I played poorly in this clip, and I learned from that poor performance. For me, practice is often like walking the plank—and sometimes deliberately stepping off it—just to see whether I can find my way back on. That is just one of several ways I practice. This recording may also demonstrate something fundamental about my approach to learning and why I strongly dislike the idea of going to teachers whose stylistic prescriptions. are meant to “shorten” the learning process and minimize mistakes. W