Fine-tuned skills require repetition.
I know when my bread dough needs more flour.
I must have baked over 1,000 loaves of my sandwich bread at this point. And at some point along the way, I gained a much finer sense of exactly the consistency I need it to be.
Two lessons from this:
For those aspiring to high-level skills: it will take a lot of repetition. After even 100 loaves, I didn’t have the same sense I have now. The more you can work to repeat your process, again and again, the faster you’ll master the finer points.
For those teaching: You can sense things your students can’t. A master conductor can hear an ensemble’s intonation with far more clarity than even a very fine high school singer. You can recognize more of the structure of a piece at first glance, you can read it more accurately, you can master it more quickly. It will ever be so. Rather than get frustrated with the pace, recognize that you are giving the repetition that will help them develop their own music sense.