“I think it’s beautiful to practice. I LOVE to practice.” -Claudio Arrau, pianist* To be a musician is to be someone who practices. Day after day, we musicians work in solitude to learn new repertoire, refine old repertoire, and polish our skills....
“You must start well, and you must end well. What is in the middle is not so important because no one is listening then.” –Maurice Chevalier, singer & actor The Musician’s Way, p. 180 I chuckle every time I read Chevalier’s words, but they...
“The real essence of art turned out to be not something high up and far off – it was right inside my ordinary daily self.” –Shinichi Suzuki, violinist, author & teacher The Musician’s Way, p. 109 I’m always surprised when I hear people attribute creativity to...
“Breaks are as vital to musicians as they are to athletes.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 75 If you’re like me, you typically become absorbed during practice sessions, so much so that it often doesn’t seem that breaks would be necessary. But even when we feel mentally...
“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...
