Music and Multitasking.

Do you practice guitar while watching tv?  Or do you swear by complete silence and isolation?  I’m surprised by the different views that students, and even teachers, can have on this subject

My view is that multitasking is overrated and often extolled as a virtue or skill when, in fact, fundamentally impossible and attempting it only slows what we’re trying to accomplish.  What’s led me to this view is a combination of both personal experience (trying to do multiple things at once stresses me out and slows me down) and most sources I’ve read or heard on the subject.  For example, The Myth of Multitasking, Why Humans Are So Bad at Multitasking, and this Psychology Today Post.  

A few months ago I tried polishing a piece while playing a nature documentary on silent in the background.  My practice came to an abrupt halt when a baby antelope was swept up in a suspenseful chase and, unfortunately, met a violent end.  In hindsight, a nature documentary might not have been the best choice for a practice backdrop. But it does show that even when we think something is in the background, it has the potential to subconsciously seep into our focus.  I can’t remember at what point in my practice I started caring more about the animal’s fate than what I was playing, but I was probably playing for at least a couple minutes without any attention to my hands or music. Any musician knows the dangers of playing an instrument on autopilot Errors and bad habits creep in and become things we have to go back and fix later.  

However, I have musician colleagues and have had guitarist housemates in the past who swear by multitasking.  They say it’s not only possible, but productive. They relax by playing guitar while watching TV (even with the sound on, which I can’t imagine!), can go back and forth between social media and working out an idea they are composing.  They say it helps their ideas ‘simmer’ and that switching back and forth keeps them creative and alert. In one light, I might be able to see where they’re coming from, because I DO advocate short, concentrated practice sessions of 5-10 minutes… This article, The Curious Science of When Multitasking Works, offers a somewhat more flexible insight to multi-tasking, though it still doesn’t whole-heartedly recommend it.

What do other teachers and students think?  I’d be curious to hear from both sides. Even though my reading supports my views, there could be some search bias on my part (maybe I subconsciously ignored the headlines proclaiming the intellectual superiority of multi-taskers!).  If you multitask while practicing, is there a certain kind of practice that works best for? Technique? Composing? Something else?