Practice Strategies That Cause Musical Improvements (Overcoming Musical Hurdles)

If you practice frequently and consistently, your musical skills should rightly be improving. If not, this is about HOW you are practicing, and NOT about who you are. There should be NO doubt in your mind that you CAN become a better player.As musicians mature in their playing abilities and begin to perform, many will maintain a genuine desire to continuously improve their playing skills. Indeed, they can see this as a life-long pursuit. But over time it seems their practice no longer leads to the changes they are striving for.Today, research has led to a much better understanding of the ways to practice that will lead to improvement and the ways that will not. Many players simply do not practice in a way that will cause fundamental changes in the skills related to higher-quality playing.This book illuminates the path toward continuous improvement in the development of musical skills for the seasoned player.The creation of this book was aided by the insights of Jack Lee, Stuart Liddell, J. Reid Maxwell & Steven McWhirter.

Stephanie Burns, Ph.D. Stef has devoted much of her career studying human behaviour with a keen focus on all things to do with improving how people learn. Her work is ground-breaking in how we think about what is possible, and students who have used her work have gone on to be much better at whatever they were trying to be better at. If you have attended one of her presentations, or read any of her books, then you know that what she is all about is you learning how to go about achieving whatever it is you are trying to achieve. She has been asked to apply her understanding of learning effectiveness to help musicians, new and seasoned, to overcome hurdles in both practice and their performances. She is not new to the music or music teacher scene, but she is new to the pipe band world. After delivering presentations to students at pipe band programs in Australia, NZ, Canada, NY (USA) and Germany she felt it was the right time to write, bringing this work to others who might never find the means to access it. She was born in the U.S., now lives in Sydney, Australia and completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Australia. She entered the pipe band world in August 2013. Today she studies with Steven McWhirter.