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We do not live in a vacuum. In general, we need others. As a self employed musician, that part of ourselves can be the difference between making it or not. Being on your own imposes a lot of stress from the decisions you make and the consequences that ensues.  Although it isRead More

When parents bring their child to my studio, I don’t ask them to go buy a book and have them follow it through the weeks. What I do, instead, is look at the pupil, talk to her and gauge what would be the best way to communicate music with her. What I mean is that I tailorRead More

Acquiring speed requires a lot of patience. The patience of watching an iceberg move, or a tree grow. Yes, it takes that much. And it is a very frustrating process: the one working hard to gain speed doesn’t see his own progress. I explain. Let’s suppose you are doingRead More

When I talk to other piano teachers, pretty soon they discuss their two nemesis, the very things that students seem to be completely oblivious to: reading and rhythm. The story goes that, no matter what they try, students are not interested in reading, the metronome or a quarterRead More

Ah, dear new students, welcome! You are awaited here, at this very website, this very studio, by this very instructor. You are someone special and you do not know about it. New students always think they are approaching things the wrong way. They are afraid of making the wrongRead More

What does it take to become a famous musician? Answer: it takes everything. EVERYTHING. But, and this is the funny thing about this line of job, even if you don’t intend to become famous, becoming a working musician ask for everything you got. And then some. Today we areRead More

The wannabe pros can get stuck sometimes into their own comfort. Let’s take a wannabe. Let’s take a female one. And she has this dream of one day making a living as a musician. Now, she’s got the instrument. She even cleared up her schedule to be able toRead More

All right, so, now you have the skills, you have the endurance, we’ve talked about that. You also know how to listen: good! And you’re careful not to put too much on your plate: good! Goes without saying: you’re familiar with the music programs and the internet.Read More

I could have titled this blog: Rise of the machine. It would have been fun, we would have been in a Terminator kind of atmosphere, but I thought that “Machining” was first more accurate and second, in the spirit of the previous blog on this series. What is machining,Read More

Being a musician is a great adventure. You make that decision and you think you’re ready to become a pro. As you step outside, you got your bag full of goodies: you have your technique neatly packed, the one that’ll save you in any situation, you got your listeningRead More