Ever feel like there’s just so much music to practice?

Or do your students not practice piano?

We’re so hung up on practicing that we forget WHY we practice sometimes– to improve.

That’s why most practicing is a waste of time.

No joke.

And that’s why I’m telling you, practice less and get more done instead.

Why Practice Less Instead?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you have to work on everything at once… and practice for hours. That’s not true.

(Practicing for hours and hours is one way to damage your muscles.)

Here’s where the jam comes in.

Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia University, set up a free jam tasting booth at an upscale supermarket for a study.

(Upscale because there are so many choices at the ‘market…)

One Saturday, she put out 24 flavours of jam, and another Saturday, she put out 6 flavours of jam.

Guess: when did people buy more jam?

That’s the funny thing– when there were 24 flavours, 60% of people stopped by, but only 3% of those people bought some.

When there were 6 flavours, 40% stopped by, and 30% of people bought some.

That’s 600% more buying with FEWER choices. 6 times more sales in the smaller display.

What does that mean?

When there are fewer choices, we’re more likely to do something.

And we can use this psychology in our practicing.

How to Practice Less and Get More Done

Give yourself fewer choices, and less overwhelm.

When it comes to practicing, less is more.

{click to tweet this}

Narrow down a FEW things you want to work on for every practice and stick to it.

For example, you might want to make a certain passage very fluent. Or sight read one page.

Or even chunk it up and work on one tiny phrase.

Whatever the case, make sure you’re only doing very little.

If your repertoire is 10 pieces, don’t try to cram in practice for all 10 in one day. Your body won’t “buy into” that.

Instead, start small, with one or two pieces. Within those pieces, focus on one or two things.

Maybe later, you’ll find the energy and motivation to keep going after that, but don’t force yourself to sit at the bench for hours.

The Bonus for Practicing Less

When you practice less, you’ll focus on that one thing that’ll get very close to perfect.

And that’s much better than trying to do everything and getting nothing done.

It gets tiring quickly when you’re only focussing on perfecting one thing… but it’s oh-so-very satisfying. And time-saving.

Hello, smart & productive practicing!

(I’ve written about 4 deadliest practice mistakes ever, using muscle memory to practice smarter, and when your fingers don’t listen. Even an ebook on being great without the pain.)

But get started by doing less.

Have you ever tried to cram in tons of practice? How did that go? I’d love to hear about it in your comment below.

I’m going to read every single one (actually, I always do) because I know it’ll get really interesting. ;)

If you know someone who’ll find this useful, go ahead and send this to them. :)

Feel like there’s so much to do with so little time?

Want to look professional without spending tons of time and effort?

Read on and you can win something that’ll help you out tons.

I’ll Makeover Your Designs… Interested?

Instead of asking for a million presents, I’d like to thank y’all for supporting me and being part of my world…

I want to give you a professional makeover! (I’m not touching your hair– I’m talking professional.)

The Professional Makeover includes:

• A professional, custom-designed logo that suits you (and your vibe)
• A new post card design featuring you and your studio
• A new business card design
• A shoutout to the Artiden community
• Short feature about you or your studio on Facebook community

Total value: approx $1,118

To the Lucky Winner…

The entire makeover will be custom designed just for you– it’ll reflect you and your vibe…

So that people will want to get in touch with you– you’ll look so dang cool with your new logo.

Your new logo will make (almost) anything look professional in 3 seconds flat. (e.g. concert/recital programs, bio sheets, website, anything.)

The makeover will also help you get new clients– professional post cards, business cards, plus shoutouts and features– you’ll be set. ;)

Your friends might get jealous. Just saying.

All you have to do is sit back and relax.

The designs will be ready to print while you’re off relaxing. You’ll get the full package, ready to send to the printers.

I’ve decided to open this up to everyone– you’re welcome to enter even if you’re not a musician.

So how do you enter?

Ask me a question below. Anything that’s got you thinking.

>> To Enter: Go to the entry form below, enter your name/email or Facebook login and click “Ask Me Anything”.

For example, any music, business, teaching question you’ve got. Or even some little thing that you’ve been working on. :)

It’ll be added to Artiden’s Ask bank. (Which means I’ll answer it!)

Bonus Entries

• Easy Bonus for Artiden Subscribers: 2 Extra (Click Here to Subscribe)
• Facebook Fans: 1 Extra (Click Here to Like)
• Twitter Followers: 1 Extra (Click Here to Follow)
• Tweet about this: 1 Extra

The winner will be randomly chosen on May 16th 2013 (12am PST), and will have 7 days to respond.

Good luck!

The entry form might take a few seconds to load; click here if nothing shows up.

this is the giveaway form

>> For bonus entries, please make sure you click “Like” or “Follow” in the button that shows up. The bonus for subscribers only counts if you’ve subscribed already– I won’t add you manually for privacy reasons.

>> I totally respect your privacy. Your info is safe with me, no spam/junk, 100% real content.

P.S. It’s my birthday this week! But who says you have to grow up?

I still love designing creative, interesting pieces that work, as in: look great, be more popular, and get more clients…

This is about a UFO, magical animals, and why we don’t choose wisely.

Remember the Chronicles of Narnia?

Narnia is a place with magical, talking creatures.

We get to Narnia through a wardrobe.

In one part, four kids find Narnia.

The kids bring their Uncle Andrew to Narnia, but he can’t hear the animals talk…

He convinced himself that they don’t talk.

Aslan explains it with something like:

“People believe what they want to believe.”

And it’s one of the most profound things ever (double awesome coming from a lion– Aslan is a really big lion) because it describes how people work.

What do magical animals, UFOs, and choosing wisely have in common?

Read on… will you choose wisely? ;)

The “Real” UFO and Why it Didn’t Come

In the mid 1950s, a doomsday cult rose; they thought a flood would destroy the earth and the faithfuls would be rescued by a UFO.

These people quit their jobs, left their families, and gave away all their possessions to prepare for their journey, generally avoiding the media.

Meanwhile, a guy named Festinger, a psychologist, had infiltrated the cult mainly because he was curious.

On December 20th, when the UFO doesn’t come and the world isn’t destroyed by disaster, a curious thing happens.

The doomsday cult returns to society with renewed determination and approaches the media… to tell the world that they had “spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction”.

Keep in mind that they’d given away all their money and posessions expecting a UFO to come for them. They had nothing left.

The Money Lies

Afterwards, the same psychologist did an experiment that changed the way we see people and their behaviour.

He had two groups:

• group A was paid $1 to tell a lie, and
• group B was paid $20 to tell the same lie.

People in group A ended up believing in their lie. Group B did not.

To justify lying for such a small sum of money, people in group A convinced themselves that it wasn’t a lie after all.

Group B’s lie was justified because they figured that they were paid to do it, so there was a reason to lie.

That’s how powerful our minds are– it’ll go out of its way to protect us.

Why We Don’t Choose Wisely

This is the funny thing– your mind will adjust to the world around you, so that in the end, you’ll believe what you want to believe.

You probably don’t even see that you’re not making the smartest choices.

To most people, there never was going to be a UFO; but the people who actually believed in the UFO had to explain why the UFO didn’t show up…

Both of these show how your mind will do some pretty crazy things to adjust itself.

Why We Care

This is a quick reminder to keep an open mind, be accepting, and to keep your humour with you.

You’re not always right, but sometimes it’s okay.

If you meet a student who plays with a different sort of technique or interprets a piece differently…

Or if anyone tries to be ‘disrespectful’ and ticks you off…

Or if a young student won’t sit still…

Remember to stay open, don’t stress, and laugh things off.

You can choose to see all the good things, or the bad things to each situation.

Remap your thoughts so that the good things shine through.

Coming up, I’m going to share a game that’ll show you if you’re making smart decisions (or not). :)

Don’t forget to join the conversation below:

Tell me about one time when you made a choice that ended up better than you’d expected.

And if you know someone who can use a wiser choice, send this to them and tell them to look out for my 5 Whys game that’ll help smart decisions. :)

This is dedicated to everyone who teaches.

So this is me:

Yes, I got a haircut! In fact, I’ve had three different hairstyles in the past year.

One of my best friends didn’t recognize me when we were meeting up. I look the same to me; I didn’t dye my hair or go crazy with anything.

But to be fair, we were in a crowded, rainy place, and I was holding an umbrella.

This is Emma:

Emma is my new friend. We met at an event in town.

She’s really nice; we started chatting and it was all very civilized.

At one point, she asks me, “What do you do?”

I decide to give her the typical answer.

She gives me the typical reaction.

Wait did I say lion tamer? No I meant piano teacher.

—

If you like seeing my drawings, let me know by sharing this and leaving a comment below.

… If not, I’ll take the hint– I’ll keep drawing, I just won’t share them with you anymore. ;)

Sometimes, my fingers follow the notes but don’t seem to end up at the right places–they cross over and jump around all over the place and it just doesn’t feel right. How do I find the correct fingering so playing is easier (and I play the right way)?

- Vivianne

Hey Vivianne– sounds like your fingers are out of control!

This is common; we just need to roll it around a little, so hang on tight.

It’s great that you’re stepping up and admitting that this is something you’re struggling with.

Most people would just stumble over the same thing over and over again (ahem).

I’m going to show you how to make it work with something that stumped me while ago.

It works with any type of piece. :)

1 – Mark it Up

Let’s look at what you’re playing, one hand at a time.

In pencil, mark down where you’re having the most trouble.

How does the music flow? Are there jumps?

Does it remind you of anything else you’ve played? (For example, scales, arpeggios, Hanon, or even a different piece.)

If yes, then use as much of that fingering as possible.

This is an actual photo of my Un Sospiro (aff, Liszt) score.

(Here’s a video of Hamelin playing, this photo is at about 2:54)

I try to use pencil for smaller, non-permanent things, unless it’s a huge issue that hasn’t been fixed for a while.

The colour on the top outlines the melody in the left hand, which is permanent.

(The chunked bits– more on that later– and the little C fish that I drew, in the left corner, are still there!)

The first thing I think when I see this: it’s very chromatic. And dang it looks like a web. A Presto web.

Why not use chromatic scale fingering?

This edition gives you the fingering, which is like the chromatic scale fingering anyways… why not use it?

Side note: I recommend this edition of Un Sospiro (aff) because its fingering is workable all the way; believe me, it’s a pain when you have to invent your own fingering on a piece like this.

I used to never follow any given fingering. Like one of my former teachers said, I “invented my own fingering”.

She’d always ask Why?

I have to admit, it does make more sense to try what they give you first (it’s not necessarily the best). Then invent when it doesn’t work.

Unless, of course, there isn’t any fingering given.

For something that looks like a scale, try to stick to scale fingering.

I like to write out the fingering under or above the notes.

Sometimes we learn to trust the score a bit too much…

But half the time, I think we just need a little push to find a better way to play the same passage.

When you’re stuck, there’s always a point where enough is enough and you should play around with new fingering.

Try it out, hands separately, and play with it until it feels comfortable. (It’ll feel weird at first, but that’s normal.)

2 – Break it

Once you have comfortable fingering worked out and you’ve tried it out a bunch of times (to make sure it works), take a break. 10 minutes will usually be enough, but sometimes I like to have a full day.

Leave the music and let yourself do something else for a while. It helps you absorb the material psychologically.

