Blog

How does an ordinary person, flaws and all, bravely step into the light onstage and perform for others? That seems to be the million dollar question. And the answer is that you need to feel comfortable in your own skin as a performing musician. What does this mean? It...

The great contralto Marian Anderson was refused the use of Constitution Hall for a performance on Easter Sunday, 1939, because she was Black. After Eleanor Roosevelt and others protested, she was granted the Lincoln Memorial for her performance instead. When she came...

A young pianist once told me an unusual story about how he had practiced for his jury exam at music school. The exam was scheduled for 9 o’clock in the morning. So the day before, wanting to be as ready as possible, he decided to practice all night. To keep himself...

We musicians are born with the ability to receive immense joy from music. It moves us so much that we feel compelled to get as close to it as possible by actually making music – by producing the sounds with our instruments and our own bodies. And sometimes we feel...

Mom and Dad were both very passionate, intelligent people. But so different from each other! I admired Dad for working hard and accomplishing a lot. In his moments of spare time during his 60-hour weeks as the town pediatrician, he read books and medical journals, and...

If you’re ready to take your playing to a whole new level by learning an incredible set of new skills in a fabulously supportive group environment, you have till 11:59 PM Eastern tonight to submit your application form for the 2022 Transformative Piano Master Class...

For years, I had a recurring nightmare that I had to sightread a concerto with an orchestra, and that as I stumbled through it in total panic the zipper in the back of my dress started to split open. It was the classic performance anxiety dream of a musician. But in...

Imagine you had a magic wand that would instantly create the one change you want most in your playing — what single change would you wish for? A more reliable technique? More freedom to let go and express yourself? Less anxiety about performing? Whatever it is, it's...

There's so much stress in our lives lately! And as musicians, practicing our instrument can be part of that stress. We struggle to master a hard passage. We worry about being ready for the next concert or audition. We fall into feeling inadequate to meet the complex...

When I wrote my book, The Art of Practicing, I was careful to barely mention mindfulness or meditation, even though they were the basis of every chapter. It was the 1990s, and I didn’t want my readers to think I was some kind of hippie or weirdo and to not take the...