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This title in other formats:

The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart

by Madeline Bruser

The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart Cover

ISBN13: 9780609801772
ISBN10: 0609801775
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

This landmark book enlightens amateur and professional musicians about a way of practicing that transforms a sometimes frustrating, monotonous, and overly strenuous labor into an exhilarating and rewarding experience. Acclaimed pianist and teacher Madeline Bruser combines physiological and meditative principles to help musicians release physical and mental tension and unleash their innate musical talent. She offers practical techniques for cultivating free and natural movement, a keen enjoyment of sounds and sensations, a clear and relaxed mind, and an open heart and she explains how to

  • Prepare the body and mind to practice with ease
  • Understand the effect of posture on flexibility and expressiveness
  • Make efficient use of the hands and arms
  • Employ listening techniques to improve coordination
  • Increase the range of color and dynamics by using less effort
  • Cultivate rhythmic vitality
  • Perform with confidence, warmth, and freedom


Photographs show essential points of posture and movement for a variety of instruments.

Review:

"Madeline Bruser has put together a valuable and insightful look at the art of practicing. If more people read this this book, perhaps we might see an increase in the number of inspired and joyful music makers who, rather than viewing practice as a punitive activity, regard it as the supreme opportunity to explore their own creativity."
American Music Teacher

Review:

"An essential and brilliant book. Madeline Bruser gives us insight, wisdom, and tremendous practicality."
-Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect

Review:

"I've often thought of practice as playing--in the stretching, somersault, skipping, serenely special sense of the word--and The Art of Practicing reaffirms that. It gently and joyfully reminds us of the beautiful reasons we love music and become musicians in the first place."
-Richard Stoltzman, clarinetist

Review:

"The attitude and approach presented in this book ring true and can inspire us to open up to music with stimulated imagination and inquisitiveness and to play from the heart every time we sit down to play. I recommend this book and its ideas very highly."
-Peter Serkin, pianist

Review:

"An excellent sourcebook for musicians...logical, well thought-out, and clearly written, as well as medically tenable...thoughtful, sensitive, and very practical."
-Alice G. Brandfonbrenner, M.D., founding director Medical Program for Performing Artists, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, editor, Medical Problems of Performing Artists

Review:

"This is a book to read and read again, whether you are a performing musician or a serious listener."
The Washington Times

Review:

"Give this book to any musician you love and to any person who loves what music does for them and for the world. "
-Richard Stoltzman, clarinetist

Review:

"Luminous and inspiring. "
-Paula Robison, flutist

Synopsis:

A "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" for musicians, this wise and useful book transforms a sometimes frustrating, monotonous, and strenuous labor into an exhilarating and rewarding experience. 40 photos. 4 line drawings.

Description:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-254) and index.

About the Author

Madeline Bruser lectures widely on the Art of Practicing and teaches privately in New York City.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780609801772
Subtitle:
A Guide to Making Music from the Heart
Foreword:
Menuhin, Yehudi
Author:
Bruser, Madeline
Author:
Bruser, Deline
Author:
Bruser, Madekine
Author:
Menuhin, Yehudi
Publisher:
Three Rivers Press (CA)
Location:
New York :
Subject:
Reference
Subject:
Techniques
Subject:
Music
Subject:
Achievement motivation
Subject:
Level of aspiration
Subject:
Practicing
Subject:
Instruction & Study - Techniques
Subject:
Performance
Subject:
Practicing (Music)
Subject:
Music -- Performance -- Psychological aspects.
Edition Number:
1st paperback ed.
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series Volume:
5489
Publication Date:
February 1999
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
288
Dimensions:
8.28x5.54x.84 in. .72 lbs.

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