“Any musician who says he is playing better either on the needle or when he is juiced is a plain straight liar… You can miss the most important years of your life, the years of possible creation.” -Charlie Parker, saxophonist and composer The Musician’s Way, p....
“Your habits in the practice room make you the musician that you are.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 20 The Fall 2020 issue of The Musician’s Way Newsletter brings together dozens of important resources for musicians, arts administrators, and music lovers....
“It is imperative that all students have access to an equitable delivery of arts education.” -Arts Education Is Essential The Spring 2020 issue of The Musician’s Way Newsletter has arrived in subscribers inboxes and is being shared widely. Along with practice...
To be eligible for full-time, tenure-track faculty positions, performers and composers typically need doctorates. And the degree that most of them earn is the Doctor of Musical Arts, the DMA.* Although universities sometimes hire renowned musicians who lack...
From 2026-2031, the college-age population in the U.S. will decline sharply, about 15%, due to the reduced birth rate during the great recession.* Combine that with competition from online learning, and numerous brick-and-mortar colleges are expected to shut down...
“Don’t give up the dream, but build your competencies so you can pursue many dreams.” -Gerald Klickstein On March 18, 2019, I was pleased to record an interview in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with pianist Kai Talim for his outstanding “Skip the...
“I recognized a gap between what we musicians typically learn during our schooling and what we actually need to know.” -Gerald Klickstein In September 2018, Yamaha Music Media published a Japanese translation of The Musician’s Way, which rocketed to the top of its...
“Diverse careers are available to musicians because people worldwide consume huge amounts of music-related products and services every day.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 300 Supply and demand are the fundamental forces that determine prices. So, for us classical musicians,...
“What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.” –Gustav Mahler (Gunther Schuller, The Compleat Conductor, Oxford, 1998, p. 106) If you’re a classical musician who aspires to a concert career, you’re in danger. In danger of becoming a commodity. That’s because...