MoltoMusic

10/16/2018

Bay Area music teachers: If you're looking for studio space on the Peninsula for teaching lessons, Lynné Funkhouser is renting studio space in San Mateo. Prime location just off El Camino and 92, close to schools. See the flier to contact Lynné for more info.

05/26/2018

Practice Tip of the Week: How to Deal with Frustration. Getting frustrated occasionally is a totally normal part of the mastery process. Here are strategies to keep things in perspective. http://davidmotto.com/how-to-deal-with-frustration/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:How to Deal with Frustration Frustration is Bound to Happen It goes without saying that when you practice music,

04/14/2018

Molto Music Practice Tip of the Week: How to turn what you Can't do into what you Can do. Specific strategies for tackling the most challenging music you're learning. http://davidmotto.com/tough-stuff/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Tough Stuff What is "Tough Stuff"? In every song or piece you want to learn, there is inevitably one section

04/07/2018

Practice Tip of the Week: Performance Rituals. How to create and use performance rituals to get you into the zone, keep calm, and stay focused. This is one of the most powerful strategies for creating success! http://davidmotto.com/feel-calm-stay-focused/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:How to Feel Calm and Stay Focused Transitioning into the Zone Making the transition from all the crazy activity

03/30/2018

Practice Tip of the Week: 3 Things to Watch for at Concerts (How to Learn from Live Performances). Some practicing happens outside of the practice room! http://davidmotto.com/learning-from-live-performances/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Learning from Live Performances Practicing Can Be Lonely Becoming a great musician takes more than great practicing

03/14/2018

Practice Tip of the Week: 32 Strategies to Make Time for Music EVERY Day. http://davidmotto.com/making-time-for-music-update/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Making Time for Music When You're Busy Musicians contact me daily to tell me about the challenges they're facing. As a

02/28/2018

My Practice Tip of the Week: Five Questions that Keep You Honest. Honesty is essential for effective performance preparation! http://davidmotto.com/5-questions-that-keep-you-honest/

02/15/2018

Practice Tip of the Week: Keeping the balance between learning music you love vs. music you have to learn. Either type of music can be valuable - and playing only what you love can limit you. http://davidmotto.com/music-you-love-vs-music-you-have-to-learn/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Music You Love vs. Music You Have to Learn Inspiration and Play Being inspired by the music you are mastering is the

02/13/2018

is one of the most important tools musicians can use to help us achieve our . Here is an incredible collection of Winter Olympic athletes describing their visualizations as they go into competition. Wow!

https://www.nytimes.com/video/olympic-athletes-visualize-wins

When the pressure starts to build, Lowell Bailey wonders: “Can I do this?” Then he looks at the snow ahead and imagines himself as a bow with an arrow drawn, ready to accelerate.

02/08/2018

My Practice Tip of the Week: Know What NOT to Do. Sometimes it's just as important knowing how to avoid common mistakes as it is to know the best strategies. Here are 5 things NOT to do in the practice room. http://davidmotto.com/know-what-not-to-do/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week: Know What NOT to Do Stop Fumbling Through Your Practice Sessions This week, I'm changing my normal

01/30/2018

9 Ways Watching the Grammy Telecast Offers Valuable Lessons for Musicians.

There's a lot to take away from this year's broadcast from Madison Square Garden.

http://davidmotto.com/2018-grammy-telecast/

What Every Musician Can Learn from the Grammy Telecast - 2018 Every year the Grammy's get a lot of media coverage. "Is the show relevant?" "Are the

12/19/2017

Want to get great at something? Hire a coach! Here's a fantastic TED talk on the importance of receiving outside feedback from an expert - no matter what your current level is. Super important for musicians!!

https://www.ted.com/talks/atul_gawande_want_to_get_great_at_something_get_a_coach

How do we improve in the face of complexity? Atul Gawande has studied this question with a surgeon's precision. He shares what he's found to be the key: having a good coach to provide a more accurate picture of our reality, to instill positive habits of thinking, and to break our actions down and th...

12/13/2017

Performing artists cannot self assess their runthroughs without seeing themselves from the outside. Shoot video! And, every day, use a mirror in your practice studio. My Practice Tip of the Week gives strategies for using that mirror successfully. http://davidmotto.com/practice-in-front-of-a-mirror/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Really Seeing Yourself When we practice, we often feel that our technique is strong and we are playing efficiently. It

11/15/2017

My Practice Tip of the Week deals with one of the most cursed skills among musicians: . The good news: there is one specific strategy that helps everyone with their music reading.

http://davidmotto.com/the-secret-to-sightreading/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:The Secret to Sightreading Many musicians are worried that their sightreading skills are not strong enough. Yet,

11/09/2017

My Practice Tip of the Week includes one of my favorite strategies for making time for things that are important to you. Makes you rethink how you use your time! http://davidmotto.com/practice-first/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Making Time for Music Too Busy to Practice? If your life is busy, you may find it challenging to "fit in" your

