“People have often said to me, ‘You’re so relaxed when you play.’ Relaxed my elbow. It’s practice.” –Benny Goodman, clarinetist The Musician’s Way, p. 199 It may seem that elite musicians like Benny Goodman excel on stage because...
“Wherever you hope to travel on your musical journey, practice is the only route to getting there.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 3 Although deep practice is essential to musical excellence, in my experience, only a minority of rising musicians practice...
“The route to becoming an accomplished musician is seldom smooth and trouble free.” -The Musician’s Way, p. 202 We musicians may dream of performing brilliantly at every show or audition, but, in reality, things don’t always go as well as we’d like. Especially for...
“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...
“The road to improvement is paved with evaluations.” The Musician’s Way, p. 296 Whatever our level of artistic development, we’re always aiming to grow. And one of the primary ways that we advance is through critiques because other viewpoints alert us to our blind...
