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Summary: This book changed my life as a musician
Review: After earning a masters degree in piano performance from a major conservatory, I struggled for years with debilitating performance anxiety and frustration, to the point where I changed careers and moved into the corporate world for 15 years. The practice techniques and disciplines which Madeline Bruser so clearly describes in this book enabled me to recapture my earlier love and enthusiasm for music and performing, and have put me on a path toward "playing from the heart," which has led me among other things to a decision to return to teaching and performing again as a career. This book is written in a simple and straightforward style. The author is not dogmatic about her ideas, but rather, deals with the physical and emotional aspects of playing music at a basic and fundamental level. Ms. Bruser's own credentials as a pianist and teacher are impressive. The research she cites -- interviews and collaboration with numerous professional musicians and teachers, experts in posture and movement (Alexander, Feldenkreis), and medical professionals, are partly what attracted me to this book, as did the praise for this book from musicians such as Peter Serkin, Yehudi Menuhin, and Richard Stolzman -- all impeccable sources in my opinion. When I first found this book, I couldn't put it down. I felt like I had found an oasis from my musical struggles, and hope for resolving them. If you are a musician, former musician, or aspiring musician, this book will be a source of encouragement and creative ideas. I highly recommend it!
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Summary: The Art of Practicing : A Guide to Making Music from the Hea
Review: As a choir director and organist of a small parish church in suburban Philadelphia, I refer to this book frequently to renew my inspiration. Frankly, I have found this book invaluable for its ability to help me refine my ability to focus, which in turn, continually revives my enthusiasm and zeal, which in turn, helps me refine my ability to focus, etc., etc. While parts of it are definitely a "how-to manual", the book generally takes more of a reflective (almost spiritual) approach to providing a more intense awareness of the surrounding environment and its influence on practice habits and results.
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Summary: chicken soup for the musician looking for a short cut
Review: Barry Green said it first and said it best in the "Inner Game of Music".
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Summary: Great contents, bad reading:
Review: Chock full of great stuff, but much too wordy and repetitive. The anecdotes never end. In addition, one or two suggestions are outrageous. Too bad, with so many sound ideas and well needed ergonomic advice!
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Summary: This book gave me a fresh perspective on practicing.
Review: For a while, I was in an uninspired musical slump. I still practiced, but it wasn't fun anymore, and as a result, the time I spent wasn't very effective. This book gave me many ways to freshen up my practice sessions and make them more enjoyable and more productive. It is very easy to read, and one afternoon spent with it can make a world of difference for your music-making.
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Summary: Pointless reading
Review: I bought this book at a time when I was going through some strange losses in my control of the sound and other strange stuff that happens from time to time to a musician, especially when he has to churn out weekly papers at Juilliard instead of practicing diligently. I have read it twice, trying to find anything of value. I found nothing. Much of her pedagogy is either a common knowledge or just hogwash, presented as if it were a revelation. There is much good and original in that book. However, whatever's good is not original, and whatever's original is not good. Finally, ask yourself, "Is Madeline Bruser a well-known pianist, with a great technique, awsome repertoire, wonderful tone, with musicality and imagination that have captured audiences' hearts?" You wouldn't know... for obvious reasons. Be my guest, search the internet for any evidence of her alleged concert career, you won't find any. Can she actually play piano? Any evidence?
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Summary: Any musician should read this book first
Review: I greatly regret that I should have read this book long long years ago ! I have seen many music students teachers who completely lack the most important things that the book describes. And I think that any musican-want-to-be should read this book first. This is the "Road Less Travelled" equivalent in psycology of musical practicing and performance. Her explanations were inspiring. Very often they were too conceptual. OK. That sounds very nice, but what is it exactly, and how do we achieve it ? Fortunately, at the end of each chapter, there is a section called "Questions and Answers". I think that the questions are from her students. And the questions were more "practical" ones rather than conceptual. And answers were very good. She provides 10 steps (suggestions) for practicing. Most of them are quite reasonable. Some of them may not be applied to me. However, it may be because I am still musically immature (far from her level) comparing with her.
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Summary: Acheiving emotional and physical health in music making
Review: If a musician could only read a single book to learn about how to PREVENT injury, this would be the one. Madeline Bruser has assembled, from a host of resources terrific practical advice that does far more than help you find a healthy approach to using your instrument: The Art of Practicing also examines how to bring the highest level of artistry and communication to your playing. It includes question/answer sections throughout and instrument-specific advice. I really can't say enough about this book: if all teachers and students would take its guidance to heart, we would not have the levels of injury among musicians we now see, and music making would be both more human and humane.
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Summary: Didn't serve my needs
Review: It is conceivable that some might find this book inspiring or useful, I was disappointed to find new insights fairly sparse. If you already recognize the importance of becoming spiritually and physically connected to your instrument, then this book will not be very satisfying. It is largely one person's experience (the author's) and the extent to which this might be useful to others is, well, variable. I can only remember two things about the book despite having re-read certain sections several times in search of possibly missed revealations: 1. too much time was devoted to relaxation exercises, and 2. the interesting brief anecdote about Rachmaninoff practicing. The latter item helped me envision what I would view as a more useful book: one that surveys the practicing approaches/methods used by a wide variety of effective musicians. This sort of book would give the reader a wide array of tried and true practicing approaches to experiment with.
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Summary: Changed my perspective on music
Review: Madeline Bruser's book is one of the most insightful books I have ever read. Reading it gave me a whole new perspective on practicing and music in general. Too many musicians (including me) spend hours berating themselves for not being good enough. "Why am I bothering to spend hour after hour practicing? I don't have enough talent. There's so many better performers out there. I'll never get this piece to sound right." This book takes those questions, and instead turns them into a source of encouragement: "So I'm frustrated with how this piece sounds. That's good -- it means I care about the music. If I didn't have any talent, then music wouldn't matter so much to me."
Madeline teaches you how to take the hours and hours of boring, finger-numbing, mind-numbing drudgery that so many musicians feel compelled to spend at their instrument and transform it into a practice session where you accomplish more with less time, energy, and frustration. She starts with advice about basic mechanics such as posture and stretching, and moves on to a discussion of the typical styles of "struggle" exhibited by most musicians (her descriptions are hilarious!) Finally, she concludes with a way of practicing that replaces the unproductive, repetitive struggling that so many musicians see as their only way to improve. Her style of practicing is one that will teach you how to really hear the music you produce, how to remain calm even in the most difficult musical passages, and how to concentrate on what you're doing without losing your focus (a problem that many musicians encounter.) Basically, after reading this book I was able to have a practice session which felt, not physically and emotionally draining as before, but actually invigorating.
Many musicians find that, after years of endless practicing, they have lost much of their love for the music itself. Madeline's book teaches you how to find it again.
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