by Gerald Klickstein | Jun 5, 2025 | Newsletter
“Errors and problems can be your most valuable teachers.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 52 The Summer 2025 issue of The Musician’s Way Newsletter has landed in subscribers’ inboxes and is being widely shared. Unique and free since 2009, this popular e-newsletter...
by Gerald Klickstein | Apr 10, 2025 | creative process, music performance, music practice, The Musician's Way
“Beyond personal fulfillment, the decisive aim of practice is to prepare performances because, as an art form, music centers on the interaction between performer and listener.” -The Musician’s Way, p. 4 For vocalists and instrumentalists alike, music making cycles...
by Gerald Klickstein | Nov 3, 2024 | music education, music performance, performance anxiety, The Musician's Way
“Performance anxiety doesn’t yield to band-aid solutions, nor does it abate on its own.” -The Musician’s Way, p. 146 Camille was a 19-year-old amateur pianist who excelled in school but was petrified to play in public.* Her anxiety had surfaced in...
by Gerald Klickstein | Apr 30, 2024 | memorization, music practice, The Musician's Way
“We get messed up because we don’t have a clear image . . . and thereby give ourselves too many conflicting messages about how to play.” -Eloise Ristad, A Soprano on Her Head, p. 116-117 The first stages of working on a piece set the foundation upon...
by Gerald Klickstein | Mar 7, 2024 | Newsletter
“Confidence doesn’t hinge on eliminating all nervous interference; rather, it results from knowing that you’re able to perform well whether you deal with interference or not.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 182 The Spring 2024 issue of The Musician’s Way...
by Gerald Klickstein | Aug 31, 2023 | music performance, music practice, The Musician's Way
“Deep practice integrates all that you are – your body, mind, and spirit.” The Musician’s Way, p. 20 Expert musicians possess numerous abilities that are apparent on stage – rich tone, fluent execution, dramatic interpretation, secure memory, and so forth....
by Gerald Klickstein | Dec 8, 2022 | Newsletter
“Security in performance doesn’t result from purging all nervous symptoms. It arises from knowing that you can perform well whether you feel jumpy or not.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 150-51 The Winter 2023 issue of The Musician’s Way Newsletter has arrived in...
by Gerald Klickstein | Dec 1, 2022 | memorization, music practice, The Musician's Way
“I suppose that when I play in public it looks easy, but before I ever came on the concert stage I worked very hard. And I do yet – but always putting the two things together, mental work and physical work.” -Jascha Heifetz, violinist (1901-1987) The Musician’s...
by Gerald Klickstein | Sep 20, 2022 | Newsletter
“Herein lies the secret to artistry on the concert stage: Artistic performers are prepared performers.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 155 The Fall 2022 issue of The Musician’s Way Newsletter features two-dozen articles spanning topics pertinent to novice and veteran...
