Music, the most abstract and uncanny art, is an eternal river of sound moving through time. We can free ourselves from whatever may be holding us back, and join that flowing river.

When the good student chooses the honest path, free of perfectionism and faking, music study becomes something refreshingly new: a calm oasis of self-acceptance for those who are so used to driving themselves and trying to please others.

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.

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.

. .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.