Author: Mark Powers
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Always Do Your Best (But Redefine What “Best” Means)
#4 in our series: The Four Agreements for Musicians We’ve chatted about being more impeccable with our word; not taking things personally; and not making assumptions. In our fourth and final look (for now) at Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements, we encounter one simple directive: Always do your best. Sounds basic, right? Obvious, even. But…
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Don’t Make Assumptions: How to Have More Clarity and Communication in Your Musical Life
#3 in our series: The Four Agreements for Musicians Today’s focus is another biggie: Don’t Make Assumptions. This is an agreement that’s simple in theory but sneaky (and extremely challenging) in practice, especially in music. Why? Because in music, assumptions are able to sneak into nearly everything we do . . . rehearsals; recording sessions; collaborations;…
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Don’t Take It Personally (and Ditch the Emotional Musical Baggage)
#2 in our series: The Four Agreements for Musicians This one is a big one: Don’t take anything personally. As musicians, we’re wired to feel things deeply. Music, after all, is about emotional expression. But that emotional depth can also make us vulnerable—especially when it comes to feedback, criticism, and the unpredictability of the music…
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The Power of Being Impeccable with Your Word (and with the Notes You Play)
#1 in our series: The Four Agreements for Musicians As a musician, I have zero doubt that you are already aware of the weight of one’s words. A single wrong comment in a rehearsal can throw off the vibe of the entire band. A careless response to (or from) a producer or recording engineer can…
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Not All Musical Tasks Are Created Equal: How to Apply the LNO Framework
If you’ve ever ended a lengthy rehearsal or practice session feeling like you worked hard but didn’t actually get anywhere, you are not alone. Musicians (perhaps more than many people) can often be guilty of mistaking effort for progress. That’s where the today’s concept of the LNO Framework comes in. It’s a simple yet powerful…
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The Contradiction of Creativity: Why We Struggle to Show Up for Our Music
Ever notice how, despite loving music deeply, you sometimes avoid it? You want to write that song, practice that technique, or record that track (or those five tracks that I have stacked up to knock out), but instead, you scroll, procrastinate, or convince yourself that now isn’t quite the right time? My wife and I…
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On Formlessness, Reinvention, and Identity
This one isn’t for everyone. Well, who am I kidding? None of the concepts we talk about here are for everyone. But this one, in particular, is one that I know some musicians disagree with me on. Some players really love being a specialist, deeply immersed in one style of music. Or playing only with…
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Hick’s Law: How Too Many Choices Are Slowing Your Musical Progress
You’re overthinking it. Stop! Have you ever spent half of your available practice time just deciding what to practice? Or blown an hour or more in the studio (perhaps in the name of “tweaking things”) before actually recording anything? Welcome to Hick’s Law in action. Formulated by (and named after) British psychologist William Edmund Hick,…
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Antonio Sanchez on the “Why” and “When” of Using Your Superpowers
Allow me to introduce superstar drummer Antonio Sanchez and a few of his thoughts on “technique,” pulled from an interview he did on the Drummer’s Resource podcast. Even if you’ve never heard of Sanchez, you’ve almost definitely heard him. From his solo jazz percussion composition work for the film Birdman to his mind-blowing performances and recordings with Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, Gary…
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How The IKEA Effect Is Hurting Your Music
Have you ever spent weeks (or months) tweaking a song that just isn’t working, but you can’t bring yourself to scrap it? I did this recently with a remote drum track for a client, tweaking and editing bits and pieces in an attempt to manufacture exactly what I was hearing in my head. It took…
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Passive Exposure: A Secret Weapon for Musicians
Did you know that simply being around music can help you learn it faster? Recent research from the nearby University of Oregon shows that passive exposure (in our case, hearing something repeatedly without actively working on it) can significantly speed up the learning process. Note: big thanks to my student Ron and his wife Linda…
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Parkinson’s Law for Musicians: How to Achieve More in Less Time
You’ve probably heard the phrase: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. This is Parkinson’s Law, a concept first introduced in 1955 by British naval historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson. It’s the idea that the more time we give ourselves to complete a task, the longer we’ll take to get it done—regardless of…
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Why Growth Feels Like a Messy Spiral (And How to Make Peace With It)
When you think about musical progress, doesn’t it feel like it should at least somewhat resemble a halfway straight line? Step 1: Practice → Step 2: Improve → Step 3: Mastery? Yeah…not quite. Growth is often nonlinear. Progress can feel frustrating, unpredictable, and full of plateaus or sudden bursts of success. This came up in…
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Stop Fighting the Music with the Law of Nonresistance
Ever feel like you’re forcing your way through a practice session, struggling with a tricky exercise, or overthinking a performance to the point of stress? Whew…I’m not the only one. I’ve thought many times that there has to be a better way to get around (or through) those situations when they arise. Turns out, there…
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The 80/20 Rule for Musicians: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Raise your hand if you ever feel like you’re just spinning your wheels in the practice room and not getting anywhere. Or if there isn’t enough time to touch on all of the things you need (or want) to work on for upcoming gigs and your musical growth. Or if you’re a bit overwhelmed by…
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A Lesson From The Inaudible Sound Of The Invisible Sun
The Inaudible Sound of the Invisible Sun. I sure learned a lot from that guy. “That… GUY?” you ask. Yep, that what he’s called––by some, anyway. Ra Kalam (which can be translated into “the inaudible sound of the invisible sun”) is a moniker that was once given to legendary drummer, Bob Moses, by a spiritual…
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Building Resilience Through Musical Challenges
Resilience isn’t just a general life skill. For me and nearly everyone reading this, it’s integral to surviving (and hopefully thriving) as a musician. Whether we’re navigating creative slumps, technical plateaus, or performance nerves, developing resilience helps us transform obstacles into opportunities for growth. Let’s explore how. The Power of Resilience Every musician faces challenges.…
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You, the Machine: How to Fine-Tune Your Musical Systems
I know, I know, I know… as musicians, we often like to think of ourselves as purely creative beings. We thrive on creativity, emotion, and connection. Even the mere notion of “thinking of yourself as a machine” can feel stiff or counterintuitive––capable of threatening or diminishing to our artistry. But bare with me for a…
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Hanlon’s Razor: A Musician’s Guide to Giving the Benefit of the Doubt
A philosophical “razor” is a mental model that seeks to “shave off” some facet of a possible explanation for some given situation or phenomenon. In our recent discussion about Occam’s Razor, we looked at eliminating complexity. Today’s concept seeks to eliminate a common assumption that many of us are known to make all too often…
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Occam’s Razor: 7 Ways to Simplify and Improve Your Musical Life
Ockham and the Razors. New band name if you want it, but you’ve got to promise me a piece of all your future successes. No? Oh well, I tried… Occam’s Razor, named after 14th-century philosopher William of Ockham, is a principle that suggests that when we’re confronted by multiple explanations or options, the simplest one…