Ever wonder why you can practice for hours, sound great in the practice room, and still be frustratingly hit or miss on stage? Join performance psychologist and Juilliard alumnus/faculty Noa Kageyama, and explore research-based “practice hacks” for beating anxiety, practicing more effectively, and playing up to your full abilities when it matters most.
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All Keyed Up is an interview podcast in which Ben Kapilow speaks with a wide range of professionals about topics that are pertinent to the field of piano teaching.
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Nathan Cole: Lessons From 20 Years of Concertmaster Auditions
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Have you ever wondered...how to develop true confidence in yourself and your abilities amidst setbacks? What the right mindset is for auditions? How much of your expressive playing should be planned out, and how much is instinct? How to recover from very direct, critical audition feedback? And how do you stay in the present moment, instead of stres…
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An Ironic Strategy to Stay Calmer and Avoid Rushing on Performance Days
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Whether it's picking a tempo that's too fast, or rushing a shift, it's easy for things to feel sped up on concert days when the adrenaline kicks in, and the butterflies are fluttering about. Is there any way to be a little more centered on stage, and feel more at ease? Rather than hurried and rushed? Today's studies provide a few clues about what w…
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How Teachers' Expectations Can Shape Students' Learning & Performance
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In last week's episode, we looked at a study which illustrated how our own beliefs and expectations about ourselves can affect our performance. It turns out that our beliefs and expectations - and subsequently, performance - can also be shaped by our teachers/coaches. So...as teachers, how can we ensure that our natural snap judgments, beliefs, and…
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How Much Do Positive or Negative Expectations Affect Performance?
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Even from a very early age, I remember being told to imagine things going well. The idea, was that if I could imagine a positive outcome, I'd be more likely to expect good things, which would help me perform better. Is this just something that people say? Or do our expectations really have a meaningful effect on how we perform? A classic 1972 study…
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How to Keep Music Feeling Fresh Through Repeated Performances
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It's probably fairly common for our minds to go on autopilot when we're brushing our teeth, mowing the lawn, or folding laundry. And that's probably not all that big of a problem. But have you ever found your mind going on autopilot in a performance, when you're playing something you've played for years, and it's begun to feel a little too familiar…
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Is It Really so Bad to Frown After Making a Mistake?
8:56
8:56
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My daughter loved playing card games as a young child. And what was fun about playing with her was how completely transparent she was. Anytime she got a good hand, or picked up a special card, the glee was written all over her face. Her eyes lit up, and I knew something unfortunate was about to happen to me. 😆 This sort of emotional expressivity is…
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How frequently do you take breaks during practice? Ever wonder how long your breaks should be? Or for that matter, how long your practice sessions should be? If you've ever wondered if there's such a thing as an optimal practice-to-rest ratio that maximizes productivity and effective practice, there's some data out there which provides some clues. …
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Is There a Way to Make Self-Imposed Deadlines Work?
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Whether it's writing a paper, studying for finals, or preparing for a recital or audition, have you ever find yourself cramming at the last minute, wishing you had a time machine and could go back and give yourself more time to prepare? Well, a 2002 study provides some clues on how to set better deadlines - and also, how to make self-imposed deadli…
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Does Listening to Music Benefit the Music Learning Process?
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We're often told to listen to recordings of music that we're working on. And we often tell our students to do so as well, but is there any research which suggests that this benefits the learning process in any way? A 2012 study takes a look at this question, and compares both active and passive listening to see what sorts of benefits there might (o…
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A Better Way to Learn, Teach, and Perform New Skills?
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Ever have one of those days in the practice room, where as soon as you fix one issue, another problem pops up? And just when you think you have that problem solved, the original thing "breaks" again? And when you try to think about both of those things, a third issue emerges? This practice room whack-a-mole problem can be kind of frustrating. But i…
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Is It Better to Perform With Eyes Open or Closed?
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Do you tend to play with your eyes open? Or do you sometimes close them? Ever wonder if there might be any performance benefit to performing with eyes closed? Turns out there might be - in certain circumstances. Get all the nerdy details here: Is It Better to Perform With Eyes Open or Closed? * * * BTW, have you ever wondered why it is exactly that…
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A Teaching Method That Creates Smarter Practicers
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I remember my teacher saying to me quite early on in my studies, that her job was not to tell me what to do, but to teach me how to teach myself. I think we all have that goal in our teaching, but like many things, this is often easier said than done. I mean, how exactly do we teach someone how to teach themself? In a 2011 study, researchers recrui…
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The Subtle Habit That Might Be Undermining Your Confidence
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You know how people say that little kids don’t have a filter? How they just blurt out whatever thoughts pop into their minds? Well, the voice in our head can kind of be like that unfiltered 1st grader. Because we often say some rather unkind and borderline abusive things to ourselves quite automatically. We might not truly believe the mean and disc…
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Learn More Effectively with This Lesser-Known Mindset Shift
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For most of my life, even through college and grad school, regular ol' repetition was probably my most-utilized learning strategy whether I was studying for a test or practicing for my next lesson or performance. If you've gone through stages like this, you probably remember that this approach is not particularly enjoyable, and is also quite time-c…
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Are You the “Good” or “Bad” Kind of Procrastinator?
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We all procrastinate on things from time to time. And sometimes we pay the price for doing things at the last minute. But then there are times when it actually seems to work out pretty well! So is procrastination all bad? Or could there be a productive and unproductive sort of procrastination? Well, the research seems to suggest that the answer cou…
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Why Practicing for Consistency May Be Less Effective Than You’d Think
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This episode is sponsored by Musician's Maintenance - safe, simple, maintenance exercises that specifically address the muscle groups that matter most for musicians. * * * When I was first starting out on the violin, I remember there were more fun games and practice challenges involved in my daily practice. Like free improvisation. Or playing with …
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In the age-old debate about nature vs. nurture, I know the correct answer for most things is that it's a blend of both. But sight-reading, at least for me, always felt like one of those things which leaned more on the nature side than nurture. Some folks just seem to have a knack for it, while I always struggled. But what does the research say? Cou…
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