Pianodao’s weekly series of reflective blog posts
Written by ANDREW EALES
A few years back I purchased an app called Calm, which has subsequently become one of the most popular mindfulness apps around. With its range of guided meditations, ambient music, soundscapes, breathwork exercises and ‘sleep stories’, Calm has grown to become a superb lifestyle resource, and a deserved success.
Interestingly though, Calm also delivers user stats after each session, with a badge showing one’s ‘streaks’ of consecutive days of practice. I’ve regarded this feature with vague amusement; it seems to owe more to the culture of the gambling arcade than to the ethos of the meditation traditions.
There’s even the opportunity to share your official streaks on social media platforms, something I recently did myself having reached the modest achievement of 100 consecutive days, and curious to see whether it would generate much discussion with friends.
But then an odd, and instructive thing happened: it must have been less than a week later that I ‘missed’ a day…
Cheating Time?
One busy weekend I found myself beginning an evening meditation just after midnight. As far as I was concerned, it was still Saturday. In Calm’s view however, Sunday had dawned and my ‘streak’ had come to an abrupt end.
As with most things electronic, there is a workaround, an option to make a manual journal entry. I could easily and subtly have thus backdated my session to maintain my mildly interesting official ‘run of success’.
I wonder where the line is between agile thinking and cheating? I was very briefly tempted to alter Calm’s score card to better suit “my truth”, if only as a playful proof of concept.
The Way of Honesty
It can be motivational, even impressive, to measure our progress in any area (mindfulness, piano playing, or whatever) using over-simplistic stats, criteria and benchmarks. But doing so is not always helpful, realistic, or even honest.
Psychologists have long debated the potential link between reward-based motivation and cheating. It certainly seems likely that our hungry hankering for a particular outcome can sometimes prompt us to take shortcuts and “game the system”.
In piano education, this could involve skipping the skills, understanding and content that aren’t assessed, focussing solely on that which is rewarded by certification or acclaim. We may insist that ‘teaching to the test’ is the less commendable path, but still succumb to the magnetic pull of the ‘quick win’ the grades offer, bypassing all else to the long-term detriment of students.
How easy it is to convince ourselves that this approach is ‘okay’ when the system seems to encourage it. But how disheartening when players discover, later in their journey, that such shortcuts have left them without crucial musical skills and understanding.
The Way of Honesty can seem a steeper track, punctuated by fewer bursts of applause, but can ultimately prove to be a far more relevant, authentic and deeply rewarding pathway.
A Calm Reflection
The older I get, the more aware I am that life is short, a too-brief window of opportunity. How important it is, then, to devote ourselves to that which we truly love, and which brings genuine meaning and intrinsic joy to our lives.
I certainly love using the Calm app, but fundamentally I enjoy and value these practises because they truly and positively enrich my inner life, and contribute to me living a healthier and happier life.
Which, by the way, is also why I love playing the piano.
