The Bulletproof Musician Noa Kageyama

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. But the question is...will the data align with your own experience? 😁Get all the nerdy details and this week's practice hack here:What’s the Optimal ...

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 deadlines work better, if you haven't had much luck with that in the past.Get all the nerdy details here: Is There a Way to Make Self-Imposed Deadlines W...

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 (or might not) be:Get all the nerdy details here:Does Listening to Music Benefit the Music Learning Process?* * *BTW, have you ever wondered why it i...

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 it speaks to how difficult it can be to keep multiple things in mind simultaneously when the various parts of a new skill aren't yet in muscle memory...

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 things often sound better at home than they do on stage? If you’ve been confused (and frustrated) by the inconsistency of your performances, I put tog...

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...