Deliberate practice is not a label for every structured activity

Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Römer’s 1993 study examined music practice shaped by a skilled teacher who diagnosed individual errors, designed tasks, and provided feedback and progress monitoring. Research has since examined practice in other domains, but calling every goal-directed repetition “deliberate practice” broadens the original definition. Later work discusses the need to distinguish deliberate practice from other structured practice.

Apply the term cautiously to a practice plan

Imagine a novice musician working on a short passage. A teacher identifies one recurring error, designs a focused task and feedback method, and checks progress at the next lesson. This is an illustrative example, not evidence that this exact routine has been tested or a prescription for every skill domain. Without a coach or a reliable performance criterion, it may be more accurate to call the activity structured practice rather than deliberate practice.

Hypothetical example: a piano teacher notices that a learner often misses the third note in a fast passage. The next task is narrowed to those three notes at a slower tempo, with a recording to check alignment with the beat. Verifiable feedback points to the observed error: “The third note sounds late against the beat.” At the next lesson, the teacher checks for two consecutive accurate repetitions at the reference tempo. If the note is still late, the next decision is to slow down again or check fingering. This invented example is not a real student, classroom observation, or experiment.

Do not predict expertise from hours alone

Ericsson and colleagues did not establish a single number of practice hours that automatically produces expertise. Their original study had a specific domain, sample, and practice definition. Later literature also emphasizes that definitions and evidence vary across domains. Do not use accumulated hours alone to predict an individual’s achievement or future expertise; examine observed performance and the quality of feedback separately.

Questions for review

Was the task designed around an observed individual error? Are feedback and the next-step decision based on actual performance evidence? If not, is “structured practice” the more accurate description?

Sources: Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer (1993), The Role of Deliberate Practice · Ericsson et al. (2019), Why the Original Definition Matters