Author Archives: rileylaurie

To build a repertoire, two things are obvious: first, it helps to learn your music in the easiest and most efficient way; secondly, to maintain the repertoire you’ve learned, one must find a way to remember it reliably. Needless to say, practice is key in both cases, but let’s look at some nuances of bothContinue reading “Thoughts on Building and Maintaining Your Repertoire”

We’ve all heard performances where we were awed by the music. Usually this happens when the music seemingly transcends the musician, and sometimes even the composition, when some kind of magic seems to happen. The musician may be awesomely skilled, but beyond technical prowess there is also an indescribable quality that goes far beyond theContinue reading “Making Your Music Compelling”

This post builds upon last week’s post, so to get the most out of it, please read last week’s first. One of the most common questions many musicians (even long-time ones) have is, “Why am I not progressing beyond a certain plateau and why doesn’t playing come more naturally?” In many cases, the answer isContinue reading “Musical Proficiency and the Brain”

The concept of “right brain” and “left brain” is a proven one; the right side of the brain largely governs creative and intuitive thinking, while the left side largely governs logic, mathematics, and rote learning. The two hemispheres are not like halves of a ball; they are physically separate and are joined only by oneContinue reading “The Right Brain, The Left Brain, and the Musician”

Your publicity materials are the most important tools you have, besides your music, for getting gigs. Interestingly, though, if your promo materials fall short, gig promoters are likely to ignore the quality of your music. Many musicians say, “My music speaks for itself,” but in the real world, it might not. Just as people developContinue reading “Creating an Effective Promo Packet and Website”

This is a continuation of last week’s subject on starting and maintaining a professional music career… 9. Do the considerable office work. Although making promo materials and doing your own booking are a kind of “office work”, they’re not all there is. It’s essential to know that there is no way around doing the officeContinue reading “The Right Stuff – Part 2”

Last week I wrote about musical success, which isn’t necessarily the same as having a career in music. This week, I’d like to offer some thoughts on developing and maintaining a professional performance career. As we all know, there are basically three kinds of careers for acoustic/folk/traditional musicians; some do only one of the following,Continue reading “The Right Stuff: Creating and Maintaining a Professional Career”

I heard an interesting comment recently by a motivational speaker. He said, “Information is not transformation”. I wanted to cheer. It was a very concise way to express a concept I’ve always tried to make sure my students know. We live in the information age, and are often under the delusion that what we knowContinue reading “What is Musical Success?”

This is a continuation of the list of Good Practice Habits:  Good Practice Habit #7 –  Eliminating String Noise: Many musicians ignore string noise, but correcting it can bring a piece of music to new levels of excellence. Not all stringed instruments are conducive to eliminating certain string noises, but most are. There are severalContinue reading “Effective Practice Part 3 – More Good Practice Habits”

This is a continuation of last week’s blog. Good Habit #6: Purposely Overcoming Trouble Spots “Trouble spots” are where something always goes wrong in the same part of the tune. Many musicians ignore trouble spots, thinking they’ll just go away eventually (sort of like avoiding going to the dentist for tooth pain). Usually they justContinue reading “Effective Practice, Part 2”