The Bulletproof Musician

Ever find yourself struggling to help a student play more expressively. With so many different approaches to choose from - e.g. imagery/metaphors to instructions to demonstrations/listening assignmen…

Ever worry that the mistakes you inadvertently make in the practice room could come back to bite you in the butt in performance?

Turns out you may not have to worry as much as you'd think - as long as…

I think we've all wondered what the most effective strategies for memorization might be. But have you ever wondered what the most efficient strategy might be? The one that gets you the furthest in th…

Did you enjoy music theory in school? Or did it just make your head hurt and wish you could be almost anywhere else instead?

If you were never especially fond of music theory, this episode is for you.…

Ever wonder why your playing or singing (or that of your students) tends to be less expressive under pressure?

A 2015 study provides some clues on what exactly happens to the expressiveness of our pl…

Whether in music, sports, fitness, or in business, there’s often a tendency for us to assume that the best performers in any domain have the most valuable advice to offer.

Of course, there’s a common…

Ever find yourself getting sucked into mindless repetitions, despite your best intentions to practice more thoughtfully and efficiently?

Research suggests that thinking out loud could enhance problem…

Ever wonder what it is that makes for great ensemble "chemistry"? Like, what are the underlying skills that make some musicians especially easy and fun to play with?

Peter Keller is a trombonist/comp…

Ever find yourself wishing you could get better at something, but getting stuck somewhere along the way? And facing a lot of internal resistance to doing the uncomfortable, awkward things that you kn…

Ever notice how mean and distracting (and unhelpful) your inner critic can be on stage?

Previous research has found that writing out our worries right before a test (as counterintuitive as that sound…

Anecdotally at least, fear of memory slips seems to come up more often for pianists than for some other instruments. Is this because of how many notes they have? Or is there something else about the …

Memory slips can be a scary thing and a major cause of anxiety on stage. But it's not a skill that we tend to think of much in our daily practice...

We know from previous research that mental practic…

As instinctive and natural a process as breathing is in our moment-to-moment existence, breathing efficiently and effectively so as to produce a beautiful sound that projects, clear articulation, smo…

Flutist and educator Keith Underwood shares insights on what (and how) we can learn from our favorite musicians so as to level up our playing in some pretty transformative ways. And how doing so can …

You know how some musicians seem to be almost "psychic" in their ability to play together and be totally in sync with one another? Ever wonder how they do this? Is it just experience, or something el…

How much emotion should we be feeling internally for a musically effective performance? Is there such a thing as feeling too much emotion when performing? And is playing more musically something we c…

Ever notice how after performances, your family, friends, and teachers seem to think that the performance went better than you thought it went? Is this just because they're being nice, or is this a r…

Ever notice how nerves can make us feel pressure to rush into the opening of a performance, and start before we feel truly settled and ready?

Turns out that one of the keys to starting off more effec…

When it comes to getting things done, do you find it helpful to set deadlines? And if so, do shorter deadlines work better, or longer ones?

Research suggests that in some cases, no deadline could be …

We've probably all had teachers who told us that their goal is to help us learn how to teach ourselves. But how do we do that exactly?

A 2006 study lays out a 3-step self-coaching process that we can…