On the Application of Knowledge

For I learned that the absolute best way to find out what you don't understand is to try to express something in your own words.
— Donald Knuth, Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About

Here, he's talking about translating the Bible, despite not knowing Greek or Hebrew. I think it works when you're talking about most subject, especially music. You can listen to music, you can read about music theory, but it's when you come to play, you have to be you, and you have to communicate with others. I think it's easy to recast that statement as one of this blog's statements of belief:

The best way to learn to play music is to play music, preferably with other people and in front of other people