“To achieve your musical potential, you have to commit to the creative process, take risks, and follow your heart.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 112 To gain a deeper understanding of something, it often helps to consider its opposite. So, in the interest of helping you...
“There are different programs for different places.” –André-Michel Schub, pianist The Musician’s Way, p. 208 If you aspire to a career as an independent musician, then one of the best moves you can make is to differentiate yourself from other artists in your genre....
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” –Erich Fromm, psychologist and author Is there a state of mind more adverse to creativity than rigid certainty? I doubt it. To create, we have to generate ideas that take us beyond the familiar confines of...
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” –Albert Einstein* Is there anything that we creative types prize more than imagination? I expect not. One way that we can support our imaginativeness is to preserve...
“At each concert, music is created anew, according to a performer’s imagination.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 112 Whenever we perform, we aim for that “in-the-moment” feeling. We strive to immerse ourselves and our listeners in the emotion of the music. Yet although...
“I get an audience involved because I’m involved myself. If the song is a lament at the loss of love, I get an ache in my gut. . . . I cry out the loneliness.” –Frank Sinatra The Musician’s Way, p. 188 Some concerts provoke such deep feelings that audiences...
“Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations.” –Rollo May The Courage to Create, p. 115 I’ll bet that nearly all of us could be more creative than we are. Why don’t we create abundantly? One reason is that we often flee from the...
“Learning the basics in a rote, unthinking manner almost ensures mediocrity.” –Ellen Langer, psychologist The Power of Mindful Learning, p. 14 How does mindfulness apply to music making? When we’re mindful, we notice. We attend to our sound, emotions, execution, and...
“All the inspiration I ever needed was a phone call from a producer.” –Cole Porter, composer The Musician’s Way, p. 108 Many musicians mistakenly deem career-building tasks to be anti-creative. For them, career development equates with writing newsletters, updating...
