Speed

Monster Chops! Killer Speed! Virtuosic Technique! All players react at some level to hearing a player who can really burn. Is it good for us to become obsessed with playing fast?

The reason speed is so interesting to us who play is that it is one concrete measurement of our skill. Unlike tone quality, expressiveness, emotional depth, and other artistic, subjective aspects of creating music, speed can be measured. A number can be assigned and there isn't much room for interpretation of the number (unless we're just kidding ourselves about how clean we're playing at a certain speed).

This measurement gives us two things we need as players who strive to grow - a way to measure our own progress, and a way to see how our skills match up with other players.

For deeply biological reasons we need to compete with other people. We need to know how we measure up against other people. You see this in all aspects of life. Take any activity that 2 people enjoy doing, and those 2 people will make up rules and decide who does it better. This competition isn't always healthy - but it almost always is productive.

The end result for musicians is greater musical skill. As we all know, great musical skill does not always mean a great artistic performance. But poor musical skill almost always guarantees a poor performance.

So practice your scales and measure your speed. Try to keep up with the Yamashitas next door. It's good for you.