11/04/2017

My favorite quote of the day: "You are never so alive as when you are learning something new and overcoming adversity." Bruce Dickinson (lead singer of Iron Maiden, in his autobiography)

11/01/2017

My Practice Tip of the Week: How to avoid the uncontrolled starting and stopping that makes practicing ineffective. http://davidmotto.com/avoid-the-sad-syndrome/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Avoid the SAD Syndrome Many musicians have a habit of practicing in a way that will never lead to success in a

10/25/2017

Practice Tip of the Week:
6 Steps to Prepare for Any Performance

http://davidmotto.com/prepare-for-any-performance/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:6 Steps to Prepare for Any Performance From Learning to Mastery Once you can control all the notes for an upcoming

10/24/2017

Are you wasting money on your music lessons? Most musicians are! Here are 10 ways to stop wasting your money - so you get the absolute most out of the lesson process.

http://davidmotto.com/10-ways-to-stop-wasting-money-on-music-lessons/

Musicians waste huge amounts of money when they take lessons. I'm not saying music lessons are a waste of money. They're not. Taking private lessons can

10/23/2017

3 of 3 today on Visualization. 3/3 Seven Essentials. My blog post outlines exactly how to create successful visualizations.
http://davidmotto.com/7-visualization-essentials/

10/23/2017

2 of 3 today on Visualization. Another blog post on the power of visualizations. Creating compelling mental imagery will definitely help you.
http://davidmotto.com/why-visualization-is-so-powerful/

At first, it seemed like science fiction. Turns out, it’s actual science. Researchers took brain scans of people as they engaged in an activity. Then, they

10/23/2017

1 of 3 today on Visualization. Thinking a lot about visualizations today. It's about more than "seeing." It's about creating your story.
http://davidmotto.com/creating-success-with-visualizations/

My last blog post was 10 Secrets and Shortcuts to Improve Your Skills. Number 7 on that list was to “Visualize Success.” For this post and the next few posts

10/11/2017

What you look like on stage DOES matter and can help you achieve success. http://davidmotto.com/stage-clothes/

My Practice Tip of the Week gives you strategies for planning your stage dress and using these plans in your performance preparation. Check it out!

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:The Performance Preparation that Nobody Does Whether your performance garb is white-tie and tails or a vinyl mini

10/04/2017

Some ways to help you get started on those days when you truly don't feel like practicing and working on your goals. http://davidmotto.com/do-something-every-day/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Do Something Every Day It's important to make practicing a regular part of your life. Even on the days when you

10/02/2017

Using the SMART Goals system to get what you want. http://davidmotto.com/smart-goals/ This system works perfectly with my Ten Minute Virtuoso strategies for success: It's quick and easy to use and gives you huge results!

Using the SMART Goals System to Get What You Want Setting goals is great. Accomplishing those goals is even better! Everyone working on new skills, getting

10/02/2017

Just completed a weekend "personal mastery" seminar. Great to attend a workshop since I usually give the workshops I'm a part of!

From 6pm Friday through 6pm Sunday, we had a total of 24 hours of seminar time. Pretty intense schedule and truly shows how much you can get done if you are willing to dedicate yourself to spending the time doing something important to you.

I'm an advocate of doing a small amount of work each and every day to achieve your goals. However, every now and then, it's also great to dedicate ALL of your available time toward achieving a goal.

I sometimes wonder what would happen for my clients if they would occasionally devote an entire weekend toward their creative projects or their presentations. Could be a game changer for them!

Let me know what strategies work best for you: a little work every day, a huge amount of work all at once, or a combination of the two.

10/01/2017

Happy October! Time to set your 3-month goals for the end of 2017. Then work backwards: monthly goals, this week's goal, today's practice.

09/27/2017

Practice Tip of the Week: 2 Essential Focusing Strategies: Here are two of my essential focusing strategies that help you overcome challenges as you build skills. http://davidmotto.com/two-essential-focusing-strategies/

David Motto's Practice Tip of the Week:Two Essential Focusing Strategies Focus is the Key to Success Intense focus is the key to making real progress in

09/25/2017

Great quote from my friend Dave Gardner:

“Someone who repeats the same year of their life fifteen times doesn’t have 15 years of experience; they have one year of experience repeated fifteen times.”

This is true in your creative life, your personal life, and your business life.

http://davegardner.biz/becoming-more-valuable-year-after-year/

09/25/2017

Try-Fail-Feedback-Fix-Try-Fail-Feedback-Fix. The essence of the practice process. http://mailchi.mp/panevolution/a9zst2n6kr-490197?e=92fe69b7ed

Many of us are so focused on content and results that we neglect to pay attention to process. That is, until or unless we make a mistake. At that point, we have the need to reflect, to understand what we did so we can try something different the next time. Do you tend to integrate learning more full...