Jumping down the Rabbit Hole – Exploring Artistic Agency by Classical Music Performers

Abstract

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to master an instrument, it is said. In music education, we easily fill those hours—training from childhood in technical and theoretical skills to meet the highest standards. But what happens when this framework we’ve trained for disappears? What remains when the certainty of a score falls away? What happened to our own creative agency? It makes you wonder—we might be missing something in the way we teach. Creativity isn’t reserved for composers or improvisers—it’s at the core of artistry, and that includes performers. So how do we make our 10,000 hours not a straitjacket, but a wealth of knowledge, skill, curiosity, and creative potential? I invite you to embrace your inner Alice, and take a leap with me. Dare to fail, take a risk, get back up—and eventually, create something beyond expectations—not despite, but because you didn’t expect it.