There's no alternative to practice and deep thinking

A few days ago, I was humming a tune. I got curious about the lyrics. I found out the lyricist was Shibdas Bandopadhyay. He was born in Khulna. He penned lyrics for the singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika. In 1971, when Bangladesh was fighting for its existence, the two churned out the timeless song Ganga Amar Maa, Padma Amar Maa. 

I took my bansuri and started playing the tune that's haunted me and many others. Anybody who has an 'ear' for music knows that getting the notes right is the easy part. Getting the timing and the throwing of the notes right is the more difficult part. It's in this difficult part that the song or the tune comes to life. This is the part where the notes touch your heart. A good composition isn't necessarily singing or playing too loud or too fast. Sometimes like life you have to be quiet and slow down. 

I chose a middle line. Within moments, I started to appreciate the genius of Bhupen as a composer. I'm not a professional performer, but I do try to practice the bansuri regularly. Practice in the performing arts means doing the basics repeatedly to get the life of the tune right so you understand the emotions of the notes when you play and throw them.  I broke the tune and repeatedly practiced each broken part. I tried to play the notes only. I reduced the tempo (speed) of the tune to identify which special notes 'touch' the heart. These are the hidden notes of a masterly composition. After repeated practicing, I finally identified the hidden notes and the way they were timed and thrown. More importantly, I identified the notes that were touched only and then thrown away mildly. 

From our first day at school, we are made to fall for the illusion that a genius is born. We see a genius as a magician who mumbles a magic phrase, abracadabra, and ideas flow instantly. We see the flow of these ideas in the twinkle of an eye. Before you can say hey presto, the genius's work is done. What we normally don't appreciate or see is that a genius is almost never born overnight. A genius is a genius because (s) he makes deep thinking a habit. Like a musician or a player who practices the same exercise again and again, a genius is a person who thinks deeply on how to get the flow of thoughts right. 

Albert Einstein was probably the first Rock Star scientist. His photos with Rabindranath Tagore are well known to Bengalis. He was already an international phenomenon by the time he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. Einstein's theory of relativity, the famous E=mc2 equation and the concept of time had caught the imagination of people outside the world of theoretical physics. Was Einstein an overnight genius? NO. His two famous papers that changed theoretical physics took more than one decade in between them to publish. Within this time, Einstein was involved in painstaking deep thinking on how to get it right. 

When we teachers give back scripts to students we often hear them saying, 'I knew this, but I didn't get it right'. It's probably because the student didn't practice the basics enough and didn't think deeply on how the ideas flowed. Those who do well in exams are usually those who have practiced enough and thought deeply about a problem. They're good not because they're good, but also because they followed the routine of practice and deep thinking. 

A genius isn't created over night no matter how romantic the notion may be. Be that genius, Shibdas Bandopadhyay and Bhupen Hazarika or Albert Einstein. There is no alternative to practice and deep thinking.

Asrar Chowdhury teaches economic theory and game theory in the classroom. Outside he listens to music and BBC Radio; follows Test Cricket; and plays the flute. 
He can be reached at: asrar.chowdhury@facebook.com