Labyrinth Music Blog
Meditations on Learning and Loving Music
How much should you practice?
Some people seem to believe that no matter how much time you spend singing or playing your instrument, you should be doing more. So, in my considered opinion, how much should a musician practice?
Should you skip your music lesson this week?
Ever ask yourself, “Is this a good enough reason to skip my music lesson this week? Or to let my kid skip their lesson?” Let me answer that question for you.
Sorry, I can’t teach you
Any teacher who claims to be able to teach anything to anyone is either deluded or predatory. That’s why I’m totally unashamed to say that there are some people I can’t teach.
Maybe my voice is just bad
Do I have a bad voice?? It’s a common concern among beginner voice students and inexperienced singers. Is this fear justified? Could someone have a voice that’s just inherently not good?
Confession: I hate needing help
Aversion to getting help is a hallmark of perfectionism. I have to admit, I hate needing help, asking for help, and accepting help. This installment of “Progress for Perfectionists” is a personal story about a time I caught myself being unnecessarily, foolishly self-sufficient.
How to practice music without getting any better
Why practice the hard way, when you could spend your time goofing around self-indulgently? Here’s everything you should be doing to make sure your practice sessions get you nowhere.
Music teacher, coach, or tutor: What’s the difference?
Which do you need, a teacher, a coach, or a tutor? Musicians and aspiring musicians need to know which kind of professional will be the best choice to help them reach their goals.
You have to have a spark
There’s an X factor for becoming a musician, but it’s not natural intuitive ability, talent, or even discipline - it’s curiosity.
The Practice Sandwich will keep you from quitting music lessons
How’s that for a clickbait title? ;) But seriously, today I’m going to talk about how the way you practice will make or break your motivation to continue music lessons.
Do you even need a music teacher?
Do you want to learn to sing or play an instrument? You could sign up for lessons. But why would you pay someone to teach you, when you could just teach yourself?
Benefits of musical cross-training
One of the best things you can do for your development as a musician is to study more than one instrument. Here’s what you can achieve with music study in a secondary subject.
6 things you need to know before starting music lessons
Want to take voice or piano lessons, but not sure what you’d be getting into? Let me give you some pointers, based on my experience taking and teaching music lessons. These are six realities of taking music lessons that you’ll want to know about before you start.
The importance of doing a bad job
Almost no one likes being a beginner. It’s especially embarrassing if you’re at all perfectionistic. When you can’t seem to get started, make the process the goal. (Featuring a peek into my writing method.)
The Musician’s Two Modes
There are two mental modes every musician can use: Learning Mode, and Expression Mode. The best musicians can easily access either mode and use both modes equally to learn music effectively and perform joyfully. How can you be like them?
How soon will I see results from my music lessons?
How long do you have to take music lessons to see results? I don’t think sounding amazing as quickly as possible should be your biggest concern, but I'll give you a timeline anyway!
8 practice hacks for effective, low-stress music learning
Don’t waste time and effort practicing ineffectively - try these tips to get more out of your music practice time and see faster results.
Learning unfamiliar music in lessons
Lots of piano and voice students initially turn up their nose at unfamiliar pieces. Here’s what I say when I ask them to give a new song a chance.
Writing reviews for music teachers
If you’re going to write a review for your teacher, on behalf of all teachers I would like to thank you!! We really appreciate you putting in the time and effort to write informative and helpful reviews. Teaching professionals need your specific, personal, and honest reviews to stay in business. If you follow these guidelines, your teacher and their future clients will thank you.
