By Gregory Daubney MSc MBPsS & Dr Alison Daubney
Reprinted from Performance Anxiety: A Practical Guide for Music Teachers
Incorporated Society of Musicians Trust (ISM Trust), February 2017
Your performance is tomorrow! Your heart races faster than ever as you realise that this time tomorrow you will be performing. Have you practised enough? Can you remember the whole piece? What happens if you fail? Why are you doing this? Your breathing is short and shallow. Your heart is hammering against your chest wall and getting louder while your mouth is dry. How can I do this? Why did I do this? I don’t want to do this! Don’t make me do this! and…STOP!

by Noa Kageyama PhD
Reposted from https://bulletproofmusician.com/is-slow-practice-really-necessary/
Like everyone else in the world who has ever taken music lessons, I’ve been urged to practice slowly on many an occasion. But did I heed my teachers’ advice? Nope. After all, what’s the point of slow practice? Everything is easier slower – of course you can play things more accurately at a slow tempo. What’s the big deal? But…why do so many people swear by slow practice?

by Jeremy Woolhouse
Instrumental technique may be considered as the interface between concept and sound. Our technical prowess determines how effectively our ideas flow from imagination, through the instrument, to the listener. The definitions we create of technique, guide our practice and teaching. They may be a liberating or limiting factor. We inevitably acquire a set of judgements around what is appropriate technique, and what is not.

by Helen Kasztelan Chapman
MMus (Uni Melb), Graduate Diploma in Music Performance (VCA), BA Mus (VCA), LMusA, AMusA, MVMTA
As an AMEB piano examiner with over twenty-five years’ experience in teaching, examining and adjudicating in eisteddfods, I have observed that Bartók’s piano music is often overlooked by instrumental studio teachers. I wanted to find out why this is the case as well as look at the technical aspects of teaching this music.