The Bulletproof Musician

Епизоде

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  2026.8 | Lorna McGhee 02.08.2026 54мин

  Do elite performers actually feel as confident as they look? In this conversation with Boston Symphony principal flutist Lorna McGhee, we explore what's really happening beneath a confident-looking performance, and why she's come to believe that confidence is something you do, not something you feel. Lorna McGhee is principal flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has previously served as principal flute in the Pittsburgh Symphony and co-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in ...
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  Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse: The Science of Sleep for Musicians 10.05.2026 43мин

  What if one of the most overlooked factors affecting memory consolidation, emotional regulation, practice efficiency, and performance consistency wasn’t a new practice strategy - but sleep? Dr. Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse is a triple board-certified neurologist, sleep specialist, and epileptologist at the University of Pittsburgh, where her work focuses on cognitive performance, sleep, and neurological recovery under high-demand conditions. In addition to her clinical and academic work, she con...
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  Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them) 06.04.2026 35мин

  Have you ever had the experience of fixing something in the practice room…only to have it come back in performance? Maybe it’s a passage where tension creeps back in. Or a section where your fingers revert to an old fingering. Or some aspect of your technique that you’ve worked hard to fix - until it shows up again at exactly the wrong moment. Why does this happen? In this month's episode, cognitive psychologist Paul Baxter explains why bad habits are so persistent, and shares a little-known ...
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  Micah Killion: The One Thing Artist-Level Musicians Do Differently in the Practice Room 08.03.2026 1ч 1мин

  How should musicians actually practice to improve faster? In this conversation with researcher and trumpet professor Micah Killion, we explore what expert musicians do differently in the practice room and what research reveals about effective practice. Micah Killion is Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Brass Coordinator at Montclair State University and former principal trumpet of the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. A Yamaha Performing Artist with degrees from Juilliard, Tea...
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  How to Start a Performance with More Accuracy (Without the Onstage Warm-Up) 18.01.2026 7мин

  One of my teachers often used to say that no matter what you’re playing, when you’re on stage, the beginning of a piece is always the hardest part. Not because the opening is more difficult technically, but because we’ve generally been sitting around for a little while, so we’re feeling kind of cold, a little disconnected from our instrument, and nervous and jittery. And it often takes us a minute or two to get warmed up and really hit our stride. Which might not be the end of the world if yo...
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  When You Can’t Get Yourself to Start Practicing, Try This 11.01.2026 7мин

  In some years it feels easier to begin the new year with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Other years, it can be difficult to get going and build up those new habits that we’d love to develop. Whichever kind of year this is shaping up to be for you, I have a few things planned these next few weeks to help make it a productive one. Today, I have a couple studies to share that look at a popular technique for getting started when your motivation isn’t quite there. Then, Coworking Week begins Mond...
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  The Central Strategy Expert Musicians Use to Practice Difficult Passages 28.12.2025 9мин

  We all get stuck on problem passages from time to time. And it can be very natural to simply throw more repetitions at it, in hopes that this will eventually unlock something. But in doing so, we end up accumulating more and more incorrect repetitions and reinforcing mistakes. So what’s the alternative? A new study took a rare, close-up, repetition by repetition look at how artist-level musicians practice difficult passages. And it identified some key similarities in how they approach problem...
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  How a Small Change in Self-Talk Could Improve Performance Under Pressure 21.12.2025 8мин

  The voice in our head can be an asset at times - but also kind of a jerk at the worst possible moments. And like that one person in the “quiet car” of the train that doesn’t seem to understand the rules, it never seems to be quiet when we need it to. A 2014 study identified a self-talk strategy that led to improved performances, and less post-performance shame and rumination. And it doesn’t require us to shush the inner critic entirely (whew, because that’s really difficult!). It’s just a sma...
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  A Learning Method That Outperformed Traditional Practice 14.12.2025 9мин

  A few months ago, when a sportswriter published an article in The New York Times about an unusual and “revolutionary” practice method that NBA star Victor Wembanyama and other elite athletes and teams (like the World Series-winning LA Dodgers) were utilizing, I started getting emails from musicians, asking if this method, known as the “constraints-led approach,” might apply to practicing music too. So what is the constraints-led approach? And is it relevant to musicians? Spoiler alert - yes, ...
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  How Much Perfectionism Do You Really Need to Succeed? 07.12.2025 8мин

  A friend recently asked if it's true that becoming a virtuoso performer requires being a perfectionist. Well, spoiler alert, it's not a simple yes or no answer. And there are a lot of fascinating nuances to explore. One of which involves performance anxiety, and the question of whether perfectionism increases or decreases nerves. Get all the nerdy details and find out how much perfectionism might work best: How Much Perfectionism Do You Really Need to Succeed? References Racine, P., Laf...
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  Pallavi Mahidhara: On Practicing for Flexibility, Not Perfection 30.11.2025 48мин

