Noe Kageyama is a Juilliard-trained violinist who is now a sport and performance psychologist. He discusses the famous work by Ericsson and subsequent scholars on deliberate practice — there seem to be hundreds of blog and popular press articles that do this — but then goes on to give specific advice with rich, sophisticated examples [...]
From Scientific American: Scientific evidence suggests that even a little music training when we’re young can shape how brains develop, improving the ability to differentiate sounds and speech. Christie Wilcox, “Even a few years of music training benefits the brain“, 21 August 2012
A bit of inspiration for all of us sitting long hours at the keyboard, struggling to make progress: Nicholas McCarthy, born with only a left hand, just graduated from London’s Royal College of Music (piano performance).
Well, this is pretty cool. I’m probably the last pianist on the web to discover this, but: the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall has put some master classes online, with video, scores, some other supplementary material. They are organized into topics so you can experience them organized around the piece in question, or by [...]
Tagged Learning, online, teachingCognitive psychologists have found that one process in human learning is automatizing: complex tasks, when practiced or rehearsed enough, become automatic, so they can be performed using little or none of a very scarce resource: conscious attention. Anyone who drives a car is familiar with discovering one has been daydreaming and not consciously paying attention, [...]
Tagged books, practiceDon’t criticize my spelling: Mike Saville is British. And the blogger who publishes “How to Practise“, which is a site that provides a wealth of straightforward, often helpful practice tips, mostly in the form of exercises, drills, tricks (not really sure what to call them). Similar to a few books I’ve mentioned, like Practiceopedia, and [...]
Tagged Learning, practiceHarriette Brower’s 1915 book, Piano Mastery, is online in a public domain Project Gutenberg edition. She recounts interviews she did with about 20 master pianists and teachers (e.g., Busoni, Paderewski, Goodson), includes essays on interpretation by William Mason and William Sherwood, and offers her own essay on technique (from hand position through practicing, memorizing, tone [...]
Tagged books, online, teachingChris Lewis is a pianist, organist and teacher in Vermont, and is one of the regular faculty at the Sonata adult piano camp. I think he is an unusual and remarkable analyst of piano playing, and a uniquely terrific teacher. He is a fabulously talented performer, so his methods apparently have worked for him! Chris [...]
Tagged practice, teachingI’m currently attending, for my fifth year in a row, the Sonata piano camp in Bennington, VT. This is a year-round institution, running for 38 years now. Originally it offered only a summer piano camp for children. Since 1979 they have been offering 10-day adult piano camps throughout the year. There are currently 9 sessions, [...]
Here is a listing of the books I have on practicing the piano. And a listing (incomplete) of the books I have on music generally (including practice, interpretation, playing, theory, harmony, history, etc.).