Passionate Practice: The Musician’s Guide to Learning, Memorizing, and Performing

“Relax your shoulders.” “Let go of tension.” “Look at the music.” “Don’t look at the music.” Look at the keyboard.” “Don’t look at the keyboard.” “Listen to the music.” “Don’t think, just play.” Every music student has heard such suggestions, and they all hold some truth. But the challenge how? This book is a gentle, progressive guide in exactly how to relax, focus, listen, and feel the music and how to harness them to work together, automatically and simultaneously. Its innovative approach combines special relaxing and behavior modification exercises that foster concentration, focus, security and passion in performance. The book, user-friendly, comprehensive, and filled with witty illustrations, can also be used as a key tool for psychotherapists working to help clients detoxify trauma, especially that associated with performing issues.