It’s actually called the pattern interrupt, and you’ll be more than ready to take on the piece when you come back.

(Most people miss this step and slave away for hours. Just skip the frustration and bring on the good stuff!)

I am such a perfectionist that I like to get things down the first session. As in, when I sit down there, I want to make progress.

Breaking the playing up like this actually lets me do that because I’m fresh when I sit down again; I’ve got the fingering figured out, now all I have to do is chunk it and work it into my muscles (which isn’t that hard).

3 – Chunk it

Cut the music up into chunks and focus on one small chunk at a time.

Just one. Don’t worry about anything else.

I call this chunking.

If you play music, then chunking will save you hours of work.

Here’s a different passage that took a bit of work, from Un Sospiro (link to listen is above).

I cut it up into big chunks, but you can go as small as you like. (The long pencil lines)

I actually cut the second chunk here into two when I first played it.

Sometimes, drawing long lines gets confusing (are those chunks or bar lines?) so I use square brackets for smaller chunks (on the right side).

I used the long lines for the first chunks because the first section had really long measures.

You can see the smaller chunks on the right.

Chunking helps you go into flow– you’ll play better and it’ll be easier to memorize (always great for showing off).

Think of one piece where your fingers went “out of control”: What did you do? Click here to leave a comment.

We don’t push people away on purpose, but we’re always doing it.

We all need people to trust us:

When people sign up at your studio, when people come to your lessons…

Even when you meet someone.

You don’t want to push people away.

You want people to stay and believe what you’re telling them.

But we’re always pushing people away and we don’t know it; we’re losing tons of friends, students… and money.

“Steinways sound weird”

My mom bought my first acoustic piano, a Yamaha. Most of my mentors had Yamahas too.

When I started performing, I’d already been playing on that piano for about 8 – 9 years.

(That was about the time I “needed” to buy a grand piano.)

My mom and I went around Vancouver’s piano galleries looking for the perfect grand.

I tried every brand there was– Karl Muller, Steinway, you name it– and nothing sounded right. Nothing.

I disliked the touch and sound of some well-known brands. Sometimes I’d even wrinkle my nose, on reflex, when I started playing. (Not kidding.)

I’d gotten so used to the sound of my piano that the second I played something else, it felt off and… wrong.

I kept thinking “This isn’t what my piano should sound like.”

It’s like shopping for shoes (from runners to heels, anyone?), phones, something personal.

The new pianos “pushed me away”– they were too new to me.

I kept trying different pianos, touching keys, so the new sounds started to ‘get better’ to my ears (and I wasn’t so disgusted).

Very few people will touch more than one piano on a daily basis. Much less five different Steinways.

What Happened?

The point is, if you’ve never tried a Steinway, then the first time you play on one will be weird.

… maybe even ‘gross’.

And it’s totally okay. You just need to get used to it.

Every piano is different, and it’ll feel weird if you’re not used to it.

But people aren’t pianos.

If you push a parent away, they’re not going to come back again and again to “get used to” you.

You push people away, they’re not going to stick around.

How do you get someone to trust you the first time?

There are a few ways that work great, and I’ll be sharing one of the right now.

How to get people to trust you

Easy:

Use better words.

You need to be “close” to everyone.

We don’t realize that we use a lot of useless words and jargon.

Why say “utilize” when you can say “use”?

Instead of long, unneeded words, use shorter, friendlier words. Say “place”, not “destination”.

Short words get your point across much more clearly and quickly.

You’re talking, not writing an essay. Please don’t be a snob.

Psychologist Dr. Hendricks says that people understand short words more easily.

Just look at magazine ads– there are great reasons why those words are so short.

Use short words for a sweet message and people will listen. (Click to tweet this)

How much is ‘too much’?

We’re talking to normal people.

Unless you’re pitching a technical proposal, don’t use long, clunky words.

Those push people away.

Stick to short words, unless it’s a technical term (like dominant seventh). Then you should be asking yourself if you should be mentioning those terms at all.

Most of the time it’s ‘no’. (If you have to ask yourself, then it’s likely a ‘no’.)

By the way, the ‘short words’ that most people understand are Anglo-Saxon words, not Latin or Greek -based words.

See how everything just got more complicated?

If I started off by saying words like “Anglo-Saxon” and “Latin”, you probably wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

Now, I want you to think of one clunky word that you use or hear a lot… and share it in your comment here.

P.S. If you know someone who will find this useful, feel free to take 2 seconds to send it to them. They’ll be happy. :)

You probably have an amazing goal right now.

We all have goals…

But we always say things like:

“I don’t have enough time…” or

“If only I had enough money…”

And we give up on our goals.

Sometimes we get into ruts and we get stuck for a long, long time.

Some of us force ourselves to practice for 10 hours straight until the piano exam, then start to dread practicing.

(Playing the same passage for hours.)

You shouldn’t be forcing yourself to do dreadful things… or dreading what you think you should love.

I’ve come up with a system that’s tried-and-true, and I’m excited to share it with you!

It’s 3 steps, and I first shared it with my students.

It works.

The system works for both piano teachers and piano students: if you’re ready to play your way to your goals, then read on.

If you’re looking to ‘read for fun’ and forget about it afterwards, then this isn’t for you right now—don’t waste my time or yours, please! :)

The 3-Step Goal

Want to play (almost) any piano music, no matter how much time you have or how “good” you are?

Want piano students to practice more, by doing just one thing? (Want to make yourself practice more with just one thing?)

What about read notes more quickly and sight read better?

Here’s the cool thing about the 3-Step Goal:

It works for any goal, piano-related or not.

I’m showing it to you for free.

I use this in my own life and to teach piano.

Click here for the download link.

It’s that powerful, and that awesome.

Yes, free, in exchange that you apply the 3-Step Goal to ONE goal. Just one. That’s all I ask.

I don’t usually share things like this here (publicly– it usually gets sent to my subscribers only), so I’m super excited to see what you come up with!

Here is the link to download the book.

Enjoy!

Let’s face it: We’re lazy creatures.

Sometimes we just need a boost.

Motivation makes life a lot easier. And fun(ner).

Like motivating yourself to ‘practice’ piano (pieces you know you should play but don’t feel like playing)…

Or motivating students to practice piano.

… Or losing weight, or anything else.

Things we put off for days, months, even years.

What if I tell you…

It just takes one step to increase anyone’s motivation by 10% (or more).

Yes, you can motivate your students (even very young ones) to practice piano with this.

Read on and I’ll show you how.

Is There “Bad Motivation”?

In a word, yes.

Chances are, if you’re unmotivated, then you’ve fallen to ‘bad motivation’.

Have you ever prepared a piece just for a certain exam?

When the exam ended, did you still feel like playing that piece? In fact, did you play that piece anytime soon after the exam?

Probably not. If you’re like most people, then the piece will probably annoy you by then.

This has happened to me (plus tons of students) again and again.

It’s almost an inside joke amongst some teachers and adjudicators:

Anything that’s prepared just for an exam or performance will be “ruined”. It’s an unfortunate side effect of exams and performances.

The grade that we get becomes the reward that we work towards.

And any time there’s what I call a ‘reward motivation’, we’ll work for the reward only.

When the reward’s gone, there’s no reason to keep up that behaviour, so we’ll stop.

How to Increase Motivation by 10% (or More)

In one study (Stanford and U of Michigan), they looked at kids who liked to draw (and spent a lot of time drawing).

They all liked drawing in the beginning– they’d draw for fun when no one’s looking.

There were three groups of kids:

The first group of kids knew they were going to be rewarded a prize (certificate) before they started drawing.

The second group of kids were surprised with a reward as they were drawing.

The last group of kids weren’t given any rewards, and just drew.

The kids who were given surprise rewards actually spent 10%+ more time drawing than the kids who’d expected rewards from the start.

When the first group of kids expected rewards, their motivation for drawing became extrinsic, while the second group were encouraged to draw more with surprise rewards.

The Secret Is…

This study has been done more than 128 times, and the results have been consistent:

The reward changes everything.

Surprise rewards motivate people more than anything.

And expected rewards unmotivate people.

It’s that simple.

To increase motivation by 10% or more, give a surprise reward. Once.

Don’t let them expect rewards.

If the piano exam is the reward, then don’t prep your pieces just for the exam.

Play them because you like them, and when the registration date comes along and you happen to be ready, then that’s a surprise reward.

Give piano students surprise gifts, but don’t bribe them.

Surprise rewards work for motivation of any type.

That’s right– hard work deserves surprise rewards. :)

What’s Next?

Now, I want you to leave a comment below telling me how you’re going to use what I just showed you in one area of your life, whether piano-related or not.

Your comment holds you accountable, so go ahead. I’ll read every single comment, I promise.

If you liked this post, help a friend out and send it to them.

They’ll thank you. :)

Who doesn’t love sight reading?

Let’s back up:

Who hasn’t struggled with sight reading– teaching or learning?

It’s one of the hardest skills…

But it’s also one of the most important.

That’s where SightReadingMastery comes in.

Today we have an awesome giveaway with SightReadingMastery, a site that wants to help you teach and learn sightreading.

Does it really do the job?

I was pleasantly surprised when Evan, a reader and music teacher from Texas, emailed me about SRM.

He says SRM was created because he wanted to make learning and teaching sightreading easier, and because it’s such an important skill that we struggle with.

Read on to find out if SRM really makes it easier for people to learn and teach sight reading… and enter the giveaway to win a LIFETIME account. (Worth $348/year)

This review is a completely honest account of SightReadingMastery.

Enter the Giveaway for LIFETIME Sight Reading

—

How SightReadingMastery Works

You get a certain number of passages per month to sight read, and they’re added to your log as you go through them.

1. Each passage is different and matches ABRSM grades 1-3 (will be expanded), depending on the level you choose.
2. You can listen to the passage that you sight read to gauge your playing.

All the passages that you don’t use will carry over to the next month.

And there’s a free trial: they’re confident. That’s always a good sign. :)

Usability

SRM works on a monitor and a tablet, but I used my tablet because I like to prop the tablet on the piano stand, like it’s sheet music.

First Impression: The Tour

I’m not one for “wordy tours”. For some reason, this tour lost me halfway through.

Details

My impression of it is that it shows you every feature, it doesn’t let you try or teach you how to use anything.

So I basically skipped the rest of the tour. And I got lost. On the “Setting” page.

Wait, what are the features again? Where did the nav go? What’s going on?

There’s no way to bring back the tour, and there’s no FAQ page.

So here’s my tour for you guys (in case you’re stuck). :)

See Tour

The Log

Press the logo to get here.

This is confusing because when you’re not logged in, the logo takes you to a different homepage; there should be an indication or ‘Log’ link.

This is where your past sightreadings are; you can always view them again.

It’s more like a home screen– you get more sightreadings by pressing the blue button.

Settings

Edit: Now there’s an actual settings link under the dropdown.

Press your name in the corner for the settings page. (Hover for menu if you’re using a mouse.)

Sight Reading

This is the good stuff. :)

This is what a sightreading passage looks like:

Sight Reading Details

I’m impressed with the range of style of the sight reading passages: Blues passages and Andante passages, and so on.

The passages are never repeated once you see them, and they’re added to your log.

I like the concept: it’s simple and easy to use (once you get the hang of it), plus I didn’t find any bugs.

