Labyrinth Music Blog
Meditations on Learning and Loving Music
How to start singing for the first time
If you’re not in the habit of singing but you want to get more comfortable making music with your voice, try these tips for what, when, and where to start singing.
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?
Embracing Failure
Fear of failure is a universal human experience. Part of my job as a music teacher is to arm my students to battle this fear, because failing is a necessary stage of every achievement.
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.
8 things parents need to know before starting music lessons
Whether your child will be learning singing, piano, or another instrument, getting started can be a little intimidating if you’re not sure what to expect. Here are eight things you should know before your child’s first music lesson.
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.
Don't let other people determine your limits
Are some people too un-talented to make music? No! No matter what you’ve been told, you don’t lack the capacity to learn to sing or play an instrument. Yet so many of us believe we are incapable of becoming musicians...
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.)
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!
You don’t need musical talent
Music doesn’t come from some mystical source called "talent" - it can be learned, and it can be learned by anybody. Being talented, or the idea of being talented, can actually get in your way!
My first recital
Every professional musician had a first recital, and today I want to tell you about mine. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go great.
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.
