by Robert Fisher, The Catoctin School of Music The challenges of social isolation, the suspension of ensemble gatherings and an overall sense that live musical performance with large audiences may not be the norm for some time can certainly discourage budding and professional musicians alike, especially in this season of uncertainty. You or someone you know may be facing challenges with staying motivated and optimistic with...
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A little over a year ago I started practicing the harp – an instrument that I had never touched before receiving a kit to build one for Christmas of 2018. By April of 2019 I had finished putting it together, installed the strings, and started working in a curriculum series. In late July of 2019 I bought a book of “easy” Christmas songs with the intention of playing a selection...
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As young musicians, our tendency for practicing is to pick up our instrument and just go, essentially just hoping for the best. There is some progress you’ll see over a long period of that style of practicing but, ultimately, it is just shy of a waste of time. When you put a little time into organizing your practice session and understanding what you want to achieve, you’ll get more done...
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Welcome everyone! In my last post I talked about the “Mental Game” of practice, positive mental strategies to develop efficient practice habits. If you didn’t read it, I encourage you to go back and look at it because not only is it important for all musicians, but it also ties into this post quite a bit. Today I’m talking about the negative psychological factors of which we are all probably guilty....
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by Jamey Mann Often students and professionals find themselves at a plateau that can be difficult to work out of. Just like athletes need to change up their workouts to make gains in sports, musicians need to get out of comfort zones to make gains musically. At a certain point everyone’s routine begins to get stale which in turn, is mentally exhausting. Doing the same technical...
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