Listening to the passage after you play it is a great idea. So far, they’re accurate recordings (from what I’ve played).

I compared a couple passages to the corresponding ABRSM grades, and they’re pretty good about staying with the grade level.

The colour blue for the “Listen” button is really distracting though, especially when it’s on every sight reading page and right under the passage itself.

Teaching

I tried SRM with a couple of my students, and they liked the system too. :)

It’s easy to use in lessons because all the passages are “right there”.

Teaching Details

Evan tells me that the passages are written especially for SRM, so there’s a very low chance that you’ve seen them before.

The ‘Listen’ function is super useful because I can talk through it and we can go through rhythm exercises, but it would be great if there were a way to scrub to certain spots to point out error spots.

I also like the range of levels (for different students), but there’s no way to sort the passages in the log by level, although you can reuse those passages.

I suppose it wants you to generate new passages for different students, but what if you run out for the month?

See My Peeve

The Confirm Screen

This is my one peeve.

There needs to be a way to turn off the confirm screen after you press “New SightReading”.

It really breaks the flow.

The only time we really need this reminder is when we’re learning how this works.

After that, it’s an annoyance.

Maybe a checkbox saying “Don’t ask me again” would work better. Or maybe have a pop-up only if the reader stays on the passage page for less than 10 seconds (in case they pressed it by accident).

SRM is trying to compete with the traditional sheet music, so it needs to be easy to move from one passage to another.

Quotas

I wanted to see if you can go over your quota and be charged extra, or what happens when you run out.

So I had a couple sight reading sessions with my students. But, something happened…

See Quota Details

On one hand, I did request a lot of grade 3 sight reading passages at once, but I’d requested even more grade 2 passages before that.

There should’ve been at least 100 of each grade, since that’s the plan that I’m on.

But I’ve been assured that it doesn’t happen a lot.

And since the grades aren’t absolute, we switched grades…

Nothing happens. No extra charges; you just can’t sight read anymore.

I like the way it calls me by name, but there’s no way to quickly upgrade or buy separate passages.

As a side note, the entire message is very redundant, and it would be smarter to include an option for upgrade and have a catchy title.

Plus, when is “next month”? The next calendar month or the next payment term? There should be a date somewhere.

“Whoa” makes me think I’m doing something wrong. Which I’m not.

From time to time, you get free sightreading passages– they’re delightful surprises, but I’d rather get the full amount of passages from my plan than random freebies.

Design

I pay a lot of attention to design– its can destroy even the best service (and sales).

Pricing

SRM offers 3 types of paid accounts, which is super smart.

The Verdict

At its core, SightReadingMastery is awesome.

Design and user interfacing aside, the concept works really well. It can definitely use a couple tweaks, but there’s tons of potential and I see something big in the making.

In the future, SightReadingMastery will include sight readings for new instruments and ABRSM levels, so keep your eyes peeled!

Try it free for 7 days until Dec 28th here.

With that said, I’ll only give away what I’d use myself. ;)

Artiden is teaming up with SightReadingMastery to give away one lifetime “Re” account to a lucky reader!

The ‘Re’ account has 100 free sightreadings per month, for life. This is worth $348/year– did I mention “forever”? :)

To Enter

Leave a comment with one sight reading tip you have. (It can be something you’ve learned.) That’s it!

Bonus Entries:

• If you’re on Artiden’s exclusive email list, then you automatically get 2 Bonus Entries. (Click here to join– it’s free and it takes seconds, no spam because I hate that too.)
• Try SRM for free (5 Bonus Entries – make sure you use the same email to sign up, no strings attached.)
• Click here to share this on Twitter or share this post on Facebook (1 Bonus Entry each)

Please leave a new comment that includes all of your bonus entries (and include a link if applicable).

Giveaway ends on Dec 24th 2012, midnight PST, and the winner will be announced here shortly afterwards.

• 1 – 10 entries per person (see below for bonus entries).
• Open to anyone worldwide; you’ll be contacted by email.
• If you’re under 18, you will need to obtain permission from a parent or guardian.
• The winner will be chosen randomly, and will have 14 days to respond before a new winner is chosen.
• Please note that by submitting content to this giveaway (e.g. tips, photos), you are giving us permission to use the content in any way we see fit (e.g. reproduce, display, modify).

Good luck! :)

The Winner

Coolios, our winner has been randomly chosen on random.org! Congratulations to Joey, #39!

Feel like there’s almost nothing new in Christmas music?

You’re wrong. ;)

If you’re looking for Christmas pieces that aren’t common, I’ve got you covered.

I’ve found these awesome pieces that are now on my to-order list. :D

They’re great for private performances, recitals, and personal enjoyment.

If you’re ever perplexed over duplicate Christmas pieces for recitals, these are great alternatives.

The videos are embedded below with the sheet music.* (Click here if the videos don’t show up.)

Let me know below: what are your favourite Christmas pieces?

Christmas Medley – Cary Schmidt

How awesome can it get? This collection is one of my favourites out of the bunch.

Sheet Music | Listen

Christmas Medleys – Arr. Phillip Keveren

A great collection of Christmas medleys arranged from the classics. (Sheet Music / Amazon)

A Christmas Celebration

Sheet Music / Amazon | Listen

Still, Still, Still / Deck the Halls

Sheet Music / Amazon | Listen

Emmanuel – Mark Hayes

A collection of “artful piano solos” for Christmas. :) (Sheet Music / Amazon)

Emmanuel Comes

Sheet Music / Amazon | Listen

Christmas Carols for Piano – Sally Deford

Sheet Music | Listen

These are a collection of Christmas carols arranged by Sally Deford. No videos, but check it out. :)

Christmas Carol from Anjou – Cesar Franck

Sheet Music | Listen

Joy to the World/Emmanuel – Arr. James Koerts

Sheet Music | Listen

Thanks, Joy for sharing this arrangement!

Bonus: The Best in Piano Sheet Music

Sheet Music / Amazon | Kindle

It’s a fun assortment of piano songs (with vocals and chords), with the classic Christmas carols.

I got this a few years ago and I’m quite happy with it.

There’s a good sightreading piece for almost everyone– the pieces range in difficulty.

If not, the melody lines are always fun to play. :)

Note: Sheet music links above may contain affiliate links that support the livelihood of Artiden. Thanks!

I recently wrote a guest post on The Cross-Eyed Pianist.

Here’s a quick excerpt…

Remember the “spotlight”?

When all eyes are on you, every little action feels 100 times more obvious.

We all want more sparkle in our performances– and it comes with the right mix of confidence and nervous energy.

Being confident is easy.

So is performing comfortably.

You just need to make the right choices and behave the right way. :)

How People Really See You

Imagine giving a speech, making it up as you go, to a crowd.

How will you look?

There’s something I call the ‘glass wall’ effect.

The answer is so simple yet so powerful.

Keep reading on the Cross-Eyed Pianist

Have you ever felt like it was the right time to raise your prices, but held back?

Here’s something to think about:

We’re selling our time for a price: How much is your time worth?

There’s a lot of hush-hush about raising prices and we don’t talk about it a lot.

If you raise your prices, people will desert you– right?

Nope.

People can be happy to pay more, because they want to keep you– you’re worth it.

The Power of Being Special

Let’s say you’re a mother of a 7 year old child who’s excited about starting piano.

Clara, the first piano teacher, teaches everyone and everything about music at her studio. She accepts students from age 4 to adults 65+, of any level, and offers piano lessons with theory lessons.

She teaches standard technique to everyone.

Clara charges $35 per hour.

The second piano teacher, Natalie, only accepts beginner students to her studio between the ages of 4 – 9.

She is an expert at building strong foundational music skills. She works with your child’s psychological development in music and nurtures your child’s creativity and confidence for sharing music they love.

Kids love her and parents come back telling her that their kids are more responsible about school work too.

Natalie charges $55 per hour.

From a mother’s standpoint, wouldn’t Natalie sound like the best choice for your child, even if her rates are more expensive?

How Much Will People Pay?

People will pay what they think you’re worth, and it’s up to you to create value for yourself.

Someone like Clara caters to everyone, but she actually loses business because she’s only alright at everything, whereas Natalie is an expert at one thing.

Natalie solves one problem amazingly and that’s enough for her to succeed, however much she wants to raise her rates.

When you figure out who you want to work with, be unique and recognizable for what they want.

• For example, my friend Reuel Meditz is known for modclass, a genre he invented, and he’s gaining fans fast.
• Another friend of mine, Dr. Noa Kageyama, uses sports psychology to help people overcome performance anxiety; he’s the only person I know who does this.

How to Raise Your Rates

“I just raised my rates and 99% of the time people wouldn’t question it. I went from charging $3,000 a website to $10,000 – not based on any specific principle – but because I knew that is what web design firms charged. Be bold, that will get you everywhere.”

— Maren Kate

The question isn’t whether or not people can afford it, it’s whether or not people are willing to pay the higher price.

They’ll pay however much you ask them to, as long as they think you’re worth it.

Ramit Sethi, author of NYT Bestselling I Will Teach You To Be Rich, says:

“The key to charging more is knowing how to properly convey your value.”

To raise your rates on someone, all you have to do is:

1. Remind them of what you’ve done, and
2. Plan out what you’ll do for them in the future.

Ramit Sethi also shares a great script that I’ve adapted below, something that I might say…

“The past 6 months of piano lessons have been great; we’ve progressed with a lot of skills– your phrasing is a lot clearer, x, y, and z… Now my rates are moving from x to x, and if you’re comfortable with this, we can start to work on x, y, and z. If you’re not comfortable with this, I can refer you to a couple of my colleagues who will be happy to follow up with you.”

Simple, yet effective. It reminds the client (in this case, the student) what you’ve done for them, and promises them even more.

“Won’t I lose ____ by raising rates?”

We all have this fear– students, clients, business, money.

The short answer is “no.”

Not when there’s no one else out there who does it like you do, and not when you do it right.

We’re talking quality, and when you offer things that no one else can– you’re valuable– then people will stick with you.

Let me know below:

(a) How often do you raise your rates, and how do you do it?

(b) A quick challenge: write your about 3 sentences for raising your rates right now, and discuss below.

If these four places change your day even a tiny bit, even if you forget about your worries for only 5 minutes today, then my goal has been achieved.

1 – Gives Me Hope

“Inspiring Twitter-length stories.” What more can I say? It really gives you hope that there’s more to the world than what meets the eye.

2 – Music Educators

A “think tank” for music educators, where anyone can contribute. It’s interesting to see different perspectives from music educators around the world!

3 – Books of Adam

Books of Adam is my favourite webcomic. Ever. Funny stories with clever prose and awesome drawings.

4 – Pinterest

There’s always something great on Pinterest! I pin piano & teaching resources, design inspiration, and effortless style. (Of course, I’m careful about pinning because I don’t want to be sued…)

Bonus – A Beautiful Mess

These sisters inspire me with their beautiful messes. I’m not into the vintage style, but their positivity with their beautiful photos are infectious– daily boost! I love how they smile in their photoshoots, ignoring fashion’s silent ‘no smiling’ rule.

How would you have turned out if the teachers who taught you didn’t exist?

I’ve been pondering this idea over the past few days. Mr. K*, a former English teacher of mine passed away during the summer and I had attended his memorial two days ago.

