The Bulletproof Musician

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A Better Way to Do Mental Practice Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

Most musicians (and athletes) have heard of mental practice, and have probably been encouraged to do it. But have you ever been taught *how* to do mental practice?

Most research centers on whether mental practice works, or what type is best, but today's study looks at a strategy for learning how to do mental practice. And it describes a technique for how to get better at mental practice - and see changes in performance - even if you've never been very good at imagery in the past.

A Better Way to Do Mental Practice

More from The Bulletproof Musician

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Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

The Problem With Time and Repetition-Based Practice Goals (And What to Do Instead) Oct 09, 2022

Show notes

As common as it is to create practice goals centered around time or repetition (e.g. practice scales for 10 minutes every day), a 2012 study suggests that there could be a better way to set practice goals, that could lead to significantly greater improvements in the same amount of practice time.

The Problem With Time and Repetition-Based Practice Goals (And What to Do Instead)

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

When is the Optimal Time to Start Doing Performance Practice? Oct 02, 2022

Show notes

We all know how valuable practice performances and mock auditions can be - but I think it's probably human nature to wait until everything is "ready" before we start recording and playing for others.

Of course, how far in advance of an audition or performance should we be playing for others? Is it important that we wait until things are pretty close to being performance-ready? Or should we be aiming to play for others much sooner than we might otherwise assume?

When is the Optimal Time to Start Doing Performance Practice?

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

What Is More Effective for Learning - Praise or Criticism? Sep 25, 2022

Show notes

Ever wonder what role praise and criticism plays in learning? Like, is there an optimal ratio of positive to negative that seems to work best?

A 1976 analysis of legendary basketball coach John Wooden's coaching provides some surprising insights into what might actually work best.

What Is More Effective for Learning - Praise or Criticism?

Also, if you've been wanting to feel more comfortable performing, but aren't sure how to go about it, you might be interested in the live online 4-week class starting in October. Get all the details here:

Performance Psych Essentials (for Musicians)

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

Is It Possible to Increase Your “Immunity” to Nerves? The Research Suggests Yes - And Here’s How to Do It. Sep 18, 2022

Show notes

Ever wish there were a way to be less affected by nerves under pressure. Like, if there could be a flu shot equivalent for nerves to help "inoculate" you to pressure?

Researchers have wondered this as well, and a pair of studies suggest that we totally can!

Is It Possible to Increase Your “Immunity” to Nerves? The Research Suggests Yes - And Here’s How to Do It.

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

Wish You Could Memorize Better? Why a Little Bit of "Verbalization" Might Be the Missing Ingredient. Sep 11, 2022

Show notes

Fear of memory slips is a common issue for many musicians. But I don't know that many of us have ever been taught specifically how to memorize either...

Turns out there's a relatively simple strategy we can use to significantly improve how much of the new music we're learning "sticks" in our memory.

Wish You Could Memorize Better? Why a Little Bit of "Verbalization" Might Be the Missing Ingredient.

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

David Juncos & Elvire de Paiva e Pona: On ACT and a New Approach to Overcoming Performance Anxiety Sep 04, 2022

Show notes

Eliminating nerves, or staying positive and turning your inner critic into an optimist can be difficult, frustrating, and exhausting.

But what if we didn't have to? What if there were another way, another path to performing optimally where we didn't have to fight our nerves quite so much?

Today's guests share insights into a relatively new approach to managing nerves and performance stress that is gaining increasing interest in both sport and music circles - ACT.

David Juncos & Elvire de Paiva e Pona: On ACT and a New Approach to Overcoming Performance Anxiety

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

Optimizing Practice: 2 Things That the Best Performers Do & 1 Thing That the Best “Improvers” Do Aug 28, 2022

Show notes

There are quite a few studies that have looked at the practice habits of top performers, but there are few that have looked at the practice habits of the top performers who also improve at the greatest rate.

Today's study does just that and identifies one key practice process that's associated with the most growth and improvement.

Optimizing Practice: 2 Things That the Best Performers Do & 1 Thing That the Best “Improvers” Do

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

Why Ear Training Might Matter More Than You Think Aug 21, 2022

Show notes

Ever wonder why ear training is such an emphasis in the standard music curriculum? How important is it that we be good at it? What does it actually help us with?

A 2004 study of pianists provides some answers!

Why Ear Training Might Matter More Than You Think

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

Two Helpful Things to Think About on Stage, Right Before You Start Playing Aug 14, 2022

Show notes

Turns out what we think about right before we start playing can have a significant effect on how well we perform! So if your brain tends to suddenly imagine worst-case scenarios, or blank out, or get distracted, a recent tennis study provides some clues on what would be more helpful to keep our mind focused on instead.

Two Helpful Things to Think About on Stage, Right Before You Start Playing

More from The Bulletproof Musician

Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
Live and self-paced courses

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