. .the most crucial ingredient by far for success in music is . . .what happens in the practice room.

Much music teaching seems more concerned with controlling the student than with encouraging the student's own impulses.

Robotic correctness is the last thing judges want to see or hear

If we're not actively making things better, chances are we're making them worse.

If you have played "six times wrong, one time right" the problem is not quite corrected.

[perfectionism leads to] a tendency to apologize preemptively for one's efforts, knowing from experience that there's sure to be something wrong with them.

The reason so many of us lose our bearings about practising early in life is that we practice in living rooms with other family members in earshot - and healthy practice would simply sound too obnoxious, intrusive, repetitious and unmusical for others to hear without annoyance.