I seem fine right now while you’re just reading text, but that day, I couldn’t get a clear sentence out to his wife because I was so full of raw emotion. It was the second memorial for his passing, arranged entirely by his former students at the school he taught at (and loved) for 36+ years.

This shows a lot– the fact that his students cared enough to organize a second memorial for him, and the fact that the auditorium was filled, with former students and graduates.

Mr. K was a gentle man with a honey-sweet voice and he never had a mean comment about anyone. I saw him frown once.

His impact on my life is amazing.

He started a minischool program which allowed students to graduate from highschool within 4 years. I was one of the lucky thirty students, and I would’ve attended a different school for five years, were it not for the program.

I probably wouldn’t have continued with my love for English were it not for him. I’ve always loved writing, but my teacher in elementary school had effectively squeezed the writing out of me with strict essays (and English rules that I disagree with even now).

Once I entered highschool, I only got As in English class, and always above 90%.

Mr. K was my very first English highschool teacher. We wrote journals at the start of every class, and it was then that I realized I’d forgotten the joy of writing, just writing.

And there’s something I told his wife that day, something profound that he gave me, something that I’ll always have.

He taught me the values of teaching: teachers offer students a buffet of knowledge, and students are free to take what they want. This type of thinking is valuable because it takes the stress off the teacher. And ultimately, it’s true– students can learn as much or as little as they want.

I’ll never forget the way Mr. K read Prometheus. As I spoke to his wife, I imagined every little action she described because it was just so typical of him, how he’d read through yearbooks at home to ‘see’ his students again, how he verbally expressed that he missed his students and being at school, and his smile when he mentioned his students. How the school was his second home, the students his children.

To this day, I still love writing, reading, and music. English is as fundamental as music, to me.

Mr. K makes a difference in my life. He helped me rediscover the value in prose, raw prose.

And he certainly lived so that people are crying while he is smiling, for his passing.

—

I wrote this post in about one hour, with just one draft, not caring who’s going to read it or why. I wrote it just for the sake of writing and honoring the great man.

I hope we all see the value in learning from others before it is too late.

Most of the time, it’s the subtle, profound lessons that matter most. I didn’t realize how much I’d learned from Mr. K until now.

Today is World Teachers’ Day, but even if it’s not, I encourage you to let your teachers know how much they matter– even a simple ‘thank you’ or a handwritten card will touch their hearts.

Your teachers might teach you piano, or theory, or mentor you, but the best lessons that you’ll learn from them are the ones about life. Even family members can be your teachers.

Feel free to leave your reflections below.

There’s no question that our past experiences shape our music.

And it’s often interesting how we each breathe life into our music differently.

Today, we’re featuring Robin Spielberg, a veteran of the stage.

Robin is an actress-turned-piano-performer, and I’m happy to welcome Robin as a guest to Artiden!

Performing is what Robin loves and does best; after all, Robin’s onstage career has been quite exciting so far (you can read Robin’s bio below).

So, I invited Robin to share her performance tips, and maybe divulge a couple theatre secrets…

“[M]y ability to… connect to audiences through both my playing and story-telling separates me…”

Robin’s Distinguishing Quality

I love performing live. I know many pianists who work very hard at their piano skills and their repertoire, but when it comes to performing live they are filled with dread!

To be an effective performer, it is very important to not only enjoy playing for others, but to feel comfortable in your own skin. The practice of losing self-consciousness is nearly or *maybe* even more important than piano skills.

“I spent the first ten years of my professional life as an actor.”

Having studied at NYU drama and having acted in over 60 plays gave me confidence in front of audiences. My stage presence as an actor and the skills I learned translated beautifully in my concert career.

I think my ability to compose music and connect to audiences through both my playing and story-telling separates me from many other modern composer/pianists in the field.

Robin’s Practice Schedule

My practice schedule varies.

I had a few concerts this month with my trio (guitar, piano, cello, fiddle, vocals) and we play predominantly Americana music. In preparation I needed to review all of our arrangements and rehearse with the players each day as well as during sound check in the venue.

When prepping for my solo shows, I usually run through the program several times. At this point in my career, much of my practice is “mental practice” which I can do anywhere—in the garden, on the plane!

“I take two days of complete rest each week where I do not play piano at all.”

On a Pianist’s Most Important Skill

This is a great question! It is hard to pinpoint the MOST important skill because being a professional pianist requires the balance of so many elements…but since you asked, I would have to say DEDICATION.

“The piano will give you what you put in.”

The piano will give you what you put in. There is no substitute for putting time into the instrument. There is no way to avoid this.

All the wishing, hoping and desire int he world cannot compare to the person who actually sits on the bench and plays.

Play everything and anything. Play pop music. Listen to the radio and try to translate what you hear to the piano. Make up a tune. Rearrange a Mozart melody. PLAY, play, play.

On Dealing with Performance Mistakes

Mistakes are going to happen. We are all human.

After you make your first mistake on stage you will be filled with nothing but relief, I assure you.

“I remember one teacher telling me that if you make a mistake, that means you never properly learned that particular passage.”

You will see the sky doesn’t fall, the audience doesn’t leave, thunder will not sound. You will survive it. I remember one teacher telling me that if you make a mistake, that means you never properly learned that particular passage.

Study it so it won’t happen again.

I don’t experience much nervousness on stage, if at all. I feel very comfortable on the bench. I DO get nervous about other things, however! I worry about the plane being late, about traffic, about the piano being tuned properly, but I find that once I am on the bench my worries disappear.

Telling Stories with Music

“Each note is a word; each silence a punctuation mark.”

For me, the aural experience is the richest of all the senses.

Some people see a painting in a museum and are moved to tears. They can look at it for hours and experience the painter’s thoughts, feelings, soul.

“A beautiful flower, a child’s smile, the death of a loved one… each of these are stories that can be told through music in a way that is more soulful than the written word.”

For me, it is music that does this. Each note is a word; each silence a punctuation mark. A beautiful flower, a child’s smile, the death of a loved one… each of these are stories that can be told through music in a way that is more soulful than the written word.

Theatre Techniques for Music

“… I am very at home on the stage.”

Specifically, the technique I learned as a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company has transferred beautifully to the world of music.

In the theater, the technique addressed “being in the moment”, “choosing an action”, “analyzing the script”.

In music, it is also important to be in the moment and not “pre-plan” a performance. Analyzing the script is akin to analyzing the music. The notes on the page (like the words on a page of a script) are the tools that help the actor (or in my case, the musician) achieve an action.

In other ways, acting has also helped a great deal. I think a lot of talented musicians are not schooled in public performance and the fears, woes and pitfalls that come along with public performance.

Acting in so many plays over the years in front of live audiences has given me a comfort level; I am very at home on the stage.

Robin Spielberg is one of America’s most beloved pianist/composers. With an impressive tour schedule and over a million recordings sold, this Steinway Artist has been winning the hearts of listeners around the world with her compelling melodies and sensitive piano technique.

A prolific composer, Spielberg has sixteen recordings to her credit and appears on over 40 compilations around the world. Robin is a Celebrity Artist Spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association.

As pianists, our clients can be anyone from parents to ballet teachers to managers to friends.

Although it’s true that there isn’t such thing as a bad client, bad client relationships are everywhere.

Browsing through The 50 (Things Every Creative Should Know), this jumped up and down at me:

“There’s no such thing as a bad client. The onus is on you to make a client relationship work, not the other way around. If it’s not working out, ‘fire’ them as a favour.”

Simple, solid advice for a great career.

Work it out, and if it doesn’t work, fire them.

This wisdom brings another golden question: when do you fire a client? (How do you deal with this?

Today, we’re featuring fabulous blogger and pianist Joy Morin!

Her passion for piano and teaching shines through in her writing and I’m excited to welcome Joy!

Joy runs a piano studio in Ohio and shares her teaching experience on her blog ColorInMyPiano.

Joy also holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance and pedagogy.

Below, Joy shares great tips for performing and teaching piano.

“…my ultimate goal for my students… is to be able to play beautifully and expressively…” – Joy Morin

—

Dealing with Performance Anxiety

“…the moment I focus on only playing the right notes, I begin doubting myself.”

In a performance situation, it is important to turn off that critical “inner voice” and focus full attention on playing beautifully and musically.  When performing, the moment I focus on only playing the right notes, I begin doubting myself.

I’ve learned not to “over-think” and to just trust myself that I know the piece, and instead focus on making the music expressive in order to communicate with my audience.

Mistakes do happen during performances, however, and when they do, it is important to be able to let them go (rather than dwelling) and instead focus on NOW and what is coming up in the music.

To avoid (or, at least, lessen) anxiety in the first place, adequate preparation is essential.  For me, this means many performing often.  Just as we practice the notes, we must practice performing!

Top 3 Most Important Lessons

“Learning new things is about curiosity, exploration, and experimentation.”

Aside from my ultimate goal for my students, which is to be able to play beautifully and expressively, there are a few other things I want my students to gain from piano lessons:

(1)  A love of learning new things.

“I don’t pretend to have all the answers… in fact, when I don’t know the answer to a question, we explore together…”

I love learning new things, and I try to model this with my students every moment I am with them.  When I teach students new things, I cannot help but do so with enthusiasm.

Learning new things is about curiosity, exploration, and experimentation.

When teaching, I often use phrases like “I wonder if…” or “What if we tried…”  I don’t pretend to have all the answers, however; in fact, when I don’t know the answer to a question, we explore together, on Google or YouTube, in search of the answer.

Having a love of learning extends far beyond the study of music!

“I want my students to delight in sharing ideas with others and gaining new skills and knowledge.”

(2)  Discipline and diligence.

As we know, studying music and the piano requires great discipline and diligence on the part of the student.  To the student, sometimes it may seem that piano study is just never-ending work. However, we need to help students see that it is about learning how to set and achieve goals.

“…we need to help students see that it is about learning how to set and achieve goals…”

As teachers, it is easy to only be giving criticism (albeit positive criticism) to our students as we help them improve their pieces — but we must identify achievements (no matter how small) also, and teach our students to be able to recognize those achievements too.

Accomplishments and goal-reaching are what will help the student feel rewarded and motivated to continue in their diligence!  It is an important lesson to learn: hard work pays off.

(3)  Appreciation for music.

It may very well be the case that the majority of my students do not continue playing the piano for the rest of their lives.

However, my hope is that they will always carry with them an appreciation for well-composed and well-performed music.

The Ultimate Must-Have Skill for Pianists

Being able to play musically.

This is necessary for the audience to enjoy and appreciate their music, no matter the venue or genre; it is also necessary for successful collaboration with other musicians, so that the performers are actually making music together (instead of happening to play at the same time!).

On Teaching Piano

“Our goal should always be about getting students to… the point that they can play expressively and communicate something beautiful and unique through their playing.”

The most important thing for piano teachers to remember is our ultimate goal: to teach students how to make music — and not merely to press the right keys at the right time.

Our goal should always be about getting students to get beyond the notes, to the point that they can play expressively and communicate something beautiful and unique through their playing.

Our students are no better than robots if all they can do is play the notes!

Check out Joy’s blog at ColorInMyPiano, dedicated to piano teachers!

Remember the sinking disappointment when someone plainly says your music isn’t good enough?

We risk lots when we open up to critique.

And it’s unsettling when someone critiques your inner expression.

