I appreciate traditional music education and the many things they get right about so many things, or at the very least seem to hold true after centuries. That said, I have plenty of pet peeves, and one that I've had since I began teaching is an outdated way of teaching major and minor scales that I think should have evolved anytime in the past 140 years. And yet, in the world of classical music at least, it's still the harmonic and melodic minor scales that represent less than half the possibilities for expressing "minor" music, and as you dig into early Romantic music and even a little earlier, you find that the common scales that are taught don't fully represent the music we actually play. This episode is meant to help you reframe how you think about scales and how the modes fit neatly into major and minor divisions.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

Any good music teacher (and even most not-so-good ones) will tell you that slow practice is essential to becoming a better performer, to learning a piece well, and to learning technical skills well. It's that obvious and common of knowledge. However, slow practice isn't limited to a single approach. In this episode, I'm going to talk about the type of slow practice that delays and might even prevent you from learning the music well, and then they type of slow practice that REALLY works well every time!

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

Musicians, as much as anyone, need to take active steps to ensure good physical and mental health. Sitting or standing for long periods can cause neck, back or hip pain. Muscle imbalances are very common. You have to be aware of changing vision especially in the intermittent distance that a lot of eye doctors won't even check unless you request a specific prescription. You need to guard against burnout. This episode will help you conduct your own musician health check-in.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

As a classically-trained pianist who attempts to accurately follow other composers' written scores as well as being a composer who has distributed detailed written scores to other performers and hoped for meticulous accuracy, I am fascinated by this dance that exists only in classical music of the composer versus the performer. There's a belief that the composer is king and the written score is law. However, few performers want to just be robots who only play what they are told. This episode looks at the history of classical music through the evolution of composer/performer expectations, how to embrace being a performer in this world, and how a composer should adapt their mindset to one of partnership.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

Where do musicians fit into the near future of this world? It's a world where AI-generated art of all kinds, including music, appear to spell doom for human artists. I have a much more optimistic take, and share how I think both composers and performers should approach this world in a way that acknowledges the situation while also seeing where there are advantages.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

The word I've been using in both these podcast episodes and with my own students is...urgency! I've also been using it more with myself. I'm on either the 4th or 5th attempt to learn a specific challenging piece to completion. What I've lacked before is urgency. I've given myself the stakes that I need to not just learn this piece "someday", but to learn it by a specific deadline and perform it on a certain date. The results are already way better than they've been on previous attempts. Listen to this episode to understand why you need urgency in your practice and how to apply it.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

The average person has a fixed mindset. It's safe, it's comfortable, and it's easy to justify. If you want to get better at music, you can't afford to maintain a fixed mindset. You need to commit to a growth mindset. If you don't get this right, all of your other musical goals will fall apart. In this episode, I elaborate on the differences, and talk about what you have to do to fully commit to the only mindset that works for musical growth.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

Do you really know the music, or can you only play it well under certain conditions? For example, can you only play it at home when nobody's listening? Can you only play it while looking at the score? Do you have to start in a certain place each time? This episode will help you approach your practice in such a way that you can completely and fully actually KNOW your music.

Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.

If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1