“Whatever music you play or sing, your aim is to express musical ideas, not spew out notes.” The Musician’s Way, p. 24 Many years ago I had lunch with two veteran music teachers who advocated what I call the “notes first” practice method. In their estimation, students...
“Collaborative music making is one of life’s true joys.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 114 It’s difficult to describe the magical feeling of synchronized music making. Suffice it to say that when we make music together, we ascend to loftier planes. But to reach...
“There can be so much to cover in a practice session that it can seem overwhelming.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 6 Even for professional musicians, it isn’t easy to manage large numbers of practice tasks. But whatever our level of musical development, all of our...
“To get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty and the inevitability of something.” –Meredith Monk, singer & composer The Musician’s Way, p. 19 Although we musicians practice in personalized ways, there are three fundamental...
“When musicians with scant listening experience try to play or sing repertoire from unfamiliar genres, they produce the musical equivalent of a clumsy accent.” -The Musician’s Way, p. 98 Most of us can recall hearing music that left us cold initially but that we...
“Audiences differ as much as individuals do.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 209 For musicians, career sustainability hinges on audience development. When we continually attract new listeners, our revenues grow, and we gain the freedom to fully devote ourselves to our art....
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” –Jonathan Swift The Musician’s Way, p. 310 We all know that musical excellence results from smart, steady practice over a span of years. Still, it isn’t always easy for us to practice deliberately day after day....
“Repetition inevitably begets habits.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 52 Over the course of our lives, we musicians do a lot of repeating. There’s standard repertoire that we perform for years, and we revisit exercises to keep our technical abilities strong. On top of...
“My biggest kick in music – playing or writing – is when I have a problem. Without a problem to solve, how much interest do you take in anything?” –Duke Ellington The Musician’s Way, p. 54 No matter how musically advanced we become, we encounter passages...