My heart’s been shattered too many times to count, but that’s beside the point.

I’m going to talk about how you can critique without hurting anyone permanently.

How We Hurt: Hearts and Expectations

You might scoff at ‘hurt feelings’ and you might believe that ‘serious’ musicians won’t stop at anything, but you’re hurting hearts.

Psychologist and Harvard professor Robert Rosenthal’s experiment tells us a lot about teachers’ expectations versus student performance: when teachers expect that certain students will excel, and the opposite is true.

You want to maintain a certain level of friendship with your students so it’s enjoyable for the both of you.

Plus, with friendship you get trust– trust is crucial.

And what if your friend asks for critique? What if you’re teaching piano to younger kids? What if you’re adjudicating?

I like to critique with a great technique that I call the Sandwich Technique.

(Um, no food involved.)

The Bread

I start off by talking about what I enjoy about the music and what I particularly like, and even certain things that seem to stand out for me.

All the positive bits.

The Cheese

This is what I think the music needs to improve on and what I dislike about the playing.

The negative and ‘needs-improvement’ comments.

Keep in mind that music is quite subjective.

We might not understand why Rebecca Black’s Friday and Justin Bieber’s Baby have the same musical themes (yet both hit the top charts), but we can still argue that–

actually, I can’t find an argument for this, so if you think of one, let me know and I’ll post it.

Oh, but they’re catchy tunes.

• When we start off with “I think…” or “I believe…” or even “In my opinion…”, we’re softening the comment because it leaves room for uncertainty and other interpretations.
• We’re also emphasizing the fact that these are opinions, not necessarily what’s ‘right’ according to the ‘standards’, if any exist.

The Other Bread

I end the critique with a quick summary of what I like (“Great job on…” / “Keep on doing…”) and a comment on what needs improvement (“Keep working on…” / “Don’t forget to…”).

Grill It

Lastly, a grilled cheese sandwich is engaging and exciting.

1. They understand what I’m saying.
   • This is a big mistake that we all make; we get so caught up in our own heads that we ignore whether everyone else agrees, but I stop the flow once in a while to ask “Do you understand what I’m saying?” or “Does this make sense?”
   • You might be surprised at the number of “No”s that you get sometimes.
2. I convince them.
   • I believe that what I’m telling them is the best for that situation, so I try to convince them to think the same way.
   • I tell them why I think this way, in easy words so I gain their trust.
   • Sometimes, I demonstrate the playing in two extremes to contrast the differences. (The good vs the really bad, for example, posture.)
3. I watch my tone.
   • I make sure that my tone gets my message across properly, that it works with my message.
   • Tone of speech changes your message dramatically. Up to 90% of your message is communicated through your tone of voice.

Your Turn

Now I invite you to share a couple tips: what techniques do you use to critique?

Also: feel free to share this with a friend who might find this helpful. :)

If you’re like me, you love it when things run smoothly.

Today, I’m sharing the student record forms that I designed for this year as a free pdf.

Saving Time & Energy

• These student records have all the important information right in one spot– no hunting around or shuffling papers.
• Plus they’re designed to be super flexible and user-friendly. No frustration.

I keep all my student records in one binder, usually with one sheet per student.

I have a different binder for detailed student information/interviews, etc. because I like to have information available at-a-glance. Efficiency, efficiency!

1. Tuition Rate – Saves time and ensures accuracy when calculating payments, especially if you have a pay scale for different levels.
2. Student Info – You can have the student write it in for you so your info is updated every semester. This info is essential to have on hand for emergencies, etc.
3. Extra
4. Date – This can be used two ways:
   a) You can state actual date of each payment or
   b) You can state the current month (great if you charge by the semester).
5. Attendance – I like to write the date, but you can also tick off the boxes.
6. Notes

Download Here

Edit: Version 2 is the continuing page, if you don’t need the contact info.

Download the Variation Here

Know someone who might find this useful? Just send this post to them. :)

If you like this, just let me know by leaving a comment.

When we reach 40 comments, I’ll release another printable.

Awesomesauce!

Check out some of our favourite posts from spring/summer 2012, featuring lots of inspiring guests and great content.

The Ultimate Guide to Playing Piano

Works Like Magic: Be Inspired in 3 Seconds

One Simple Tip for Accomplishing Anything

How to Achieve Any Goal Once and For All

The Ultimate Warm Up Secret: Surprisingly Simple

Smart Guide to the History of Piano

12 Foolproof Ways to Meet Interesting Pianists Online

“While you might stumble upon a few great friends online, there are certain things you can do and places you can visit, to deliberately meet interesting pianists online.”

Muscle Memory: Musicians’ Secret Weapon?

“Muscle memory, or implicit memory, can steadily improve or worsen your playing. How can it improve or unconsciously destroy your piano playing?”

Top 4 Easiest Ways to Start a Free Blog

“Many readers have asked about blogging, so here’s your chance to get started right now. Blogging platforms today make it quick and easy for you to set up and start right away.”

The 4 Deadliest Practice Mistakes Ever

“… it’s estimated that 93%+ of pianists don’t know how to practice piano properly, and about 70%+ of the time they spend at the piano is a waste of time.”

How to Get Strong & Graceful Feet – Part 1, Part 2

“If you only ever use one pedal with one foot, then you’re imbalancing the muscles in your feet, essentially skewing your body’s balance.”

Beware: You Can Be Sued for Posting Content Online

“Unfortunately, you can get into lots of trouble for posting content that isn’t your own, especially if you don’t know how the creator intends for the work to be used. How? Let me give you a little background information.”

How to Succeed With Olympians’ Winning Ways

Secret to Getting Fans: The 60-20-20 Rule

God, Doomsday, and the UFO: Why Your Friends Lie to Themselves

Two Unusually Powerful Ways to Strengthen Music Memory

Interviews

We’ve featured some renowned guests from around the world below.

Practicing for Smooth Performances with Erica Sipes

“… I practice in such a way that I rarely make the same mistake twice.”

– Erica Sipes

A Peek into Composing with Daniel Barkley

“[Creativity], like practising piano,… [is] all about managing your own state of mind.”

Inspiring Performer Started Piano at 20: Emir Gamsizoglu

“Emir was the shortest basketball player on his team; he started piano at 20; he was the oldest piano beginner at the conservatory; but nothing stops him.”

Cultivating Confident Performers with Gail Fischler

“If you can’t imagine and hear the sound you want, it won’t come out of the piano no matter what the genre.”

– Gail Fischler

Performance Tips from a Young Pianist: Emilia Poma

“… I go on stage…
I fix the chair to the right height and take two more deep breaths.
Then I put my hands on the frozen keys…”

Pianist From the Woodworks: Andrew Staupe

“It’s so competitive, there are so many letdowns, and there are so many struggles that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.”

How This Devoted Musician Works: Julien Beurms

“Practice for a musician not only includes pure physical training… but also research, reasoning and rumination.”

Propelling Your Performance to the Next Level with Dr. Noa Kageyama

“[T]he sub-par moments we experience on stage could be prevented not simply with more practice, but with the right kind of preparation…”

The ‘New’ Classical Music with Reuel Meditz

“I believe in the adage ‘you have to know the rules to consciously break or improve them.’“

Strategies for teaching improvisation to beginners

“… I’m talking about non-jazz improvising. We all know that students can readily improvise using a blues scale over a blues or boogie pattern, but what about composing music more in line with film music, ballads, pop and classical?”

The SILENT Piano Lesson

“One day I said to several of my students — Today we’re going to have a SILENT PIANO LESSON.  I’m not going to say a word.  I’m just going to observe you practice.  I may sketch down a few notes but for all practical purposes I want you to forget I’m here.  I want you to practice just like you do at home.”

Arts Integration Practices That Help Boost Memory

“… [A]rts integration has helped raise student achievement. Job-embedded professional development, differentiated arts instruction, and critical-thinking skills integrated into the curricula have been key to their success.”

The Social and Emotional Benefits of Being Weirdly Creative

“I have heard… about the academic benefits of arts integration, how various forms of artistic expression (PDF) are employed to learn math and science as well as language arts. I have also learned about the virtues of a critical-thinking technique known as Artful Thinking, developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, that deepens students’ intellectual understanding generally by deepening their understanding of the multiple layers of artistic expression.”

Canaries in your Coalmine

“Which of your current students might be ex- students by this time next year? It’s not always who you might think…IMT takes a look at 14 warning signs that a student is thinking about moving on.”

Acoustic Panels DIY

It’s probably happened to all of us–

you’re performing and your mind goes blank, your memory slips. Uh-oh.

Mostly we’re about dealing with slips, but I’ve got ways to prevent slips in the first place.

I’ll share two unusually powerful ways to prevent memory slips, but I’ll stress one fact:

You can apply tactic after tactic (and they’ll work), but you’ll just repeat the same mistakes again and again if you don’t understand the theory or system behind the tactics.

The following steps will help you almost guarantee that a piece is securely memorized, once you’ve gotten the notes and musical ideas in your head.

(Or waste hours playing the same passages over and over again– please do yourself a favour and save your body some time + frustration!)

And it works with pieces of any level.

(I used a photo of a track because we think of music like a journey, but really, you can run around the track in circles forever because there isn’t a set finish line.)

Step 1: Play on a Closed Keyboard

Sit at your piano and run through your program a couple times with the keyboard cover closed. It might take a few tries before you can play from memory without the keys, but it’s worth it.

Why this works:

You’re probably thinking “But Grace, this sounds ridiculous. How is this going to help me?”

It strengthens your muscle memory. When you take the keys away, you’re effectively forcing yourself to rely on nothing but muscle memory to play the piece.

You’re also imagining the sounds as you play, so that it comes out exactly the way you want it on the piano.

And being at the piano means that this is what your performance will be, with the notes and real sounds, as you’re recreating the situation.

Of course, when a keyboard isn’t available, playing on any flat surface will suffice, although it’s best to be at a piano.

Step 2: Rewrite the Music (almost) from Memory

a) Write out the music onto manuscript paper and see how far you get before you need to peek at the score. (Most people don’t get very far at all.) Finish rewriting the entire piece, peeking at the score if you need to.

The key is to hear the sounds in your head as you write.

Advanced pianists: Your pieces might be longer and more complicated, but if you can spare 5 minutes out of your playing time to write, then the results will impress you. In fact, the more complicated the piece, the more effectively this will work.

b) Pattern interrupt: Take 5 minutes away from everything; your paper, music, piano, anything with a screen.

We spend lots of time consuming information, and it exhausts us. When we break this pattern, we can generate good ideas and find new perspectives. This will improve your memory.

c) Next, rewrite the music from memory again, but consciously try not to look at the score. Keep the sound in your head or sing if you need to, as long as you can ‘hear’ the music.

Why this works:

Because you hear the sounds in your head when you write, your mind will ‘follow’ the score when you play, to produce those same sounds.

As we memorize a piece, we become detached from the visual notes; this exercise reconnects us with the notes so that you canalmost follow the score in your head as you play. And when you do feel uncertain, the score’s stored in your head.

This type of memory works a little differently for everyone; some people can actually follow the score as they play, but others connect the notes they play with the image of the score as the music unfolds, so that they’re never uncertain of what’s coming next.

And when you’re concentrated on this moment, there’s no time for self-deprecating thoughts, and even less chance of a slip-up.

