This is the first of periodic posts in which I summarize how I use The Musician’s Way in my studio teaching. Here, I focus on Chapter 1. My class of guitar students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts includes graduate and undergraduate students as...
Why write about music and musical expertise? Is it as abstruse as that old saw – “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” – would lead us to believe? In the Preface to The Musician’s Way, I wrote, “Words are destined to fall short when it comes to...
“There is nothing more fatal for our musical sense, than to allow ourselves – by the hour – to hear musical sounds without really listening to them”-Tobias MatthayThe Musician’s Way, p. 16 Imagine that you’re watching an artist paint in her studio: She spreads color...
“The real reason that I haven’t performed live for a long time is that I have very severe hearing damage.” -Pete Townshend The Musician’s Way, p. 277 True story: A percussion professor was concerned about the sound levels at his music school, so he...
Envision standing at a stage door, seconds before your entrance at a solo or small-group concert. The hall darkens; the audience quiets. A stagehand whispers: “Ready?” Let’s stop here and give this scenario a closer look. The backstage scene probably resembles a...
To make music in groups, we require more than interpretive and technical know-how; we also need specific skills if we’re to work together harmoniously. Given that aspiring performers spend so much time practicing alone, are most acquiring expert collaborative skills?...
In The Musician’s Way, I encourage the singing of solfège syllables, scale-degree numbers, counting syllables, and letter names as part of the process of learning, memorizing, and interpreting music. In my own teaching and playing, I employ the fixed-do solfège...
“The path you take is your path and no one else’s, so welcome it.” -The Musician’s Way, p. 314 To build our abilities as performers, we have to develop personally effective ways to practice, collaborate, present concerts, engage with our communities,...
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...
