Professional musicians exude a confidence that is the envy of many aspiring music students. They seem unflustered and calm,not burdened with nerves or uncertainty. How did they get to that level of security? And how can you get even a little bit of that for yourself?

The secret to that confidence is easy to identify; it’s experience. Whatever it is, whatever sort of performance, whatever type of ...

It’s no secret that the person in our mirror is the one that can make the biggest impact on our lives. If you feel like you’re doingGirl walking through a magic door in sky everything right, but it’s still not working, this story is for you…

Many years ago, I started karate lessons. It wasn’t something I had ever thought I would be doing, but when my son started karate, it seemed like an interest...

I was sitting in the audience at a concert. A performer was onstage receiving well-deserved applause, and I heard two people in front of me commenting on the performance. “She played well, but it was too fast,” said one to the other. Just a moment later, someone behind me said to their neighbor, “I really think she should have played it a little faster. It was under tempo.” Did these people actual...

Can you hear me now?

Do you struggle to make your music speak? Are your hands so full of the notes that there doesn’t seem to be time to think about the music? Perhaps you know your music should communicate something, but you’re not exactly sure what it should say or even how to go about making it speak. Or maybe you’re trying, but it doesn’t feel like you’re doing enough.

In the earliest stages...

We musicians are a dedicated bunch. While we may not fit the romantic image of the musician starving and sacrificing all for Busker singing and playing guitar inside a rubbish binhis art, we all make big sacrifices every day in order to play music, whether we are professionals, students or amateurs.

Consider this. You’ve bought an instrument (or two or three), paid for lessons, and spent hours pr...

We have all heard that patience is a virtue. Patience is also a necessary skill for every musician. We must have patience while we develop our technique, learn our repertoire, or memorize a piece of music.

After all, music is an art of “becoming.” You aren’t simply born a musician; you “become” a musician, and that takes time, diligence and patience.

But impatience can also be a valuable tool. W...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about why you should write less fingering in your music. I started getting quite a number of questions and some nervous reaction to the post, so I’d like to post this followup to clarify some of those questions..

Some people seemed to think I was advocating not writing in fingering at all, which is not what I meant. I do write fingering in my music, and ...

In the last post, I presented the first part of my seven step checklist for those of you who are “Waiting to Hit It Big.” That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re waiting to be discovered by Hollywood music producers. This is for any musician who is someplace between the graduation parties and a paycheck. You may be ready to start your music career, whatever that looks like for you, but the world ma...

Congratulations, graduate! You are now a real musician, with the degree to prove it, and you’re ready to set the world on fire!

But what will your life be like after music school? And how will you keep from ending up living in your parents’ basement?

You have plenty of talent, education and dreams, but no job in sight. Maybe you’re waiting for your big break into the music scene or that plum o...

Note reading is one of the basic skills that we musicians all seek to develop. It helps us learn more music faster and helps us sightread. The problem is that for many of us, we quit developing it after our first year of music lessons.

Do you remember when you first started music lessons? Your teacher gave you special books with big notes that helped you learn the names of the lines and the space...