Think of this as adding an extra layer of icing to the cake; you, as a pianist, have so many flavours to process at the piano, that your mind has no capacity to process anything else.

This means that you direct your full attention to your playing, earning that extra mile.

Now I’d love to know: how do you usually memorize music and prevent slip-ups?

If you liked this post, do share it with a friend. : )

Reuel Meditz, the creator of modclass, originally trained as a Classical pianist, has won numerous competitions both nationally and internationally.

Reuel’s compositions move beyond existing genres, into Modclass, and he doesn’t limit himself to existing ideas in music– Reuel’s a cool guy.

Modclass combines elements of Classical music to anything you can imagine, inviting a new type of creativity in sound.

Below, Reuel shares how he created the new genre with his creative habits, his biggest influences, and how he became the popular innovator he is today.

“I believe in the adage ‘you have to know the rules to consciously break or improve them.’”

—

Reuel’s Creative Habits

“[T]he key element to creativity lies in creating healthy, positive routines.”

Routine induces productive creativity.

I’ve seen many musicians complain that they can only create when the “muse” is with them or when “inspiration strikes”, but the key element to creativity lies in creating healthy, positive routines.

Occasionally, in moments of depression or sadness, I feel a strong rush of inspiration, but it’s usually unreliable and rarely brings anything to fruition.

“I gain an ‘enhanced access’ to my deeper emotions and I become more creatively ‘open.’”

Now I understand that this ”rush” occurs because I gain an ”enhanced access” to my deeper emotions and I become more creatively “open.”

I’m working to cultivate this emotionally-driven creativity through positive thinking and complete awareness on living in the present (and not the past nor future).

I maintain an open mind, a heightened sensory awareness to immediate possibilities around me, and filter out negative thought processes.

Not only does this routine build constant creativity, but it keeps me satisfied with life.

“I… filter out negative thought processes.”

Reuel’s Biggest Influences

My influences constantly change with different situations and different people in my life.

The foundation of who I am as a pianist and composer comes from an early appreciation of how music has changed my life, and I wish for others to undergo these same transformations.

Music played a huge role throughout my childhood and high school. Instead of playing sports or hanging out with my few friends, I spent extreme amounts of time practicing and composing on the piano.

“… I turned to music for hope, enjoyment, and therapy…”

My constant dedication to piano helped me understand its powers that improve the bad moments in life and make the good moments unforgettable.

As I turned to music for hope, enjoyment, and therapy, I also performed with similar intents for my listeners.

My constant influence or motivation comes from my desire to convey the multi-dimensional powers of music to audiences so they, in turn, can understand its purpose.

On Classical Music Today

“… I coined the phrase Mod-class to represent my adherence to classical values in modern music.”

All my classical training has benefited me in my ambition to be known as an improvisational pianist.

I give a huge amount of credit to my long time teacher, Dr. Julia Kruger, who instilled perfectionism into my mindset when I was just a kid.

Much of what I know and use daily in composition, finger technique, advanced improvisation, and work ethic was initiated and improved throughout the years I studied classical repertoires.

I believe in the adage “you have to know the rules to consciously break or improve them.” I coined the phrase Mod-class to represent my adherence to classical values in modern music.

“Mod-class takes classical crossover to a new level by focusing on classical training and its techniques…”

Mod-class takes classical crossover to a new level by focusing on classical training and its techniques to create new music; it’s not just about mixing famous classical pieces with modern music styles anymore.

What scares you onstage?

How do you reach peak performance all the time?

It’s psychology.

When you apply psychology to music, you’re using both your mind and body effectively…

Which means: better results in less time and better performances.

I often write about applying psychology to music and holistic practicing because it drastically improves performance.

There’s no fluke or gimmick.

Performing is a (Fun) Sport

Today, we’re featuring Dr. Noa Kageyama, a sports performance psychologist currently on the faculty at Juilliard.

Noa’s also a violinist and a Julliard graduate.

I’m happy to introduce Noa as a guest to Artiden!

Noa has helped a lot of people step confidently onto the stage.

Sports and music have lots in common in terms of performance, so applying sports psychology specifically to music (exactly what Noa’s doing) is smart.

Below, Noa discusses his key practice principles, the biggest performance mistakes, and various techniques that improve practicing.

“[T]he sub-par moments we experience on stage could be prevented not simply with more practice, but with the right kind of preparation…”

—

What’s the biggest mistake that performers make, and how can they fix this?

There are two complementary mistakes we tend to make – one happens in the practice room, and the other happens on stage.

Your Mean Autopilot

In the practice room, we have a tendency to practice on autopilot.

Meaning, we start at the beginning of a piece, stop when we hear something we don’t like, play that section a few times until it sounds better, then move onto the next thing that doesn’t come out quite right.

Things do improve over time, but it’s an inefficient way of practicing and even worse, we haven’t actually solved anything.

And because we haven’t identified the underlying cause of the problem, nor the permanent solution that would allow us to play the passage as we want it to sound, it’s probably going to happen again. Most likely on stage when we’re nervous.

Your Inner Control Freak

Conversely, when we get on stage there is a tendency to activate our manual override.

Meaning, instead of trusting our body to execute and play freely as we do in the practice room, we try to exert conscious control over everything.

We think about every single note, and the mechanics/technique involved in everything we play.

“When we micromanage our body… we experience a phenomenon some refer to as ‘paralysis by analysis.’”

Unfortunately, this interrupts the automaticity of the complex and sophisticated motor movements required to play at the level we are capable.

Our sensory organs, muscles, and brain simply cannot communicate with each other rapidly enough to coordinate everything smoothly at tempo.

When we micromanage our body in this way, we experience a phenomenon some refer to as “paralysis by analysis.”

“We ought to practice more consciously, to be fully engaged, seeking to identify all of the technical and mechanical details that produce what we want to hear.”

In essence we have flip flopped the optimal practice mindset and the optimal performance mindset.

We ought to practice more consciously, to be fully engaged, seeking to identify all of the technical and mechanical details that produce what we want to hear.

On stage, we must learn to trust ourselves more, to let go of conscious control, and focus more intently on the end result – i.e. the sound, the phrasing, the line, the nuances we would love to hear emanating from our instrument.

What three things or goals that you hope your students achieve/learn from you, if nothing else?

The overarching goal for all my students is to be able to consistently perform up to their full abilities in even the most stressful performances.

There are seven key skill areas that sport psychologists generally concentrate on, from building confidence to attentional focus to mental toughness, but here are the three main lessons that I hope my students take away from our work.

a. Performance anxiety or stage fright is not a pathological condition

We all get nervous.

Some more than others, of course, but it’s not a sign of weakness or a characterological deficiency.

In fact, when we’re talking about peak performance, most performers play their best not when they’re calm, but when their energy or activation level is moderate to high.

“Because peak performance requires some degree of nervousness or activation, our goal is not to eliminate the nerves, but to learn how to perform our best despite them.”

Because peak performance requires some degree of nervousness or activation, our goal is not to eliminate the nerves, but to learn how to perform our best despite them.

In that sense, performing optimally under pressure is a learned skill, something that takes practice like anything else we do on the instrument.

b. How to practice

We all know how important practice is, but nobody ever sits down and teaches us how.

From deliberate practice to practicing for performance, what we do in the practice room plays such a major role in how we respond to pressure on stage.

A lot of the sub-par moments we experience on stage could be prevented not simply with more practice, but with the right kind of preparation in advance.

c. How to trust

There is a big difference between performers who trust themselves, really goes for it and plays freely, and performers who play tentatively, cautiously, and fearfully.

The difference is not so much in the number of notes they miss or the technical merits of their performance, but the emotional experience for both the performer and the audience.

Flipping that switch and developing the ability to trust our abilities, our training, and our preparation may not feel natural at first, but it is something that can most definitely be learned.

“The difference is… the emotional experience for both the performer and the audience.”

For instance, try performing the opening of a piece in front of a videocamera.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being complete trust and certainty that you would nail the opening, and 1 being tentative and cautious playing.

See if you can get to consistent 8′s and 9′s and notice how different that feels (and also how much better you can play when you trust yourself).

If there were one ultimate must-have skill for pianists, which would it be, and why?

“[P]eak performance comes down to the strength of our… focus.”

At the end of the day, peak performance comes down to the strength of our attentional control – i.e. focus.

Though the physical symptoms of performance anxiety are distracting and unpleasant, research suggests that the mental symptoms of anxiety have a stronger negative impact on performance.

The Strength of Your Focus

So we may bemoan the cold, clammy hands, butterflies, and tight muscles, but we actually have the ability to play pretty well despite these physical unpleasantries.

It’s the worries, doubts, and critic in our head that predict how well (or poorly) we play.

Why?

Because we have a fixed attentional capacity.

There is only so much data our brain and nervous system can process at any given point in time.

The more data we process that is related to performing well, the better we play and the less time we have to be nervous.

“[T]he more we engage in worries, doubts, and thoughts that are unrelated to what we are doing in the moment, the more likely we are to make mistakes or play below our abilities.”

On the other hand, the more we engage in worries, doubts, and irrelevant thoughts, the more likely we are to make mistakes or play below our abilities.

A technique called Centering is a big part of learning how to get into the right mental state for optimal performance.

Granted, developing a more bulletproof focus is not the easiest thing in the world, but it’s the single most valuable mental skill a performer can develop for more consistent performances.

How do some kids manage to perform flawlessly in front of crowds of strangers?

I happened to come across a young girl who seems to be quite comfortable at performing.

Emilia Poma is younger than today’s typical performer– she’s twelve, currently studying at music school Lilla Akademien in Stockholm.

Emilia’s had lots of experience onstage already, having performed with lots of different people all over the world.

Emilia’s performances reflect her bright personality and mindset. (Plus, her name is a cute ‘apple’, pomme, in French.)

Below, Emilia shares her prep routine and her tips on performing.

—

Emilia on Dealing with Nervousness, Anxiety, and Mistakes While Performing

“… I go on stage…
I fix the chair to the right height and take two more deep breaths.
Then I put my hands on the frozen keys…”

I get as much practice and as many lessons as I need before the concert.

The second way to be less nervous is to understand if it is a practice concert at school, with only a few people in the audience, or if it a big and important concert with a lot of people in the audience.

For the practice concerts at school, I am not very nervous. But, when it comes to big concerts. I am extremely nervous.

So, before I go on stage, I take big deep breaths. When I am that nervous, I shake and feel sick and wish that I had just finished playing.

Then I go on stage…
I fix the chair to the right height and take two more deep breaths.
Then I put my hands on the frozen keys. My hands shake on the white and black keys.

Then I start playing.

I always try to stay concentrated and not think “I hope I don’t make a mistake here” or “Let it be over soon” because I’ll have a bigger chance of making a mistake if I think like that.

If I make a mistake, like when I hit the wrong key or forget the part I was playing, I feel my face burn with embarrassment.

“[N]o matter how many mistakes I make or how big they were, I always stand up straight and proud with a big smile on my face.”

Luckily, nobody notices my mistakes because if I forget the part, I jump back back to the easiest place and keep going, or I make up a few notes and keep going from where the mistake happened.

After playing, no matter how many mistakes I make or how big they were, I always stand up straight and proud with a big smile on my face.

