The Fastest Way to Learn a Musical Instrument Guaranteed

  Playing a musical instrument sometimes requires unnatural positioning of our bodies to play well. But, to the extent we can, musicians should try to keep their fingers, arms, jaws, and torsos in neutral positions when practicing, rehearsing, and performing. In a neutral position, your joints won’t be hyper-extended.  You’ll be able to use just the minimum amount of [...]

In a fascinating article on why New Year’s resolutions usually fail, authors Dan and Chip Heath give pointers on how to turn resolutions into goals. What’s the difference between the two?  Goals get met.  Resolutions don’t. As a practicing musician, you have the power to meet your goals–if you take the right steps to make the [...]

Most musicians think that practicing music is a lot like performing music.  They start playing at the beginning of a song, make some corrections along the way, and finish when they’re done with the song. The only difference between this process and actually performing is that–when you’re performing–you can’t stop to correct yourself. The problem [...]

In a recent post aimed at helping musicians achieve goals and learn how to practice more effectively, I wrote about the SMART Goal system. Today’s post focuses on the “T” in SMART. T is for Time. A goal without a time limit is just a dream.  You may have a desire to achieve something musically.  [...]