Do you believe it's true that it takes about 10K hours to master an instrument

[drvaughn]

I'm convinced that it takes about 10,000 hours to master an instrument. I started studying piano when I was 11 and took lessons from then until I finished college (although I wasn't a music major). I continued to practice and when I was around 40 suddenly I found myself playing pieces that I'd always wanted to play but had never been able to play. I'm not sure if I'd finally put in my 10,000 hours, but something fundamentally changed. I'd love to know what others think.

[lostinidlewonder]

The idea of what is mastery is different for everyone so what exactly are we talking about?

No serious pianist measures their commitment to music in terms of time but rather workload accomplished. If I spend 100 hours learning a single piece and someone else spends 10 minutes learning the same piece, that doesn't mean the 100 hours you put in was more beneficial, in fact it could be an utter waste of time.

[virginofthepiano]

No. Complete mastery of the instrument is impossible. The moment one believes himself to be a "master" is the moment he becomes a fool.

[drvaughn]

Of course, "mastery" is a relative term. I mean being able to play most of the "standard" repertoire (another relative term), but in general terms, playing most (or maybe all) Beethoven's sonatas, Mozart's concerti, Bach's keyboard suites, the works of Chopin and Schumann, a large swathe of Liszt, Debussy, etc.

[lostinidlewonder]

Playing them is one thing but playing them with masterful expression without having to be told what to exactly do or how to get there, a master can do such things. If you merely copy what you hear in recordings are you really a master or just a clever parrot? How long it takes for you to learn a piece also commands ones potential mastery level. Just because one plays an advanced piece it is really no big deal if it took 100 units of time learn as opposed to someone else who could do it in 10 or a strong sight reader who can do it immediately with strong expression.

[fretlesss]

I'm convinced that it takes about 10,000 hours to master an instrument. I started studying piano when I was 11 and took lessons from then until I finished college (although I wasn't a music major). I continued to practice and when I was around 40 suddenly I found myself playing pieces that I'd always wanted to play but had never been able to play. I'm not sure if I'd finally put in my 10,000 hours, but something fundamentally changed. I'd love to know what others think.

You have to make quite a few assumptions to answer this (and, still, it would be purely theoretical exercise that has no practical meaning);

Assumptions:
1. Mastery = You have completed all levels of musical education required to become a concert pianist successfully (as in didn't fail and dropped out)
2. All or most of the musical pieces mentioned here require mastery
3. On average (every country is different) it takes about 15 years to complete all levels of musical education (I don't count masterclasses, post doctorates etc.)
4. Hours/day - If you look at recommended hours per year of musical education you get an average of about 3 hours a day (less in the beginning years, more in the advanced)
5. Frequency - every day

Calculation:
15(years) * 365(days in a year) * 3(hours/day) = 16425 hrs