The Bulletproof Musician

We've all heard stories of athletes and musicians using visualization or mental practice to enhance their learning or performance. But how exactly are we supposed to do it? In this episode, you'll learn about PETTLEP; a 7-point "how-to" set of guidelines, developed by two British researchers, drawing from the research in performance psych and neuroscience. Not Sure How to Do Mental Practice? Here's a 7-Point "How-To" GuideMore from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

Have you ever wondered why solfège is such a constant in most music curricula? Or why teachers often ask us to sing in lessons? And if any of this is ever going to pay off in meaningful ways? A recent Danish study suggests that integrating a bit of singing into one's practice might indeed have some real worthwhile benefits. Lead author and trumpet professor Kristian Steenstrup drops by to chat for a bit and shares more details on what they found, plus an intriguing 4-step process for learning new music a little more efficiently. Kristian Steenstrup: On Singing, Solfège, and Cultivating a More Efficient Approach to Learning New Music.More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

We've all been told that slow practice is important. And while it's certainly an important tool to have in your toolbox, there is research which suggests that slow practice can potentially cause problems too, if we are too focused on slow, accurate playing in the early stages of learning something new. What?! In today's episode, you'll learn why this is, and two strategies to help you learn a new piece at the goal tempo from day 1. Struggling to Get a Tricky Passage up to Tempo? Why Slow, Accurate Practice May Actually Be the Problem.More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

The traditional method of learning is to try to learn the correct "textbook" way of performing a skill, and to do lots and lots of repetitions of that exact movement. But there's some increasing research in the last 20 years which suggests that this may not always lead to the best learning or performance. And that doing a bunch of goofy "wrong" repetitions that one would never do in performance could actually lead to more consistently and high-level execution of that skill. What?! Evidence That Too Much Consistency in Practice Could Potentially Hinder the Learning Process (What?!)More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

I know we've all been told (and experienced first-hand) that cramming doesn't work, and learn better when our practice or study sessions are spaced out over time. But why? What's actually happening in our brains, that makes spaced practice more effective? Why Too-Short Practice Breaks Could Undermine Your LearningMore from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

Whether you're a pianist, a singer, or instrumentalist, I'm sure you've had the experience of feeling a sort of musical "chemistry" when collaborating with other musicians. In this month's conversation, pianist and educator Vivian Hornik Weilerstein shares insights on how pianists can be better listeners, leaders, and collaborators with their music-making partners. And though I originally approached this episode with pianists in mind, I think you'll find that everything Vivian talks about applies to non-pianists who wish to collaborate more effectively with their keyboard colleagues as well!More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall of the practice room of a well-known performer and watch or listen to how they practice? A team of researchers did something close to this - they videotaped expert and intermediate-level athletes practicing for the same exact amount of time, measured their improvement (the experts improved more), and then traced this back to specific differences in what they each group did with their practice time. There were four key differences - differences that I think musicians (or athletes) at any level could benefit from!More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

I think we all go through moments in life where we feel like failures. But has this ever gotten to a point where even though on paper, you are not at all a failure, you still feel like one? And even when everyone else seems to think you're pretty terrific? It's not a silver bullet, but the "directed abstraction" technique could help all of us become a little more confident and cultivate a stronger belief in ourselves. What to Do When Everyone Thinks You're Great - But You Feel Like a FailureMore from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

Mistakes may be inevitable, and there sure are lots of inspirational quotes out there on how important it is to learn from failure... But is that really the best way to learn? Is there any value in learning from successes? Is one better than the other? If We Want to Maximize Learning, is It Better to Focus on Our Failures? Or Our Successes?More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

Sometimes we don't have the luxury of time, and just have to get new repertoire into our fingers quickly, and up to a playable level asap. When that's the case, can listening to a recording really help to accelerate that process? And by how much? A 2014 study provides some clues on how much of a difference this might make in accelerating the learning process. Evidence That Listening to a Recording Could Accelerate the Learning Process for New RepertoireMore from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses