A long time ago (way more than 20 years) I was a TA in the English department of a state university, which meant that I was just told, go teach composition to freshmen. No training, no resources, no nothing. A lifesaver was a prof who told us about a book called "Errors and Expectations," which was similar to the book you're talking about. The theme was that mistakes in spelling, grammar and usage were things that could be fixed later. The immediate goal was to teach thinking and effective expression. They are far more important.
I'm actually a cellist rather than a pianist, but I wanted to thank you for this video. I had the good fortune of taking three semester's of Dr. Westney's "Dimensions of Performance" class back in the nineties, and found so many of the points you emphasize about practicing applicable across disciplines. I bought the book a while ago, but I haven't been able to read it because of a serious loss of vision (so much so that I can no longer read music either), and your video brought back a number of important principles that I learned in the class. I do remember the last time I got to play in concert with Dr. Westney after he'd solidified his practice and performance philosophy; he played Khatchaturian's piano concerto with the local symphony orchestra, and there was a different feeling about _sharing the music_ that developed in him since the first time I'd played behind him in Mozart's 17th piano concerto, something that I have grown to appreciate as I've aged in my career. One of my colleagues frin Texas Tech is in trhe process of trying to make me an audio copy of the book (with Dr. Westney's approval, of course), and I am looking forward to digging back into the principles that he espouses. Thanks so much for this video again!
I love this story - thank you so much for sharing! How lucky that you were able to take his courses! So sorry to hear about your vision impairment. I am glad your friend will be making the audio version. I'm surprised it's not already available as an audiobook - it should be! 😊 I met Dr. Westney at a conference this past March and we had a very enjoyable conversation. I can imagine that it was wonderful to take classes with him. Best wishes! 🥰
Hello, I just found your site. I really like your videos. I ordered the book, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm 66, and started taking lessons almost 4 years ago.. wanting to play the piano my whole life, which retirement has allowed me to do. I played in our recital last spring. I was able to play Passaglia by Handel pretty well at home, but when I got up in front of the audience, my right hand started shaking uncontrollably. I was somehow able to finish, although I made a real mess of the middle of the piece. Even though I butchered the song, people came up afterwards and told me how much they enjoyed it. I'm still not sure if they were just being nice, but my teacher said that they probably didn't even notice. I'm looking forward to read what he says about being a perfectionist.
Thanks for sharing your story - I'm sorry to hear that you had a shaky performance experience. One thing to keep in mind is that practicing is a different skill than performing; when we practice, we need to be self-critical in order to stop and correct mistakes. However, when we perform, we need to be able to "turn off" that self-criticism in order keep going and play with confidence. It is therefore helpful, as you prepare for a performance, to do lots of practice performances for other people in order to strengthen the "muscle" of performing. Also, spending time visualizing the performance beforehand can help significantly, because that makes the performance experience more familiar to your mind's eye. I hope you have another opportunity to perform soon, so you can have a new experience! Good luck, and congrats on learning the Handel well - I love that piece!
@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thank you so much for your great response. I will look to another performance in the near future, but will prepare in a better manner.
Thank you so much for recommending this book! I have my library's copy in front of me, having finished it last week. I turn back to page 37, the student's letter entitled "Prisons," and relate completely (it actually made me cry).
Such good points made here. The idea that there is ONE right way to play a piece made me so tentative that i eventually gave up. Its taken me 2 decades to relax and reconnect eith my original motovation to play.
I enjoyed this video very much . I tend to be a perfectionist in most things but practicing with authenticity is certainly my “ take away” from this video . In my personal life authenticity is my approach . Knowing your thoughts regarding “ mistakes “… I don’t feel badly because I practice with intent … thank you for sharing this … most certainly I will keep this in mind moving forward … it’s a great feeling to know a DR. Of music has a positive explanation, approach and feelings when it comes to piano and making mistakes . Thank k you .
❤I have this book. I really recommend it for every pianist. Love your videos. I've created a folder and I save them for reference when I need to. Thanks!
Kate - I'm very grateful for this, and what a fantastic job you've done! Such a sprightly, beautifully organized, vividly communicative video. Most crucially, you paraphrase very neatly and effectively so many key points of the book. You totally got what I set out to convey. What could be more satisfying for an author? Wonderful stuff.
Assuming you are WW I'd like to say something about your book : - When I saw it in the library a long time ago I had to get it out because of the title. Half of it was irrelevant, because I never had music lessons, so no problems in that department. The other half was massively important, the half which I would summarise as " all musical instruments are out to kill you ....... " . What I want to say, though, is about the first half. I distinctly remember thinking at the time that all the problems you were discussing could easily be solved just by smoking a few joints ! I wondered if you weren't aware of that, or didn't think it would be wise to mention it. Just thought you'd like to know .............................
I have two notable examples of mistakes made by two famous pianists from the past...in recordings. One is a recording of Schnabel whose memory failed him during a performance of a Mozart Piano Concerto. They stopped the performance while Schnabel got the written copy...,.then he and the orchestra resumed the concert....this was during WW2...so there was a lot on their minds. Later after the war. Dame Myra Hess was giving a recital of Schubert and during it had a memory lapse.. repeated some of the measures and kept going. You can hear on the recording. Note they did NOT give up their careers as musicians afterward. Thinking of these examples has helped to some extent. I have struggled with the dreaded "Mistake Guilt" syndrome....thank you for offering HELP!!!
Gawd, is the book already 20 years? I read it some years ago and I was absolutely delighted. I was so happy some years later when I was to go to a summer piano school in Manchester, UK, and found out that Bill was on the faculty list that year. So I put him on top of my wish list for piano teachers and was lucky, I got him for my four individual lessons. But when I went to the first lesson I was nervous, to say the least - you know, when you read something that is REALLY good and you think this author seems to be a great person, it could be quite chilling to meet them IRL later. I am not into any kind of idolizing under any circumstances, but still, I know that it is dangerous to get too high expectations and this fantastic teacher who writes such wise things could very well be quite a "difficult" individual when you meet them face to face. (Pianists in particular are sometimes a bit odd ...) OK, it turned out at once that he was even nicer in real life than in writing, and I got the best piano lessons I have ever experienced in my life. All the teachers I have had - and I have had MANY - have been good, each in their own way, but I would definitely rank Bill Westney as No. 1. This was because he made me believe in myself as a pianist. I am just a hobby pianist, not very prominent in any aspect, and I had not even considered that MY personal way of playing could be something unique. Singers spend a lot of time finding their own voice, dancers spend years finding their personal posture, but as piano students we are mostly taught just to come as close to the Ideal Interpretation as we can. I have often left lessons feeling quite down, as I made so many mistakes and the teacher demonstrated such superior skills and I got so aware of my limitations. But Bill had a wonderful way of making me think that I, as the person I am, actually have something to give an audience that they cannot get from anyone else. And that is how every piano student should feel, I believe, even amateurs with short experience! So instead of leaving the lesson in a "jeez, I suck" mood, I felt so encouraged. So we made good friends and will hopefully meet again, and I highly recommend this book. After reading it, I started to find practicing real fun, and I laugh at my mistakes and find them interesting instead of getting frustrated.
What a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing. I met him at a recent conference and he was very nice - I can imagine that he must have been very validating to have as teacher!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Yes, it was terrific! And he was incredibly picky at the same time - it took us about 15 minutes to work through two bars in a Scriabin piece. "You will learn faster if you get this correctly at once". Since then I have not been afraid to work long with a shorter section, even though the rest of the piece remains pristine ...
one of the things i noticed in conservatory training is that a lot of it "play louder/softer here", "phrase here", with little asking the student what they think/feel about it.
Did you go to his session at MTNA? He gave a specific practice technique suggestion based on playing louder much of the time in the practice room to avoid physical tension when playing softly. Along the lines of the “juicy mistake.” It was a good reminder.
12:40 pm. 0:28 Kate: I enjoy your videos very much. In addition to piano I am also a golf teaching professional. It’s amazing how much the 2 have in common. My question- in golf we teach students to swing fast, faster fastest. The brain begins to reprogram that the faster swing is now normal. Is there virtue in playing scales and pieces as fast as possible in order to learn speed? Thanks.
Absolutely! There are techniques we use to teach this and you have just given me a new video topic idea! 😊 There's more here than I can write in a brief comment, but one way to apply this idea is to alternate practicing something quite slowly (totally under control) with practicing it at the goal tempo (feeling out of control), and gradually approach the goal tempo by playing each slow repetition a little faster. This can be very effective at helping to learn speed.
