Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

Good Practice Habit #1: Focus We’ve all heard the term “getting in the zone”, and we all have a different idea of what that means, but we know it refers to being in a state of mind that allows us to accomplish a task at hand. I’ll call it “focus”. Focus is a quiet stateContinue reading “Effective Practice”

To get the most from this article, please see my first post on Modes  (“Demystifying Modes”, published on this site on 5/30/2012),  in which I presented the basic concepts of modes in an easy-to-understand format. When a folk or traditional musician sits down with a group to play a tune, the usual question is, “What keyContinue reading “More on Modes”

(To get the most from this post, please also read last week’s post.) For those who play an acoustic stringed instrument, the term “technique” refers to the way we use our hands to play. Good technique produces the melding of four elements: optimal relaxation of the hands through good ergonomics of the hands and armsContinue reading “More About Hands: Technique Issues”