The Bulletproof Musician Noa Kageyama

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 recruited six music teachers and 45 students, and evaluated a teaching method that does exactly this. They were curious to see if it would lead to better l...

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 discouraging thoughts we think to ourselves - at least at first. But if you’ve ever found yourself struggling with confidence, and started questioning yo...

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-consuming. And pretty demotivating too, when you don't get the grade you want or perform as well as you'd like.You're probably utilizing more effecti...

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 could be...yes?Get all the nerdy details and find out how to know if you're the "good" or "bad" kind of procrastinator: Are You the “Good” or “Bad” Kind...

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 various weights and stuffed animals clipped to my bow.And then at some point, practice became much more "serious." Where the goal was to play things ...

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? Could I have gotten better at sight reading if I applied myself more diligently? And what would that have even looked like anyways? Are there specific t...