1. Perform in a context with low standards, such that even your current skill level generates a somewhat positive reaction.
Examples: a. be 9 years old b. do your magic trick for a 2-year-old c. mention to your friends that you’ve been working on learning magic, they say they want to see a trick, you tell them it’s not very good yet, they cajole you into showing them a trick
Challenges: finding these contexts, having the feedback still be sufficiently correlated with the quality of your performance, finding enough of these contexts to have repeated feedback loops
2. Perform in a context with richer feedback, which tells you how particular aspects of your performance went, rather than just giving a single overall rating of how the performance went on the whole.
Examples: a. Talk to audience members after the show who can tell you more about their experience (“the trick got me, but I didn’t really feel much tension in the buildup to it”) b. Perform for a more skilled magician who also has some skill at training new magicians, and get feedback from them c. Videorecord yourself performing and watch it to study how different aspects of your performance went
3. Have some models of different subskills or aspects of performing, and some training approaches to work on different ones.
Examples: a. Read or watch a guide to becoming a musician which breaks things down into subskills & provides training exercises b. Think about what different subskills are involved, try to build your own models & practice the things that seem relevant c. Pay attention to your performance as you’re performing / as you’re practicing / as you’re watching videos of yourself do magic, try to notice different subskills or moves within your performance
Other options:
1. Perform in a context with low standards, such that even your current skill level generates a somewhat positive reaction.
Examples:
a. be 9 years old
b. do your magic trick for a 2-year-old
c. mention to your friends that you’ve been working on learning magic, they say they want to see a trick, you tell them it’s not very good yet, they cajole you into showing them a trick
Challenges: finding these contexts, having the feedback still be sufficiently correlated with the quality of your performance, finding enough of these contexts to have repeated feedback loops
2. Perform in a context with richer feedback, which tells you how particular aspects of your performance went, rather than just giving a single overall rating of how the performance went on the whole.
Examples:
a. Talk to audience members after the show who can tell you more about their experience (“the trick got me, but I didn’t really feel much tension in the buildup to it”)
b. Perform for a more skilled magician who also has some skill at training new magicians, and get feedback from them
c. Videorecord yourself performing and watch it to study how different aspects of your performance went
3. Have some models of different subskills or aspects of performing, and some training approaches to work on different ones.
Examples:
a. Read or watch a guide to becoming a musician which breaks things down into subskills & provides training exercises
b. Think about what different subskills are involved, try to build your own models & practice the things that seem relevant
c. Pay attention to your performance as you’re performing / as you’re practicing / as you’re watching videos of yourself do magic, try to notice different subskills or moves within your performance