I am 65 and am dropping out of an adult class because of the first thing you mentioned here. Ya you don’t need to be a child to have your enthusiasm decimated. Found a private instructor who is so much better.
My new teacher is a jazz musician so if i hit a wrong note he laughs and says, hey that’s how jazz works! In fact I thought previously that there is one and only one way to play any given piece of music. Jazz shows you that’s just not true
I think many pianists could benefit from this book. It's especially useful for people with perfectionistic tendencies or who are fearful of mistakes. What is your current level of playing?
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Hello Dr Prof. Thank you so much for taking your time to answer my questions. I have been learning classical music with a private teacher and now I am a late intermediate player. My strength is reading notes. I just recently tried the techniques you teach ( how to learn a new repertoire fast) . It seems to work well for me . I just would like you to know I appreciate you more than you could imagine. Thank you again Dr Prof. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
If you trust your intuition and you play for your teacher and he says that is not correct and then proceeds to play the same passage his way. Who is correct? I came across this many times with my teacher while going for my BA in music?
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Watch next: Getting started with Mental Practice th-cam.com/video/I4dJTeyYgXE/w-d-xo.html
A long time ago (way more than 20 years) I was a TA in the English department of a state university, which meant that I was just told, go teach composition to freshmen. No training, no resources, no nothing. A lifesaver was a prof who told us about a book called "Errors and Expectations," which was similar to the book you're talking about. The theme was that mistakes in spelling, grammar and usage were things that could be fixed later. The immediate goal was to teach thinking and effective expression. They are far more important.
Well said!! 👍👍👍
I'm actually a cellist rather than a pianist, but I wanted to thank you for this video. I had the good fortune of taking three semester's of Dr. Westney's "Dimensions of Performance" class back in the nineties, and found so many of the points you emphasize about practicing applicable across disciplines. I bought the book a while ago, but I haven't been able to read it because of a serious loss of vision (so much so that I can no longer read music either), and your video brought back a number of important principles that I learned in the class.
I do remember the last time I got to play in concert with Dr. Westney after he'd solidified his practice and performance philosophy; he played Khatchaturian's piano concerto with the local symphony orchestra, and there was a different feeling about _sharing the music_ that developed in him since the first time I'd played behind him in Mozart's 17th piano concerto, something that I have grown to appreciate as I've aged in my career.
One of my colleagues frin Texas Tech is in trhe process of trying to make me an audio copy of the book (with Dr. Westney's approval, of course), and I am looking forward to digging back into the principles that he espouses. Thanks so much for this video again!
I love this story - thank you so much for sharing! How lucky that you were able to take his courses! So sorry to hear about your vision impairment. I am glad your friend will be making the audio version. I'm surprised it's not already available as an audiobook - it should be! 😊
I met Dr. Westney at a conference this past March and we had a very enjoyable conversation. I can imagine that it was wonderful to take classes with him. Best wishes! 🥰
Hello, I just found your site. I really like your videos. I ordered the book, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm 66, and started taking lessons almost 4 years ago.. wanting to play the piano my whole life, which retirement has allowed me to do. I played in our recital last spring. I was able to play Passaglia by Handel pretty well at home, but when I got up in front of the audience, my right hand started shaking uncontrollably. I was somehow able to finish, although I made a real mess of the middle of the piece. Even though I butchered the song, people came up afterwards and told me how much they enjoyed it. I'm still not sure if they were just being nice, but my teacher said that they probably didn't even notice. I'm looking forward to read what he says about being a perfectionist.
Thanks for sharing your story - I'm sorry to hear that you had a shaky performance experience. One thing to keep in mind is that practicing is a different skill than performing; when we practice, we need to be self-critical in order to stop and correct mistakes. However, when we perform, we need to be able to "turn off" that self-criticism in order keep going and play with confidence.
It is therefore helpful, as you prepare for a performance, to do lots of practice performances for other people in order to strengthen the "muscle" of performing. Also, spending time visualizing the performance beforehand can help significantly, because that makes the performance experience more familiar to your mind's eye.
I hope you have another opportunity to perform soon, so you can have a new experience! Good luck, and congrats on learning the Handel well - I love that piece!
@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thank you so much for your great response. I will look to another performance in the near future, but will prepare in a better manner.
Welp, adding this to my reading list. Can’t wait to get into it 😊
Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you so much for recommending this book! I have my library's copy in front of me, having finished it last week. I turn back to page 37, the student's letter entitled "Prisons," and relate completely (it actually made me cry).
Thank you for your touching comment. I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and found it helpful. I really love his perspective!
Such good points made here. The idea that there is ONE right way to play a piece made me so tentative that i eventually gave up. Its taken me 2 decades to relax and reconnect eith my original motovation to play.
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad to hear that you are feeling more relaxed now and that you're able to focus on enjoying it. 😊
Amazing channel! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience 😇
So nice of you! Thanks for watching! 🎹😊
I enjoyed this video very much . I tend to be a perfectionist in most things but practicing with authenticity is certainly my “ take away” from this video . In my personal life authenticity is my approach . Knowing your thoughts regarding “ mistakes “… I don’t feel badly because I practice with intent … thank you for sharing this … most certainly I will keep this in mind moving forward … it’s a great feeling to know a DR. Of music has a positive explanation, approach and feelings when it comes to piano and making mistakes . Thank k you .
❤I have this book. I really recommend it for every pianist. Love your videos. I've created a folder and I save them for reference when I need to. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment! I'm so glad to hear you find my content useful! Happy practicing! 🎹😊
Kate - I'm very grateful for this, and what a fantastic job you've done! Such a sprightly, beautifully organized, vividly communicative video. Most crucially, you paraphrase very neatly and effectively so many key points of the book. You totally got what I set out to convey. What could be more satisfying for an author? Wonderful stuff.
Thanks so much for your kind comment! I'm looking forward to reading your next book. Will look for you at MTNA!
Assuming you are WW I'd like to say something about your book : - When I saw it in the library a long time ago I had to get it out because of the title. Half of it was irrelevant, because I never had music lessons, so no problems in that department. The other half was massively important, the half which I would summarise as " all musical instruments are out to kill you ....... " . What I want to say, though, is about the first half. I distinctly remember thinking at the time that all the problems you were discussing could easily be solved just by smoking a few joints ! I wondered if you weren't aware of that, or didn't think it would be wise to mention it. Just thought you'd like to know .............................
I have only recently come across your channel. I am a beginner and drink in all your words. Much appreciate your manner of teaching and explanation.
Welcome aboard! Thanks for your kind comment. Good luck on your piano journey!
I have two notable examples of mistakes made by two famous pianists from the past...in recordings. One is a recording of Schnabel whose memory failed him during a performance of a Mozart Piano Concerto. They stopped the performance while Schnabel got the written copy...,.then he and the orchestra resumed the concert....this was during WW2...so there was a lot on their minds. Later after the war. Dame Myra Hess was giving a recital of Schubert and during it had a memory lapse.. repeated some of the measures and kept going. You can hear on the recording. Note they did NOT give up their careers as musicians afterward. Thinking of these examples has helped to some extent. I have struggled with the dreaded "Mistake Guilt" syndrome....thank you for offering HELP!!!
These are incredible examples- thank you for sharing! I'm glad this video was helpful to you! 😊
I will order this book. Sounds like good common sense advice.
Gawd, is the book already 20 years? I read it some years ago and I was absolutely delighted. I was so happy some years later when I was to go to a summer piano school in Manchester, UK, and found out that Bill was on the faculty list that year. So I put him on top of my wish list for piano teachers and was lucky, I got him for my four individual lessons. But when I went to the first lesson I was nervous, to say the least - you know, when you read something that is REALLY good and you think this author seems to be a great person, it could be quite chilling to meet them IRL later. I am not into any kind of idolizing under any circumstances, but still, I know that it is dangerous to get too high expectations and this fantastic teacher who writes such wise things could very well be quite a "difficult" individual when you meet them face to face. (Pianists in particular are sometimes a bit odd ...)
