Author Archives:
The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten
I recently have been listening to the audiobook “The Music Lesson” by bassist Victor Wooten. I’m very grateful that was the form the library had, because I can’t imagine it being the same in written form without hearing the musical examples and interludes! It summarizes his lifelong lessons learned about music – but in the [...]
A Birthday Present for You! Also, the reason Harmonious Bodies REALLY exists…
Making music safe. Which really means making living, really daring to live, rather than just surviving, safe. I mean, of course life isn’t safe. None of us gets out of here alive. But have you noticed how fraught music seems to be with fear, even though we love it so much? When we pay money [...]
Quantum Leaps
Have you ever made a quantum leap in your practicing? You’ve tried, and tried. Put in more and more effort. Doggedly plugged away forever. And still you don’t get it. Until one day, you let go somehow. Maybe you stepped away for a while, and you’re less invested in getting it perfect now. And lo [...]
You can be a good musician. Or, you can be….
Recently, I discovered a wonderful blog by Jeffrey Agrell and Evan Mazunik on improvisation. They recently posted an equally great quote by podcast interviewee Stephen Nachmanovitch which I think bears repeating: “You don’t have to practice boring exercises, but you have to practice something. If you find the practice boring, you don’t run away from [...]
Happy new year!
Checking in to say that I am now an official teacher of the Alexander Technique! It’s been a long, life-changing and thoroughly worth it road to get here. I’ll say more about the details of my story in later posts. For now, however, I am thrilled to say that I am offering lessons here in [...]
Announcing: Enhanced Lessons!
How are things in your musical world? Otherwise? I have been busy this fall with the onset of a new group of young violin students. Enthusiastic, full of energy – often hard to direct that energy towards the study of the violin, but that is the special joy/challenge of grade schoolers! However, I have a [...]
New article up on MajoringinMusic.com!
You can see the article I wrote for MajoringinMusic.com on the Alexander Technique for music majors! The photo above and on the article is of Robert Rickover of AlexanderTechnique.com and the Body Learning podcast. A special surprise bonus for me on the page is a video by Michael Frederick, an internationally renowned AT teacher. Announcement [...]
Podcast: Stephen Nachmanovitch, Author and Improviser
Stephen Nachmanovitch performs and teaches internationally as an improvisational violinist, and at the intersections of music, dance, theater, and multimedia arts. He is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (Penguin, 1990). Born in 1950, he studied at Harvard and the University of California, where he earned a Ph.D. in the History [...]
Off to camp! And have you gotten your free ebook yet?
You’ve signed up to be on my mailing list and gotten your free ebook on learning, recovery, and an exercise to make you feel lighter and easier right away, right? Just checking! It’s the box to your right. I’m off to my second year at Voice Camp with Kathryn Armour! It is such an amazing [...]
Spiffed up the site, and my musical autobiography.
Hey there! I’ve made a bunch of updates to the About + Contact, What I Do, and Why I Do It pages, which I think you all will enjoy. So please check them out if you haven’t already! I recently was inspired to write my musical autobiography, and thought it was great to see a [...]