  Playing for other people, whether it’s an audience of one, a dozen, or several hundred, can be a stressful thing! So it’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of performance, like how to manage nerves and avoid mistakes. But performing can also be a real thrill, and one of the most satisfying and meaningful things we do in music. So I thought it might be fun to explore performing and practicing from this more positive angle as well. My guest today is pianist Pallavi Mahidhara. A prizewinner ...
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  What Happened When Musicians Slept 90 Minutes More 23.11.2025 6мин

  Sleep and recovery is an aspect of preparation that athletes prioritize, with teams hiring sleep consultants, and many athletes going to great lengths to ensure they’re getting enough sleep. And studies suggest that this investment of time is very much worth their while, when it comes to high-level performance. But how much of a difference would an additional 90 minutes of sleep make when it comes to music performance? Get all the nerdy details and see what happened when a group of music stud...
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  Why Being Too Quick to Offer Feedback Could Inhibit Learning 16.11.2025 7мин

  I remember a lesson many years ago, when my teacher told me that her job was to teach me how to teach myself. So that I would one day no longer need a teacher. I couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 at the time, so the notion of me teaching myself was hard to fathom. It was difficult enough to just play in tune, never mind come up with my own bowings and fingerings, or making decisions about phrasing and all the musical details and nuances involved. Of course, she was right. One day I wouldn’...
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  Fewer Repetitions….But More Rapid Progress? 09.11.2025 7мин

  Whether we’re baking a cake, driving to a new restaurant, or putting together a puzzle, we can usually get to the goal more efficiently and effectively if we have a clear idea what the destination looks like. I think we all know that the same is true for learning a new piece of music too - but often, this is not actually what our practice looks like. While we might have a pretty good idea what we don’t want something to sound like, our approach to practicing suggests that we are typically muc...
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  Ida Kavafian: Habits That Separate Good Musicians from Great Ones 02.11.2025 57мин

  This episode with violinist Ida Kavafian is packed with key points about effective practice, plus fascinating nerdy details about bowing and fingering principles, references to specific passages in the Sibelius concerto, Schubert Fantasy, Beethoven’s Kreutzer sonata, a clever hack for playing fifths in tune, and so much more. And if you’re not a string player, don’t worry - many of the principles are equally applicable to other instruments too. Get all the nerdy details and learn how to level...
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  Can Memorizing Music Make You a More Expressive Performer? 26.10.2025 10мин

  One of the arguments often made for why we should memorize music, is that performing from memory facilitates more expressive performances. But is that really true? There's not a lot of direct data that speaks to this question, but there are some clues here and there, suggesting that the answer might be a little more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Get all the nerdy details right here: Can Memorizing Music Make You a More Expressive Performer? A course on how to develop “bulletproof” me...
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  Two Approaches to Memorization (Beware: One Could Leave You Stranded!) 19.10.2025 9мин

  Memory can often feel like a mysterious, unknowable phenomenon. Something that happens magically by itself at times, with great effort at others, and sometimes deceives us by abandoning us suddenly when we need it most! We’ve worked on unpacking various aspects of memory over the last couple weeks - with Jane Ginsborg two episodes here and why pianists can have more difficulty than other musicians here. And today, we’ll be looking at the pros and cons of the two different types of memory that...
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  A Hidden Reason You Forget Music on Stage 12.10.2025 8мин

  Mistakes on stage are never fun, but missing a note here or there, or playing out of tune is over and done with pretty quick. Having a memory slip on stage is a whole other level of discomfort. 😳 It’s one of the things that makes many musicians most anxious about performing. Researchers have taught us a ton in the last couple decades about how the best memorizers memorize music. And so I thought it’d be worth taking a look at various aspects of memory in the next couple weeks. Today, we’ll ...
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  Jane Ginsborg: On Building Stronger and More Reliable Musical Memory 05.10.2025 56мин

  Talk to anyone who has ever performed from memory, and you’ll probably get a story of a time when their memory failed them. For instance, I remember a time, perhaps in elementary school, when I got lost in a piece on stage, and rather than stopping and looking over the pianist’s shoulder to see where I was, just started making stuff up, until I could figure out where I was. It wasn’t a very fun experience for me, but I think it actually freaked the pianist out even more. 😆 One of the problems...
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  How to Use Focus Cues to Play More Freely on Stage 28.09.2025 5мин

  A pianist once told me the last thing their teacher said at their final lesson after years of study: “Now forget everything I ever told you.” Not exactly the parting wisdom you’d expect, right? But hidden in that odd-sounding advice is an important mental shift that could help you play with more freedom and confidence under pressure. Get all the nerdy details in today's episode. Or, get the text version with references, links, and other details right here: How to Use Focus Cues to Play More F...