Nailed it!
No, not that insane Brahms broken chord accompaniment. The brain of various musicians. Enjoy.
Wow. Just wow.
This is *not* about playing the piano. But it is about creating music, and artistic dedication to a beautiful idea. The Wintergatan Marble Machine.
Better learning from practice that better engages our cognitive practices
Here are some practice tips from one of my favorite teachers, Polly van der Linde (who runs the Sonata and Sonatina piano camps for adults and kids in Bennington Vermont). These are winners, precisely because they engage deep processing of the sort that cognitive scientists have been showing in recent decades is so important for […]
Classical music video subscription site
Sort of a “Netflix for classical music” (but a lot more expensive: medici.tv. Subscriptions from $120 – $190 / year (as of today). They claim to offer over 100 live events per year, and the catalogue of viewable videos is currently over 1600.
Tagged performance, performers, videoFeeling better about practice: the peak-end rule
Kahneman and Tversky, in their many studies of cognitive biases, discovered the “peak-end rule”: our emotional memories off experiences are disproportionately affected by the end of the experience. For example, they had subjects submerge their hands in painfully cold water for 30 seconds, then another time but with an additional 15 seconds added, but at […]
Tagged blogs, practice, psychologyThe Bulletproof Musician
Just discovered this site — seems to have a wealth of useful advice and wisdom. Primary focus on helping musicians deal with performance anxiety, and also on more effective practice. But lots of other areas of advice as well. The Bulletproof Musician Posted with Blogsy
How much practice? Less if deliberate
A nice article on the advantages of mindful (deliberate) practice. Posted with Blogsy
Why and how to make better practice with “random” practice schedules
A plausible argument (with some research, though mostly not about music practice) for using random rather than blocked (massed) practice. “Why the Progress You Make in the Practice Room Seems to Disappear Overnight.” Posted with Blogsy
Falling (water) music
Wow. The cleverness (and programming patience) of folks amazes me.
The oldest living Holocaust survivor, and oldest pianist?
Alice Herz-Sommer is the oldest known living Holocaust survivor. She was a concert pianist before being sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she played over 100 concerts including Chopin’s complete etudes (from memory). She was married to Leopold Sommer (who died at Dachau) and her son (who was interned with her) Raphael was a distinguished […]