Emilia’s Creativity Habits

The habits that help my creativity are:

1. Painting – If my mind is full of piano things like notes, fingerings, tempos and more, make me feel like my head will explode! I need a break; otherwise I get very frustrated.
   Painting helps my head get off the piano and let go of everything around me. When I go back to the piano I feel free and remember everything because I let it sink into my head.
2. Sports, playing with my brother or friends, and composing helps in the same way as painting.

Emilia’s Practice Schedule

I practice 3 hours a day , even during school. I usually try to do an hour before school, an hour after school and and hour at home.

During the summer, I practice for an hour when I wake up, one after lunch and one in the afternoon (or whenever I feel like it). If I am going somewhere fun with my friends then I try to do all of it by 2pm.

On a Pianist’s Ultimate Must-Have Skill

If there were one ultimate must-have skill for pianists it would be discipline.

To me discipline means :

• Creativity – To follow your ideas all the way from the beginning to the end. Like composing, you might hear it in your head but then you have to write it down and play it!
• Concentration - To know what you’re working on and stick to it.
• Practice – If you don’t practice, it’ll be impossible to reach your goals! Just keep going even if it is not so fun sometimes.
• Never give up – There are times when piano can be a real big pain and you feel that you can’t take it anymore but that feeling goes away in time; you need to keep going no matter how hard it is. You will feel great after you have done it.
• Plan – In order to get anywhere, you need a plan to structure the time you are willing to put in for practicing.

Thanks, Emilia! You can check out Emilia’s playing through her Youtube channel and follow her journey there.

Andrew Staupe is an American award-winning pianist; Andrew’s playing has been broadcast nationally and his concerts have met raving reviews. He’s performed all over the world– I’m excited to feature Andrew today!

Andrew doesn’t come from the ‘typical pianist’ background (read on to see why), but he’s making a name for himself anyways. Plus, Andrew shares tips on succeeding as a pianist.

—

What Quality Distinguishes Me

The biggest thing that separates me from other concert pianists is my unique background in the arts.

I started out in Classical Ballet, then moved on to musical theater in Minneapolis (Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theater), then delved into early music (I started my own choir, the Leoninus Ensemble), and picked up the violin at age 15.

I’m a pianist first and foremost, but it’s the variety of things I’ve done and want to do that separates me from most other concert pianists these days.

I also trained in Minnesota and Texas, and not in New York at Juilliard or Curtis in Philly… that’s another thing too. I guess you could say that I came out of the woodworks!

Andrew’s Practice Schedule

“[My schedule is] flexible and ever-changing.”

My practice schedule depends on what is coming up, and whether I have performed the pieces or not.

If I don’t have anything for a while, I’ll take the time to learn new music; this is my chief joy.

The process of memorizing doesn’t feel like work to me at all. However, woodshedding (aka repetition of tough passages, increasing the metronome up gradually) certainly DOES (feel like work).

The closer I am to a concert, the more I practice, from a few hours to all day, depending on the type of concert and where it is. But it’s flexible and ever-changing.

The Utmost Important Quality of Every Pianist

“It’s so competitive, there are so many letdowns, and there are so many struggles that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.”

This is a tough, tough business. Perseverance, diligence, and tough skin are the chief qualities on the personal side. It’s so competitive, there are so many letdowns, and there are so many struggles that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Musically, a concert pianist needs to have a solid memory, agile fingers (size doesn’t really matter), be able to learn music rather quickly (or get it back fast for concert substitutions which happens a LOT), and charisma.

Getting along with colleagues, in orchestral and chamber music settings, is a must these days. Who wants to play with people who are tough to work with?

On Dealing with Nerves

“[I]f you practiced diligently and you’re fully prepared, that’s all you can hope for and you must trust in your abilities.”

I grew up onstage, though it was in the realms of ballet and theater initially. Performing in front of people just became a natural thing, so the transfer to music was smooth.

However, I get nervous, sometimes quite nervous, just like everyone else.

The #1 thing you must do is trust in your preparation beforehand: if you practiced diligently and you’re fully prepared, that’s all you can hope for and you must trust in your abilities.

Additionally, I always think to myself (in those few hours leading up to the performance, which can feel like anxious ‘limbo’), “Andrew, you’ve played this piece successfully many times in public, and you haven’t had a glaring memory slip since you’ve become a professional; things are going to be ok!”

And it helps.

But the mental game, just like in sports, is probably the toughest thing to deal with before you walk out.

Once you’re out it’s great. But before then, everyone needs to develop their own ways of dealing with the pressures of onstage performance.

—

Awesome! Follow Andrew’s journey through his website at AndrewStaupe.com. 

Your friends lie to themselves all the time.

You’re probably thinking:

“Why would anyone lie to themselves?”

It all comes down to psychology (and how irrational humans really are).

And despite what you’re thinking, these lies can actually help in music and in life.

Remember the Chronicles of Narnia?

It’s a series of novels where four kids discover a magical world inside a wardrobe, where the animals talk and magical creatures reign.

In one book, the kids bring Uncle Andrew to Narnia (inside the wardrobe), but he can’t hear the animals talk.

When one of the kids asks why everyone hears the animals but the Uncle, Aslan says something like

“People believe what they want to believe.”

And it’s one of the most profound quotations ever because it describes how people work.

God, Doomsday, and the UFO

In the mid 1950s, a doomsday cult rose; they believed that a flood would destroy the earth and the faithfuls would be rescued by a UFO.

These people quit their jobs, left their families, and gave away all their possessions to prepare for their journey, generally avoiding the media.

Meanwhile, Festinger had infiltrated the cult mainly because he was curious. On December 20th, when the UFO doesn’t arrive and the world isn’t destroyed by disaster, a curious event happens.

The doomsday cult returns to society with renewed determination and approaches the media to tell the world that they had “spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction”.

Festinger documents the details of this event in his book When Prophecy Fails (aff).

The First Experiment

Afterwards, Festinger and Carlsmith conducted an experiment (1959) that changed the way we see people and their behaviour.

There were two groups involved; group A was paid $1 to tell a lie and group B was paid $20 to tell the same lie.

• They discovered that people in group A ended up believing in their lie while group B remained unaffected.
• To justify lying for such a small sum of money, people in group A gradually convinced themselves that it wasn’t a lie after all.
• Group B’s lie was justified because they figured that they were paid to lie.

This is the classic cognitive dissonance experiment. Since then, numerous experiments have proven similar results.

Cognitive Dissonance

We each have our own views of the world, and when new ideas conflict with the existing views, we may justify the difference:

• with a third idea, or a lie
• by making one of the ideas seem less important
• by ignoring one of the ideas

These processes are unconscious and people don’t actually realize they’re lying to themselves.

In fact, most of the time people have to consciously point out to themselves that they’re lying.

Cognitive Dissonance is Everywhere

Dissonance In Learning

“My poor aptitude in reading sheet music [for the piano] limits me. However, that limitation has directed my talents towards composing original music… For notation, I use ABC notation which is… not staff based and that helps me.”

– Joe*

*Nickname

Joe wants to learn how to read music and compose, but reading music is hard for him.

He decides that learning to read music isn’t really important and tells himself to compose music instead.

But if he can’t read music, how can he write down what he composes? So he counters the second dissonance by telling himself that the “ABC notation” actually helps him.

This is like saying “I’m going to live in Japan but I don’t want to learn Japanese, so I’m going to communicate by drawing pictures and inventing my own language based on Japanese characters instead. This helps me because I understand it.”

It works great if you find a place in Japan where they communicate with pictures and welcome your new language; otherwise you’ll have to be holed up in your room for this to happen.

• Because he uses “ABC notation”, he’s composing one-line melodies that probably don’t vary rhythmically. This severely limits his creativity.
• He quickly adjusts his values (reading music is not important and the “ABC notation” helps me) to accomodate his behaviour (giving up learning how to read music and using “ABC notation”).
• All will be solved if Joe just learns how to read music.

Right now, anyone who attempts to approach Joe with contradictions will be told off.

He believes his own lies and he won’t take anything else. He won’t even listen if you try to teach him to read music.

Joe is part of the 20% of people against what I stand for, and I’d much rather spend my time helping someone willing to learn and improve because I can probably help twenty people in the time that I help one Joe.

People with attitudes like Joe’s have to help themselves first by acknowledging that they need help because they don’t accept anyone else’s help before that.

Dissonance In Ideas

I had a piano teacher who was very particular about her taste and every time my playing didn’t suit her taste, she widened her eyes to demand, “Why? Why would you ever do that?”

I was uncomfortable with strangers in the first place but I remember being tense for every session we had together.

I began to dread practicing piano, and I practiced less and less because I started to believe that she’d shoot down everything I played, or that was the excuse I gave myself.

Granted, she had a lot of teaching experience, but my mom pulled me out when I started tearing up every session and breaking down even outside of the lessons.

I found a new piano teacher and that was best for the both of us. (I don’t know if that’s a lie, but I think I was better off.)

Dissonance In Achievements

Studies have found that kids who are bribed to achieve certain grades in school stop trying once the bribe is gone, while kids who find intrinsic motivation to achieve good grades actually enjoy their schooling.

Lesson here?

Bribing doesn’t work, not if you want to keep up the bribe for the rest of your life.

Dealing with Cognitive Dissonance

Here’s where it gets complicated.

There isn’t any one solution that’s perfect for every situation and in some cases it’s even smarter to let cognitive dissonance take its course.

For example, when your colleague is convinced that she needs an iPhone to replace her five-year-old phone (because her Blackberry just isn’t as good as the iPhone anymore) after seeing an ad, it’s cognitive dissonance working, but iPhones aren’t all that bad… or maybe she starts believing that her Blackberry is better (again, cognitive dissonance).

Or even in education, when kids actually end up enjoying schoolwork because of cognitive dissonance.

Self awareness is the key; once you realize that cognitive dissonance is at work, then it starts to fall into place.

5 Whys

When you find yourself unsure of your decisions (is this cognitive dissonance?), play the “5 Whys” game.

If you find any ‘why’ to be ‘unreasonable’ or something you don’t usually believe in, then think again because it might be cognitive dissonance.

Let’s take the iPhone example.

• I need to buy an iPhone. Why?
• It’s more useful than my Blackberry. Why?
• It has a lot more functions. Why?
• I can work on the internet on the iPhone. Why?
• It has a bigger screen and it’s quicker.

If I’m someone who never works on the internet, then the whys are lies, because the iPhone is not more useful to me because of its internet workspace capabilities.

Maybe I just want to play games.

I’d re-evaluate my decision and try to figure out why I need the iPhone, if at all.

I might decide that I don’t really want to invest in an iPhone because all I want to do with it is send/receive emails, and my Blackberry can do that perfectly.

Or maybe I like the display and I’m willing to get the phone just for its amazing screen.

Asking Others for Feedback

Sometimes it’s obvious to others that you’re not making the smartest decisions (for example Joe’s situation above).

Ask a couple other people what they would do in your situation and you might gain some insight.

The Theory

Cognitive dissonance really explains why we do a lot of the things that we do; it’s simple yet complex in the way that it works without our knowledge.

