Labyrinth Music Blog
Meditations on Learning and Loving Music
Just keep singing
In the midst of a turbulent world, we feel a bit guilty trying to be happy, or even just trying to be normal. Does it make a difference what we do? What’s the point of even doing anything at all?
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.
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.
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.
Being sure, being ready
Practicing is a hot topic among musicians. It’s relevant to everyone, musician or not, because we all practice things. We all prepare, in some way, when we want to be ready for something. But what does it take to be truly ready?
Difficult student, don’t change
Do “difficult” students resist instruction just to be difficult, or are they responding to their own feelings? Here’s why I’d rather let my piano students learn more slowly than teach them to ignore how they feel.
Singers aren’t real musicians?
It's a myth, but why do people believe it? And what should voice teachers do about it?
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.
