Month: June 2015

“Alive Inside” film review

Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory. 2014 film by Michael Rossato-Bennett. At a recent family gathering, a cousin told me about a film she had watched the night before.

Priorities: There’s an Exception to Every Rule

Priorities: There’s an Exception to Every Rule In a previous post (Motivation: Parenting and Practicing), I wrote, “If we have to choose between baseball practice and a piano lesson, piano

The Musician’s Brain

The Musician’s Brain Science is confirming the “Mozart Effect” through new advances in brain imaging. When I was a music student (not so very long ago!) nobody knew much about the effect

How We Learn – applications for musicians

I just finished reading How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens by Benedict Carey, 2014. From a musician’s perspective, it has obvious applications for practice.

Mental Practice

Mental practice can be as effective as physical practice in music. That sounds crazy, right?! You wouldn’t train for a marathon by sitting on your couch and thinking about running 26.2 miles.

Concentration Exercises for Musicians

Concentration Exercises for Musicians The prevailing wisdom for many years was that our minds could handle about seven things at once. This was supported by research in 1956 that showed people