Category: Email Archives

Piano teachers can be pretty set in their ways, and a lot of them are having a very hard time right now.

I see them complaining on Facebook, wondering how to teach lessons online.

They have no experience with this. They don’t know what kind of webcam to use, what kind of microphone to use, what software to use.

Many of them are even expressing shock upon realizing for the first time that their students’ pianos are a half-step out of tune.

They just want things to go back to normal.

I don’t know when normal will return, or in what form it will return. Yeah, that’s weird, and can be scary. In the meantime, we’re stuck in this limbo of uncertainty.

That’s a fact. We’re stuck here for now. Unfortunately, there’s nothing anyone can do about that.

No matter how much you want it to go away, you can’t make it happen. You can try, but it’s bigger than you are, and you’re just wasting your energy.

Instead, it’s one of those things you just have to accept. (Sure, you also have the option of not accepting it, but again, that’s a waste of energy, and can easily make your life worse).

It doesn’t surprise me that these teachers are struggling so much. That lack of acceptance is evident in the way they teach piano, as well. Your approach to music practice is going to be indicative of your entire approach to life.

If you practice acceptance in music, you will have developed a skill that you can apply in other areas.

This is not easy to do, but it’s totally worth it.

I wish more musicians had the ability to take things as they come, even when what comes is not what is desired. It’s a real game-changer.

OK, I didn’t get as many unsubscribes as I was hoping for. I got a couple, and then after a lengthy exchange with someone, I rage-unsubscribed them, and then undid it later on.

This is good, though, because I need to be more honest with you all. Not about something specific, but just in general.

Let’s get more specific right now.

It has been brought to my attention that a lot of what I say is on the intellectual/philosophical side.

I want to clear this up. It’s not intellectual or philosophical. It’s extremely practical.

Your body is what plays the piano. But, your nervous system controls your body. Your thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, memories, and mindsets are your nervous system.

It’s all the same thing.

It’s all connected.

Don’t think that you can separate your mind and body. This is not the solution to your problems, but rather the cause of them.

The email I sent out yesterday caused 5% of my mailing list to unsubscribe. That’s a new record for me! Go read it if you haven’t already…maybe you can join them.

Seriously, I want you to unsubscribe.

Let me explain this, because it’s really important to me.

I want to be able to speak openly with you. To be able to say what’s really on my mind. When I think of something that I think would be super-helpful, I want to be able to say it, without fear of offending anyone.

I hate it when people unsubscribe. It reminds me of how I was always made fun of as a kid for being different, how I was always picked last for sports teams, and how friends in my adult life have broken up with me for being insensitive.

But, I didn’t start this mailing list to make friends. Instead, I started it so that people who need the information I’m offering can have a vehicle to receive it quickly.

It doesn’t serve anyone for me to keep my best stuff hidden away.

The subject line of the email yesterday (“Life sucks”) was chosen deliberately to be maximally offensive, while still being 100% congruent with the message I’m trying to spread about music and mindfulness.

So, I’m going to dial it up starting now.

I hope to wake up tomorrow morning and find 10% of you gone.

(Purposes of this email: 1. get more unsubscribes, 2. create group cohesion, and 3. convey a lesson about mindfulness and acceptance by sharing a personal story.)

A lot of musicians are unhappy right now.

Personally, I’m enjoying the break.

But, if you are unhappy, you are allowed to complain.

You might also feel guilty about the past, about all the times you did complain, about all the times you took for granted what we don’t have right now.

You were allowed to complain then, as well.

Eventually, we’ll find a new version of normal. It probably won’t be the same as the old normal.

One thing that I hope will be different is that you will complain more.

Sometimes you just have to do the opposite of what you’re supposed to do.

I began studying singing in high school, and it always felt too difficult for me. I just couldn’t make it work, and I was so incredibly envious of those who could.

I studied with several teachers, and wasn’t making the progress I wanted to make.

There was one teacher, however, who turned that around. And even that took over a year.

During one lesson, I somehow hit on something startling. His eyes lit up, and mine did too.

I texted him later with my epiphany:

“I didn’t realize that I’m supposed to try to sound like an operatic tenor, and not like Michael Korman!”

This took years for me to discover. That’s because I spent those years doing the very natural thing of doing what I knew to be right.

It wasn’t until I stumbled into the complete opposite of “right” that I was willing to allow the tiniest bit of “new” into the picture.

Go figure…If you want something new, you can’t keep doing the same old thing…

So, whatever you’re doing, stop doing it. It’s probably wrong. Even though it feels right.

You don’t need a piano teacher.

I have learned classical guitar, calligraphy, and drawing on my own, without a teacher. There’s no reason piano should be any different.

Yeah, I’ve taken piano lessons, so I can never claim to be completely self-taught on piano, but still, I’ve learned a lot of piano on my own as well.

On the other hand, you do need a piano teacher.

Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires books, videos, other people, your own experimentation, and all kinds of input from your environment.

But you don’t need a piano teacher. It’s ridiculous to think that you do.