Resources for musicians

I remember a few years ago stumbling across an Instagram account called Classical Wellness, by cellist Jalayne Mitchell. In her posts, she talks about things that are not often discussed between colleagues and teachers but are the core of our music careers. Not only does she talk about mental health, consistency, motivation, and burnout, but also about performance anxiety and healthy practice habits. Moreover, she organized symposiums where she invited a variety of guests to talk about injury prevention, what it means to have a career in music, the mental side of performing under pressure, and project management for musicians. By creating a space to talk and by normalizing our daily struggles, you come to realize that you are not alone, and that every musician is fighting with at least one or two, if not more, of these (and other similar) issues and she presents tools and strategies to help. Knowing about her account made me want to find out more about topics like mental practice and sustainable practice strategies, and it gave me a starting point for my research.

Because of some chronic injury that sets limits on my practice schedule, I have always found mental practice and practice strategies an invaluable tool that is not encouraged, taught, or talked about enough. As a result of my research, I have learned not only about several strategies and practice techniques, but they have also given me insight into the learning process and the brain mechanisms that take place when we are learning a new skill. Among the resources that I found are performance physiologist Noah Kageyama with his Bulletproof Musician blog, musicians Hattie Butterworth and Rebecca Toal and their podcast Things Musicians Don’t Talk About, author W. Timothy Gallwey with his books The Inner Game of Tennis, Inner Game of Music and Inner Game of Golf, Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier, violinist and performance coach, and her The Mind over Finger podcast, and Dr. Molly Gebrian, viola player with a background in neuroscience and author of the book Learn Faster Perform Better.

After doing my research I came to realize the many layers of practicing an instrument. It is not about how much you practice, but about what you do in your practice. What strategies do you use? How do you approach learning a new piece versus something you have played before? How do you divide your practice? What do you focus on when you are practicing? Do you know how to dissect the technical or musical problems that appear in your practice and name them for what they are, to approach them consequently? Do you take strategic breaks? How do you prepare for a performance? Dr. Molly Gebrian and Noah Kageyama are two of the authors that explore these questions from a scientific point of view. They thoroughly explain the research behind what is happening in the brain when we are learning a new skill and how to work from the standpoint of scientific evidence. As a result, they have made me wonder if we as musicians are accommodating our practice routine to make it easier for our brain to retain what we spent so many hours practicing in our practice rooms, and if we are teaching the next generations in a way that is consistent with what we know about the learning mechanisms.

From my experience, teaching how to practice is rarely taught from the very moment that a student starts playing an instrument, which is contradictory given how many teachers still have high expectations about the student practicing every day. That is why I hope this blog will be a helpful resource not only for conservatory students and professional musicians, but also for music teachers.