Here are a couple great points from The Story of Psychology (by Morton Hunt, aff):

• People adjust their values to justify their behaviours, even if it’s wrong or immoral.
• People can’t harbour two different, contrasting ideas at once, so they’ll make up a lie, ignore one of the ideas, or make one of the ideas seem less important, so that only one idea remains.
• People will interpret ideas differently to fit their own perceptions of the world.
• The more barriers there are to joining a group, the more people will value their membership.
  To justify going through all the prerequisites to join an average group, your mind convinces itself that the group is fantastic.

If you’re honest with yourself, you can probably think of a couple times that you’ve encountered cognitive dissonance.

We’d love to hear how you dealt with cognitive dissonance in your comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Grace

P.S. This post is part of the Tuning Your Health blog series.

Julien Beurms is completely devoted to music– there’s no other way to put this.

And I’m super excited to have Julien here today!

He started piano at age 7 and has three masters degrees in music; now he’s attending grad school on full scholarship (New England Conservatory of Music).

Julien has performed in his hometown Belgium, France, and in the States; he’s a decorated man, and he deserves it.

What brings him all this success? Julien shares his tips below.

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“This is something which makes performance and passion extremely exciting and beautiful.”

Julien’s Distinguishing Quality

A musician’s seriousness about music is one of his most important qualities.

It might seem obvious, but it is extremely dangerous for a musician to rely on pure instinct for performance.

Instinct is a very important part in performance– it enhances the natural character of music and gives a certain freshness to the performance– however, it is crucial that musicians fully understand the musical text to follow the composer’s ideals.

A musician’s role goes along with enormous responsibility; not only does he have to pay attention to every detail, but he also has to understand why he is doing it.

“Practice for a musician not only includes pure physical training… but also research, reasoning and rumination.”

He has to be open-minded to musical and general history, to music theory as well as to philosophy and other arts in general, anything that may be related to the composer’s vision.

Practice for a musician not only includes pure physical training (suppleness, sound control, virtuosity…) but also research, reasoning and rumination.

This is what makes up my daily worklife.

Julien’s Practice Schedule and a Pianist’s Most Important Skill

“Practicing in your head means remembering every motion, every emotion, every detail of the score, every voice…”

There are two ways to become a better musician.

The first is the practicing directly on the instrument and the second is reading books and listening to music to truly understand the composer and the piece we play.

The second part might vary from day to day. In my case, I try to read every day.

In order to keep a certain “consistency” in his playing and his performances, it is essential for a musician to have a structured lifestyle. In my case, I usually practice 6 hours a day.

Of course, sometimes you won’t be able to practice so you have to find other ways to keep the music fresh in your head.

For instance, when you are travelling, you have to practice mentally, which is sometimes as effective as physical practice.

Practicing in your head means remembering every motion, every emotion, every detail of the score, every voice and so on…

On Performance Mistakes and Anxiety

“A musician shouldn’t be afraid of… uncertainty… [because] the message given to the audience… [is more important] than the perfect technical execution of a piece.”

Nervousness comes from the fact that even if musicians prepare their performances very well and very conscientiously (like sportspeople), it never comes out exactly like they imagine.

This is something which makes performance and passion extremely exciting and beautiful.

A boxer can study an opponent for weeks in advance, learn each of his moves, prepare his fight mentally, yet it is always different from the performance itself.

It’s the same for a musician.

A musician shouldn’t be afraid of this uncertainty since the most important thing is the message given to the audience rather than the perfect technical execution of a piece.

“In some cases, performances full of wrong notes have moved me more than very accurate performances without any transcendence.”

Of course, it is disturbing when the music isn’t what he expects, especially when it happens in a bad way, but the most important thing is to focus on the present moment and fully concentrate on the music being produced.

Then, he doesn’t have time to think about what went wrong a few moments ago and about what might not work in the next passages. This ability requires years of training for most of us but it’s exciting.

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Editor’s Note: Julien omits the girls in this article because him/her or he/she is just clunky, but he’s referring to the guys and girls throughout.

Finding fans is an art.

Wouldn’t it be great if people supported anything you did?

Once you get the motion started, people will flock to you.

No kidding.

The Secret’s Story

I’m going to tell you the man who inspired this.

He sat in a wheelchair and I don’t remember his looks, but I’m never going to forget what he brought. The strength and energy he spoke with, the way he let his words run loose, he was reaching out to us with his heart.

He connected to us through his story and his storytelling, the way he controlled his audience and knew when to do what.

He gained a lot of supporters that day and I’m almost sure that it happens every time he really speaks; his message was Don’t drink and drive, but it was deeper than that.

His drunken driving killed his legs and his friend who was in the car beside him.

But it was the exclusive message afterwards when I learned how he reached out to us.

He told us his secret to getting fans. It works for everyone, whether you’re raising money for a cause or performing live next week.

The 60-20-20 Rule

We were a group striving for social change, and his exclusive talk helped us a lot.

The man taught us the 60-20-20 rule to getting fans and running amazing events, and this is something I still use today.

• 20% of people support you already. In our case, these were the people in the class, our friends, our families, and possibly the teachers.
• Another 20% of people will be against you; usually it’s not personal– they just don’t want to listen. In our case, they didn’t attend our events, they were negative about our initiatives, and were passive to our messages.
• And here’s where it gets interesting: the remaining 60% just don’t know. They don’t know if they should support you or not, and they’re lingering on neutral until either group convinces them. This is the group that we target our campaigns to.

Some people will always stay in the neutral 60% group and that’s why we have publicity campaigns for every event out there.

The man recognized his 60-20-20 in the audience and reached out to his 60% (which I was part of– I didn’t know what to expect), winning over hearts and supporters.

What does this mean?

With any audience, you start off with the approximate ratio 60-20-20 until either of the 20% groups gains more fans.

When you focus on convincing the 60% portion of people to support you or even join the always-supporting 20% of people, you’ll make a lot more progress because your efforts are targeted.

These groups are flexible and some people might go back and forth. However, the 20% of people who start out against you are difficult to change and under most circumstances, it’s best to leave them alone.

You’re probably thinking, ‘But Grace, isn’t it more effective when you target more people because there’s a bigger chance of gaining more supporters?’

Sounds logical, but the opposite is actually true: the more targeted your audience is, the more supporters you’ll gain. Why?

• It’s quicker and easier to focus on the people who might already be interested in you.
• Jumping from (sometimes extreme) dislike to like is a big step and most people aren’t ready to change at all.
• People who are against you (or what you work for) start out with a plethora of preconceptions and it’s both time-consuming and difficult to change them. Why don’t you focus your time and energy on people who deserve it instead?
• When you target a certain audience, the way you connect with them is more focused, and you can create a type of ‘intimacy’ (more on that below), adding to your supporting 20%.

How it Works

Let’s put this into context. I have two examples for you…

Example #1: Projects that Change the World

Going back to the leadership class, one thing separated the most successful event organizers and the students who jumped around helping one cause after another: the leaders were passionate about one (or two) causes and focused all their energies on those.

So when someone started planning a project that was even remotely related to clothing, my name came up, even amongst the teachers. “Oh, you’re doing a project with clothes? Why don’t you talk to Grace? She’s done projects like this…”

People consulted me for their projects, and I actually got invited to participate or lead others’ projects, because of my experience with clothing; sock drives, charity button (the type you pin onto your clothes) making, Hunger Games (charity event), you name it.

• I gained a lot of supporters over the year; people would follow my progress and projects or offer to help.
• I always got the number of volunteers I needed for my projects because I’d established a fanbase of people who were shared my goals and were actually interested in the projects.
• My event turnouts increased as the year progressed, and by the time I graduated, I was almost sad because my initiative wasn’t a club and it most likely would not continue after I leave.
• By narrowing my focus, I actually gained more supporters because I became the go-to person for that type of project. Unknowingly, I targeted a narrower field in the 60% of neutral people.

Example #2: Teaching Piano

•  As a piano teacher, my 20% of supporters are my existing students and parents.
• The 20% of people who aren’t with me don’t necessarily have anything personal against me; they just don’t believe in piano and the arts in general.
• If I wanted more piano students, there is a whole 60% of people out there who might pass by the studio and come in for a quick chat, or hear about the studio from a current student/parent; I might even put an ad in the newspaper or put up posters around town.

As you can see, the 60-20-20 rule is applicable anywhere.

 Takeaways

• Focus on people who are already interested in you; determine who your supporters are and identify the neutral 60%.
• Target your campaigns on the neutral portion (60%) for maximum results; these people can also turn against you, so they’re important.
• Don’t forget about your supporting 20%; these people are special.

I’m excited to introduce Daniel Barkley today!

Daniel is a pianist and composer from the UK; his pieces have been performed all over the world, from Portugal to the USA. He’ll be pursuing his MA in music composition at QUB.

Daniel shares his influences and creative habits for composing and he gives us a glimpse of his thoughts below.

Daniel’s Biggest Influence

As a composer, the things that influence me most directly are composers who came before (and their music), current composers (not as much, since composition is very specialised these days – everyone does their own thing), and inspiring art works from other disciplines, such as novels, films, paintings, etc.

As a pianist, something that inspires me to, for example, work harder, aim higher, practice more efficiently, is following sportspeople.

It was inspiring, a few weeks ago, to see Roger Federer win his 17th grand slam and return to world number one. Now he’s at the Olympics trying to win gold, after a break of only a few weeks.

This is a great example of motivation and desire to succeed, and can inspire anybody.

Daniel’s Creative Habits

Sleeping well, getting up early, exercising regularly, doing stimulating things, spending time with friends. These all help creativity for me. Sometimes staying up late works too, despite being bad for your schedule/health etc.

On specific habits that enhance creativity

Anything specific? I don’t think so. I don’t think you can force creativity or say “today, I will be inspired and write something!” It’s more listening to yourself, knowing when you’re feeling creative, and capitalising on those periods.

“[Creativity], like practising piano,… [is] all about managing your own state of mind.”

For me, a deadline usually motivates me, and that’s usually a good thing. (But if the project was never going to click, then a deadline will make it feel worse if things aren’t going to plan.)

I get writer’s block quite a lot recently, I even did a few blog posts about it (here’s the first post of three).

The best thing, I find, is to have something positive to work towards.

If you can get the ball rolling, with an idea or theme that you like, or excites you, then you can usually keep the ball rolling.

Might not mean you’re really inspired, but a little theme that sparks interest can be enough to fuel a whole piece. And I find the best way to find those little themes is to improvise at the piano, and see if anything pops up. Usually works!

“Knowing when to push hard, and when not to overdo it.”

Interesting topic… I think, like practising piano, it’s all about managing your own state of mind. Knowing when to push hard, and when not to overdo it. I think it’s pretty easy to wear yourself out by overworking… which then results in a total lack of motivation and inspiration.

A Pianist’s Most Important Quality

“Raw technique is always less impressive than true musicianship.”

The utmost quality that a pianist needs to be really good is musicianship.

That’s a broad term, but it basically comes down to approaching everything with the right mindset.

You must have a good ear for tuning, a sense of rhythm, ability to play and blend well with other musicians.

In a group setting, musicianship is a kind of diplomacy, a give and take, and any good musician will have this. Raw technique is always less impressive than true musicianship.

This post is part of a series of expert mini interviews:

• Practicing for Smooth Performances with Erica Sipes
• Cultivating Confident Performers with Gail Fischler
• Inspiring Performer Started Piano at 20: Emir Gamsizoglu
• A Peek into Composing with Daniel Barkley