Young Musician's Survival Guide

I have come across a great new book that probably should be on every young musicians bookshelf and available in the waiting rooms of all of our teaching studios.

The Young Musician's Survival Guide: Tips from Teens and Pros by Amy Nathan (Oxford University Press 2008) is an excellent resource for ideas and inspiration about music education and performance. The book is filled with great ideas and tips from the pros and teens from a wide variety of backgrounds about the various parameters of performance and education. Chapter titles are Tune In, Picking and Switching, The Time Squeeze, Boring Practice Blues, Woodshedding basics, The Jitters, Peer Scene, Teacher Talk, Gear up, and Play On!
As Amy points out in her introduction

This is the book I wish I had when I was a kid. Maybe it would have helped me keep on with piano lessons instead of quitting after nine years of playing when I found myselfburried under an ever increasing mound of homework.

What is also great are the numerous sections contributed by professional musicians and composers from John Adams to Richard Stoltzman; Joshua Bell to Joshua Redman. Every page is filled with tips and inspirational stories from teens and pros. A five star effort. Available from fine booksellers everywhere.

Composing Concertos in the Key of Rx

Yet another artcle exploring the relationship between actively listening and engaging in music in complex forms (like classical music) and the benefical effects that it has on overall health and brain power. 

New York Times  25 March 2009

Why are we shutting children out of classical music?

This article by Tom Service is about the state of music education in the UK, but much of what he speaks about applies directly to the local situation here in British Columbia and North America at large.

Guardian Newspaper - 2 April 2009.