We’re not very good at assessing and categorizing errors, especially when it comes to differentiating between momentary mistakes and problems in need of our attention.
More than once, I have directed an ensemble that freaked out about a sudden pitch problem – maybe they went significantly flat during an a cappella section, or had trouble tuning. The ensemble can often become immediately convinced that it’s a problem meriting serious work, single-minded focus, and probably a healthy increase in anxiety.
More often than not, these problems are that they were tired that day, or the barometric pressure dropped, or some other momentary influence.
If we get stressed about all of these temporary problems, we can take precious time away from the significant problems that really do need our attention.
Train yourself to ask with every mistake, “Is that a recurring problem I need to fix, or is that a temporary issue that will go away on its own?”