you to do differently, and ask them what they would like you to change. Don’t worry about this making you look dumb or anything like that. If you ask, it will most likely help you solve the problem, and improve. If you don’t ask, you’ll just sit there and play the same thing 20 times without getting anywhere, and that would usually be more dumb than just asking. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes the leader will make you repeat things over and over because they are listening for something and are trying to pinpoint what it is you’re doing, and trying to figure out what it is they would like you to do, and not necessarily because you are doing anything wrong. So just be patient and don’t take it personally.
If the person criticizing you can’t give you any concrete suggestions or tell you what they thought was bad, chances are, the critique wasn’t really that valid at all, and they’re just trying to show you who’s boss or show off or something, which means you can just nod and smile, say that you’ll work on it, and then ignore every word they just said.
Think before you speak
Critique can be hard to take, and different people react differently to it. Some people just ignore it, some take it very personally and get sad or depressed, while others react by going into defence-mode and strike back. None of these reactions are all that useful for actually learning something from the critique. If you know yourself to be the kind of person that starts defending, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
First of all, don’t attack the person doing the criticizing. If that person is a conductor, band leader or a professor, launching an attack can simply lead to you being kicked out of the room, which is not constructive or helpful for anyone. This doesn’t mean you have to just accept the criticism, just don’t attack back. If you feel that the critique is really unfair or seems more like a personal attack than constructive criticism, you can point this out by calmly telling that person that you disagree, and that while your performance may have been sub-par, you as a musician are not. Just keep it calm and polite and try to make everyone involved focus on being constructive about it. Insults serve no purpose from either side. If you know yourself to be the kind of person who immediately starts arguing back, do your best to keep your mouth shut and count to ten before you say anything at all. You don’t want to blurt out something you’ll regret.
Second, don’t make excuses. Regardless of if you played well or badly, if you get criticized, making excuses will change nothing and will probably just make you look silly. Making excuses like “Yeah, but I didn’t have time to practice much this week” or “Yeah, but I’m not feeling very well” or “Yeah, but my instrument is not working like it should” serve no purpose, and they will not help you improve.
Assuming that these things are true, and you’re not just using them as excuses: If you don’t have time to practice, then either make the time or don’t perform. Not practicing and then performing badly will just make everyone unhappy. If you are a professional musician it can easily lead to you not getting that phone call the next time someone needs a musician. It’s that simple, and no excuse will change that. The same goes if you’re not well. If you’re not feeling well enough to perform, then don’t perform. That’s all there is to it. Performing anyway and doing it badly will not help your reputation as a reliable musician. If your instrument doesn’t work the way it should, find a replacement or fix it. If you can’t, then don’t perform.
As a musician, it’s your responsibility and duty to make sure your instrument works when you need it to, but obviously accidents and unforeseen things do happen. If something happens, let your boss/teacher/conductor know as soon as possible, and then do whatever you need to do to fix it. Keeping quiet about it and then using it as an excuse after the performance will just make your boss unhappy with you, and it will definitely not be good for your career.
If you played badly, then fine – own up to it and move on. If you get criticized, focus on what you can do better next time, rather than taking it personally. The critique is about what you did in this one instance, not about you yourself or about what you are.
And finally:
One last tip: Always make sure you are as prepared as you can possibly be for every single performance. There is no such thing as a performance too small to take seriously, so either be sure to perform as well as you can every single time, or don’t accept the job in the first place. You want to be a respected musician? Act like one 100% of the time.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you won’t sometimes get criticized anyway. There will always be people who have something to say about your performance, and that’s perfectly normal. One could even say that no musician ever performs at a 100% of their potential, there will always be things you can do better, and even if there isn’t there will still be differing opinions. But what it does mean is that you did everything you could to do a good job, and with the help of the tips I’ve written about here, whatever critique you do receive can help you improve rather than hold you back. So don’t be afraid of criticism. Just see it for what it is and use it to your advantage instead!
Good luck!
Do you know any other good ways of dealing with criticism? Tell me!