OK, it turned out at once that he was even nicer in real life than in writing, and I got the best piano lessons I have ever experienced in my life. All the teachers I have had - and I have had MANY - have been good, each in their own way, but I would definitely rank Bill Westney as No. 1. This was because he made me believe in myself as a pianist. I am just a hobby pianist, not very prominent in any aspect, and I had not even considered that MY personal way of playing could be something unique. Singers spend a lot of time finding their own voice, dancers spend years finding their personal posture, but as piano students we are mostly taught just to come as close to the Ideal Interpretation as we can. I have often left lessons feeling quite down, as I made so many mistakes and the teacher demonstrated such superior skills and I got so aware of my limitations. But Bill had a wonderful way of making me think that I, as the person I am, actually have something to give an audience that they cannot get from anyone else. And that is how every piano student should feel, I believe, even amateurs with short experience! So instead of leaving the lesson in a "jeez, I suck" mood, I felt so encouraged.
So we made good friends and will hopefully meet again, and I highly recommend this book. After reading it, I started to find practicing real fun, and I laugh at my mistakes and find them interesting instead of getting frustrated.
What a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing. I met him at a recent conference and he was very nice - I can imagine that he must have been very validating to have as teacher!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Yes, it was terrific! And he was incredibly picky at the same time - it took us about 15 minutes to work through two bars in a Scriabin piece. "You will learn faster if you get this correctly at once". Since then I have not been afraid to work long with a shorter section, even though the rest of the piece remains pristine ...
Bloody Excellent video! Thanks very much Prof!
Glad you enjoyed it
I found the book is suitable to my way of learning , I have similarly doen that in my practice and study. And I will apply it in piano learning ,
Wonderful!
I bought this great book when you mentioned it a while ago. I've read it twice - at least. The book is a gift as is your sharing it. Thanks!
Wonderful! Glad you've enjoyed the book as much as I have enjoyed it.
one of the things i noticed in conservatory training is that a lot of it "play louder/softer here", "phrase here", with little asking the student what they think/feel about it.
💯 Totally agree.
Did you go to his session at MTNA? He gave a specific practice technique suggestion based on playing louder much of the time in the practice room to avoid physical tension when playing softly. Along the lines of the “juicy mistake.” It was a good reminder.
I wasn't at his session. That's a great practice technique! He mentions it briefly in his book, as well.
...but, but, but - your kitchen has no food!
Now THAT'S a mistake...
😂😂😂
Ordered the book - thank you for the recommendation.
Wonderful - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
12:40 pm. 0:28 Kate: I enjoy your videos very much. In addition to piano I am also a golf teaching professional. It’s amazing how much the 2 have in common. My question- in golf we teach students to swing fast, faster fastest. The brain begins to reprogram that the faster swing is now normal. Is there virtue in playing scales and pieces as fast as possible in order to learn speed? Thanks.
Absolutely! There are techniques we use to teach this and you have just given me a new video topic idea! 😊 There's more here than I can write in a brief comment, but one way to apply this idea is to alternate practicing something quite slowly (totally under control) with practicing it at the goal tempo (feeling out of control), and gradually approach the goal tempo by playing each slow repetition a little faster. This can be very effective at helping to learn speed.
Thank you for the response. I was hoping this was the case. Keep up the great teaching!!!
LOVELY KITCHEN!
Thank you! 😊 This is why we had to move out for 4 months last fall/winter. It’s nice to be finished!
I am 65 and am dropping out of an adult class because of the first thing you mentioned here. Ya you don’t need to be a child to have your enthusiasm decimated. Found a private instructor who is so much better.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but it's great that you found somebody who is more encouraging and lets you explore!
My new teacher is a jazz musician so if i hit a wrong note he laughs and says, hey that’s how jazz works! In fact I thought previously that there is one and only one way to play any given piece of music. Jazz shows you that’s just not true
Hello Dr Prof,
Thank you for the information. Would you recommend this book to a regular pianist?
I think many pianists could benefit from this book. It's especially useful for people with perfectionistic tendencies or who are fearful of mistakes. What is your current level of playing?
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Hello Dr Prof. Thank you so much for taking your time to answer my questions. I have been learning classical music with a private teacher and now I am a late intermediate player. My strength is reading notes. I just recently tried the techniques you teach ( how to learn a new repertoire fast) . It seems to work well for me . I just would like you to know I appreciate you more than you could imagine. Thank you again Dr Prof. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
@@MissyTCA Thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment - it made my day! Happy practicing! 😊
If you trust your intuition and you play for your teacher and he says that is not correct and then proceeds to play the same passage his way. Who is correct? I came across this many times with my teacher while going for my BA in music?
I think the book is also for teachers, to help them be more flexible and connect with the musical instincts of their students.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙏