I am always asked by several non-musicians how do I get myself to practice so much? For me, my reasons come from necessity: I present several diverse concert programs and projects in a given year. From that standpoint, I need the time to constantly learn new repertory as well as bringing back old works from the past. But here is a deeper look as to how I keep myself motivated. For many of us, our productivity is at our best when we have deadlines. The problem with being a performing classical musician, however, is that our work can be irregular. There may be certain years where we may have a couple of concerts, and other years where we have several. How do we stay equally as inspired in deve
It's about that time of year! Classes are underway and audition season is gearing up. In anticipation for this stressful process, here are 8 helpful tips to prospective students and teachers. Do your research What type of music program will best suit your needs? Are you looking to major or minor? Are you looking to become a professional musician after studying in college? Do you plan to double major or have other interests that you would like to pursue? Will music be the focal point of your studies at the university, or will it supplement your primary major? The answers to these questions will determine what type of music school you will attend. Study carefully the music program: student bod
When I was developing as a pianist throughout my high school years, I would always be surprised by my teacher's comments after performances: why did you play so fast? Why was there not enough singing tone in the right hand? Why did you rush? It was frustrating because these were things that we had worked on, and areas that I thought I had fixed during performance. Why the disconnect between my perception and reality of how I played? Critical listening vs. thinking Simply put, I find that we focus far too much on thinking about the musical details during performance, rather than listening for the things that we had worked on when we were preparing for the concert. With more active listening,
