Play

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” As a musician, all practice and no play makes Jill a dull performer. When we lived in New York City and I studied at Juilliard, I also sang in a gospel choir at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. There were about 300 people from all walks of life and being New York, from all over the world. It was a completely different choral experience than any I’d ever had. Nothing was written down. We learned everything by rote and as a result everything was memorized. The 5+ years I spent singing there was one of my favorite experiences as a musician and a huge source of joy that actually informed my work as a classical singer.

When our kids wanted to learn to play an instrument, I had a rule: If we were paying for lessons, they needed to practice for 20 minutes every day, and they had to “play” for 20 minutes every day. Practice included any exercises their teacher assigned for their next lesson, but play was anything else. What happened was they practiced for 20 minutes, but when it came time to play, 20 minutes often turned into 90. It was a revolutionary concept that transformed their progression as musicians and instrumentalists. I knew that if they did anything for 20 minutes every day, in 30 days they’d be way better at that thing as a result, and it’s proven to be absolutely true.

Fred Rogers, the beloved host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, had a profound understanding of the importance of play. He once said, "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." #TruthBeTold Play is serious learning throughout our lives.?

Play can also be a lot of fun when others are involved. I loved playing/singing blues with my bandmates in South Africa. Most of the songs we wrote together were the result of developing an idea and playing around with different sounds and themes. We generally spent 20-30 minutes writing a song and then later we spent hours practicing before we performed or recorded it.

If you’re looking to create something, there are few better ways to explore what’s possible than to figure out how to make it a matter of play.?

When it comes to business, play matters just as much. Work is important but play is too because it expands the realm of what’s possible. Several companies have adopted the concept of giving employees a portion of their time to work on personal projects, often referred to as "20% time" or "side project time." Here are a few notable examples:

1. Google: Google is perhaps the most famous for its "20% time" policy, which allowed employees to spend 20% of their work time on projects they were passionate about. This led to the creation of products like Gmail and AdSense.
2. Atlassian: Atlassian also offers its employees 20% time to work on side projects, encouraging innovation and creativity within the company.
3. Apple: Apple has a program called "Blue Sky" that allows employees to spend a few weeks each year working on their own projects.
4. Microsoft: Microsoft has "The Garage," a space where employees can work on their own projects using company resources.
5. LinkedIn: LinkedIn has a program called "InCubator" that gives engineers time away from their regular work to develop their own product ideas.

#TruthBeTold Play is a force multiplier. It’s the one thing that can supercharge or amplify all of the hard work you’ve put in practicing those core competencies. Making time to play offers us the opportunity to grow our capacities as human beings in a relatively low stakes, low pressure environment. Invite a friend or two (or more) who care about the same things and see what happens.

Here's a link to a song I sang with my friends in Brooklyn. (the album won a Grammy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkZlTGSc4OY

Here's a link to the first album our blues band in South Africa released.

https://blurrededge.hearnow.com/volume-1

Enjoy!