Welcome to The Musician’s Way Blog.
In this, my inaugural post, I want to explain in a few words my motivation for writing my book The Musician’s Way, creating MusiciansWay.com, and launching this blog.
I took up the pen and carved out a corner of cyberspace to help close the gap between what we musicians typically learn during our schooling and what we actually need to know.
This gap endures, in part, due to all of the music-making processes that take place invisibly, deep within an artist’s mind.
And because a performer’s engine runs under the hood, musical ability routinely gets attributed to the wrong source: innate talent alone.
Not surprisingly, countless musicians feel powerless to improve, and key components of musicianship and career-building get scant attention in lessons, classes, and method books.
Those components include strategies that equip us to effectively practice, memorize, work with others, manage nerves, prevent injury, and develop robust artistic visions.
As I see it, the culture in music schools hasn’t changed much since my undergraduate days. Little weight is given in performance curricula to the inner workings of the creative process or to the complexities of forging a lasting artistic practice.
The result? While some students do well upon graduation, countless others wind up underachieving, injured, nervous, or burnt out. The data to back up that assertion is available in my book and on its companion website, MusiciansWay.com, where I provide copious links to sites that amplify the book’s content.
I’m convinced, however, that music students would do far better if schools would emphasize the inclusive artistic, professional, and self-care skills detailed in The Musician’s Way.
“I took up the pen and carved out a corner of cyberspace to help close the gap between what we musicians typically learn during our schooling and what we actually need to know.”
Of course, schools don’t change quickly, so I crafted the book to function both as a companion text to lessons and classes and also as a guidebook that aspiring musicians can study on their own.
In sum, I’m passionate about advancing the quality of music education and helping music lovers reach their goals.
After 30 years in the performing and teaching professions, and thanks to the hard work of numerous music researchers in recent decades, I now have the knowledge and skills to make a significant contribution toward that end.
Hence, the book, website, and blog were born. I invite you to peruse all three and share your views here.
© 2009 Gerald Klickstein