Musicianship Mastery with David Lane

At some point in your music goals, you may want a private teacher. With so many teachers to choose from, how do you find the RIGHT one for you and your needs? In this video, I offer the idea of a menu that you can customize for yourself and use in the interview process of choosing the right teacher. Hopefully I make it clear that I myself am not the right teacher for everyone, but I am for some. B...

Practicing an instrument does NOT require you to spend days or weeks practicing the same music with little to show for it. You can and should change how you structure your practice to always see progress. Practice should be fun, and always seeing progress is how you make sure it's fun. This episode will share how I make sure that I never go any longer than 5 minutes without a LOT of progress. Book...

Why is practicing music hard? Why aren't you making more progress than you think you should? There's a mindset skill that is essential to understand and embrace before any other tips or approaches will have any effect on you getting better and better at music. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can find all episodes of this podcast at  h...

No talk on musicianship skills this week.  Instead, I wanted to chat with listeners about some recent changes to the podcast that you may have noticed, changes going forward, and why these changes.  Looking forward to returning next week with another music lesson. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can find all episodes of this podcast a...

No matter what instrument you play, singing will make you a better musician! Basic vocal skills will enhance your musicianship in a profound way that never quite gets developed without them. This episode will talk about the unique qualities of musicianship that only singing can offer, some basics of good singing, as well as a plan for how you can guide yourself to improve your vocal skills.  This...

Regardless of your principal instrument, if you want to be a well-rounded musician, it's essential to have some basic intermediate piano skills.  In this episode, I talk about why it's considered essential by most conservatories, what types of skills you should know, and how you can guide your self-education. This episode may best be appreciated as a video on YouTube where every technique that is...

If you want to build a successful career in music, this is not the 1990s, nor is it even the 2010s, when the path was much different. A few things never go out of style, such as practicing well and networking, but nearly everything else is different from when I began my journey nearly 30 years ago. My definition of a successful career is modest: I've been able to pay all of my bills and have enoug...

Why is it that you stop practicing on a piece or a technique, and most of it is gone within a year if not a few months? That's been true for me too. However, there are plenty of exceptions - pieces I could ignore for over a year and sit down to play from memory like I'd practiced it yesterday. In this episode, I talk about what the pieces that stick all have in common versus the ones that just dis...

The art of being an accompanist is applicable to all sorts of situations, including playing in an ensemble with other musicians without a conductor. I've accompanied hundreds of musicians for at least 35 years, and these are my thoughts on how to do it well. Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of...

Even if conducting isn't a major goal, every good musician should know what to do if presented with an opportunity to lead an ensemble in rehearsal or a performance.  This episode will introduce you to the basics of preparing for a rehearsal, how to lead the rehearsal, how to lead a performance, and the basics of baton technique and other hand instructions. Musicianship Mastery is formerly known a...

This is the third and final episode of sharing my notes on Molly Gebrian's fantastic book, "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best.  In this episode, we talk about how to get truly ready for performance and how to make sure your memory of all your repertoire is reliabl...

This is the 2nd of 3 episodes where I share my notes on one of the best books I've read recently: Molly Gebrian's "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best.    In this second episode, we talk about how you can improve your sense of internal rhythm and techniques you can...

One of the best books I've read recently was Molly Gebrian's "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best.  This is the first of 3 episodes where I share my notes.  In this first episode, we talk about the basics of music and neurology when it comes to learning, how to sche...

You've heard of composing and improvising, but there are 3 other ways you can choose to create music.  This episode goes over each, and a summary of what you need to do to get better at each one. Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit. Let me know your thoughts on this episode as a voice message to possibly share on a future episode at  https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToo...

Have you ever heard that classical musicians only like classical music, or that composers are free spirits who are guided by the muse, or that they all love to stay up late at night and get up late in the morning?  Stereotypes are fun because each one is true for SOME musicians, but not for all and often not for most.  Sometimes musicians themselves may fit a stereotype and not realize that many o...

If you or someone you know is looking ahead to college and thinking about possibly majoring in music, this is a very important episode to check out!  Let's talk about the 4 reasons why you shouldn't along with 4 reasons why you should. You can also hear what to expect going forward if you decide to major in music.  Finally, I give my candid feedback as a music major with 2 degrees how I feel about...

Planning everything or having nothing but constraints without creative freedom is stifling and lifeless.  Creative freedom without regimen is chaos.  Great music and great musicians have always had both elements in their life.  This episode offers a few examples as to how you can present both elements in your practice. Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit. Let me know you...

Videos, books, and podcasts are all examples of ways to LEARN ABOUT music.  However, none of those will allow you to LEARN music.  Music isn't about what you know in your head.  It's about what you know with your hands or your voice or whatever touches your instrument.  Whether you're a performer or a composer, it's crucial that you understand this and practice your craft accordingly. Referenced Y...

Today's episode talks about two challenges that musicians face.  The first is how to learn brand new music, not as in "new to me" but NEW...freshly composed just for you, with no precedent and no reference recording.  Secondly, we talk about the process of building a repertoire necessary to do a full-length recital. My guest is Dr. Annie Jeng, an associate professor at the University of North Caro...

Have you ever said or thought any of the following statements in your lesson? "I usually play better at home." "I don't know why I get so nervous in here". "I swear I practiced this better than this." This is a very common problem, performance anxiety in your lessons. However, it's not hard to fix. This episode offers 5 simple suggestions that you can apply right away to gradually get more comfort...

This episode contains hard truth.  Most of you are probably not practicing enough to reach any goals of advanced repertoire, and there's a chance that you're going to be stuck on elementary music for a long time.  In this episode, let's look at what kind of results you get when you average as little as 15 minutes per day a few times per week all the way up to 4 hours per day everyday.  As you list...

For anyone who wants to become truly great in any field, Robert Greene's book "Mastery", shows a process that has been used by some of the most successful people in history from art to science to literature to sports and, of course, in music. This episode summarizes the book in a way that musicians can apply partially to become better or wholly to become elite. Musicianship Mastery is formerly kno...

This is the final episode of a 5-part series going over all the concepts every musician should know about music theory.  This episode covers the trends that have developed in what we call classical music since 1900 from chords based on intervals other than 3rds, a wider variety of scales, atonal music, minimalism. and more. Previous Episodes in the Series: Music Theory Overview Music Theory I: Bas...

This is the 4th of a 5-part series going over all the concepts every musician should know about music theory.  This episode covers the guidelines for smooth voice leading when constructing notes in 4-parts. It also talks about the structure of larger forms such as Theme and Variations, Sonata Allegro, and more. Previous Episodes in the Series: Music Theory Overview Music Theory I: Basics and Funda...

This is the 3rd of a 5-part series going over all the concepts every musician should know about music theory.  This episode covers the basics of roman numeral analysis, diatonic triads, how to classify non-chord tones, and a way to categorize nearly every time signature. Previous Episodes in the Series: Music Theory Overview Music Theory Basics and Fundamentals Inquire about private lessons on mus...