The Fastest Way to Learn a Musical Instrument Guaranteed

One important reason to use a practice notebook is to remember every item you’re supposed to be learning.  If you don’t write down your practice  to-do list, it will be extremely difficult to know how to start your practice sessions.
Here is what tends to happen to musicians who do not keep a list of practice items [...]

Using repetition when learning to play a musical instrument is extremely important.  By playing something accurately over and over, you train your muscles to go through the actions needed to make music.  And, your brain learns patterns through repeated exposure to the same information.
Unfortunately, your muscles don’t really know right from wrong.  They just do [...]

Performing music has its own rewards.  It’s fun to play, especially when you’re performing with musicians you really like.  It feels good to communicate something of value to your audience.  It’s a thrill to be in front of a crowd of people who are there to see you play.  And, it’s wonderful to have the [...]

Yesterday, I attended the American String Teachers Association national conference.  Many music students and beginner musicians don’t realize it, but there are national and international organizations for players and teachers of just about every instrument.  Their conferences allow music teachers to share ideas, learn new teaching techniques, and explore an exhibit hall with all the [...]

Beginner musicians can take specific steps to speed up their musical progress.  There are many online tools available to help you: online music lessons, YouTube videos, online metronomes, and recordings of just about any piece of music ever recorded.  Real-world strategies can help also: taking lessons with a really good music teacher, recording yourself so [...]

Most musicians have goals they want to achieve.  From being able to play well to landing a great gig, these goals keep many musicians practicing, rehearsing, and performing.
One interesting aspect of achieving goals is that the path to success is often full of failures.  If you expect the road to be bumpy, it’s easier to keep [...]

After writing about stage presence and music lessons in a post earlier this week, I started thinking about how clothing affects audiences’ reactions to musicians.
Musicians must be comfortable on stage, but they also must look the part. Audiences expect a symphony orchestra to be dressed formally, a country act to have a few musicians wearing [...]

You can’t get what you want, ’til you know what you want.  Joe Jackson had a hit song based on this truth, and nowhere is this idea more important than in phrasing music.
Your phrasing is determined by your ideas about the meaning of the music.  The meaning then determines how you should phrase specific sections.
All of [...]

Performing music involves much more than just playing well.  There are certain expectations for how musicians look and behave when they’re on stage.  But, where do musicians learn these skills?
Recently, I was looking over the description of a program for music students to earn a certificate for playing in front of an examiner.  These types of events are common [...]

In a previous post, Feeling Good vs Sounding Good, I mentioned the necessity of recording yourself practicing to have any hope of really knowing what you sound like.  A portable digital recorder is the best tool for the job.
There are several other uses of digital recorders for musicians, and I recommend that you incorporate a digital recorder [...]