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PODCAST

The Bulletproof Musician

Ever wonder why you can practice for hours, sound great in the practice room, and still be frustratingly hit or miss on stage? Join performance psychologist and Juilliard alumnus/faculty Noa Kageyama, and explore research-based “practice hacks” for beating anxiety, practicing more effectively, and playing up to your full abilities when it matters most.

science social sciences

All Episodes

9:08

Your Brain Isn’t Built for Consistency - Here’s How...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/05/11

Ever wonder why it's so difficult to do the same thing twice, in exactly the same way? Like the same exact crescendo or the same exact speed of vibrato? Do we just need to practice more? Or is there something else involved? Turns out our brain isn't wired for this kind of consistency. But that's actually a good thing! And it has some interesting implications on how we ought to approach practicing too. Get all the nerdy details here: Your Brain Isn’t Built for Consistency - Here’s How to Make ...

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69:19

Mitch Abrams: On Trauma and High-Level Performance

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/05/04

I think the last couple decades have seen a growing change in the music community, where there's a greater openness to talking about nerves and certain mental health struggles. But one area that isn't yet being talked about so much is trauma. What is trauma? What "counts" and what doesn't? How does this happen? How does it affect us? How can we know if a student has experienced trauma? Could we unintentionally (and unknowingly) be causing trauma? To better understand trauma and its intersecti...

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8:36

Reward vs. Punishment: Which Leads to Faster Learning?

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/04/27

When it comes to motivating students, musicians, or even ourselves, we all wonder: is it better to reward effort — or call out mistakes? It turns out, both approaches can work… but they lead to very different kinds of learning. Get all the nerdy details here: Reward vs. Punishment: Which Leads to Faster Learning? * * * Have you ever wondered why it is exactly that things often sound better at home than they do on stage? If you’ve been confused (and frustrated) by the inconsistency of your p...

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6:20

One Way Parents Can Help Their Kids Be Less Anxious

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/04/20

It's hard to be a parent and not worry about one's kids. Especially when it comes to public performances, competitions, or auditions, whether big or small. But doesn't it feel like sometimes a parents' worry is contagious? Where their stress or worry rubs off on their child, and the kid starts worrying or feeling more pressure as the performance approaches too? The answer is not to tell your students' parents to chill out and stop worrying, of course. Because that's not likely to happen no ma...

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6:50

A Self-Talk Tweak to Boost the Odds of Achieving Your...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/04/13

My daughter and I have been binge-watching past seasons of The Amazing Race for some months now, and the psychology nerd in me has become increasingly fascinated by one particular aspect of the show. The participants’ self-talk. As in, what do participants say when they run into a task that feels impossible or beyond their abilities? “I can’t” When participants start saying “I can’t,” they often stop trying and appear to be on the verge of quitting altogether. After all, “can’t” is a pretty d...

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53:30

Linda Chesis: On Cultivating a More Beautiful Sound...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/04/06

Ever get that overwhelmed feeling in the practice room? Where you know there’s a ton of work to be done, but you’re not quite sure where to start or what exactly to do? Maybe you’re not happy with your sound, or your intonation is sketchy, or perhaps it’s one of those days when it feels like everything needs attention? We only have so much time and energy, so what are we to do? Flutist Linda Chesis is a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and festival director. She was a student of Jean-Pier...

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10:01

Finding Your Optimal Anxiety Level: Why Calm Isn’t...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/04/04

Even from a young age, I was always confused by the relationship between nerves and performance. There were times, for instance, when I’d be nervous and sound pretty terrible. But then there were other times when I’d be nervous and play better than ever. And then there were times when I’d be calm and sound very uninspired and mediocre. It all felt like a crapshoot, and none of it ever made sense. Like, why were nerves sometimes helpful and sometimes not helpful? Should I be trying harder to c...

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7:52

The 70% Rule: Why Practicing Shouldn’t Be Too Easy

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/03/23

Somewhere along the line we learn that mistakes are bad, and perfect is good - but what if this is actually not true when it comes to learning? What if mistakes are actually an essential part of learning? And what if we actually learn faster when we're in a challenge "sweet spot" and playing nowhere near perfectly? If that were true...where might this sweet spot be? Get all the nerdy details and learn why you don't want practicing to feel too easy right here: The 70% Rule: Why Practicing Shou...

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6:36

Sight Reading: The Ideal Error Rate for Optimal Learning

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/03/16

When you're practicing sight-reading, how difficult should the music be? Should it be easy enough that you can read it more or less perfectly, without any mistakes? Should it be difficult enough that you're making lots of mistakes, and feeling really challenged? Could there a specific "sweet spot" or Goldilocks zone where your sight-reading skills improve at the fastest possible rate? Get all the nerdy details here: Sight Reading: The Ideal Error Rate for Optimal Learning * * * Has performanc...

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7:13

Why Practicing While Distracted Is Actually Very...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/03/09

Have you ever found yourself getting irritated or see your performance get derailed by distractions on stage? Maybe it was noises backstage, or movement in the audience, or people coughing and loudly unwrapping candy in the quiet moments? These distractions often seem like such trivial things, but sometimes, they can take up more space in our thoughts than they ought to, and lead to little slip-ups. Which can be pretty frustrating, lead to more little mistakes, and then begin to send the whol...

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6:04

How to Help Students Remember More From Each Lesson

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/03/02

A one-hour lesson can often go by really quickly, but also be packed with lots and lots to remember. Have you ever found yourself repeating yourself from one week to the next? Having to remind students about things you've already talked about in previous lessons? If you'd like to help students remember more from their lessons (and other classes too), I think you'll be intrigued by the finding of a 2014 study which compared two approaches to learning, and found one that significantly enhanced ...

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8:10

How to Increase the Likelihood of Being Accepted by...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/02/23

It's human nature to want to be liked and accepted by others. But while some seem to have a knack for it, for many of us, fear of rejection or fear of negative evaluation can get in the way. Whether it's walking into a room for a job interview or college/grad school audition, playing in a new ensemble for the first time, or meeting your partner's family for the first time, how can we increase our chances of being liked and accepted? A 2009 study suggests that our mindset could play a role in ...

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8:39

Stumped by a Problem in the Practice Room? Try an...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/02/16

Have you ever had one of those "aha" moments when a solution to a problem spontaneously popped into your head? Wouldn't it be nice if we could have those moments more often? Well, a 2012 study suggests that you may be able to cultivate these kinds of moments and increase your creative problem-solving abilities by taking a short break from the task. But not any old break will do - it has to be a specific type of break! Get all the nerdy details here: Stumped by a Problem in the Practice ...

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7:50

Perfect Shmerfect. Could More “Mistakes” Accelerate...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/02/09

Ever notice how some folks seem to learn faster than others? What’s their secret? Is it just natural ability? Sure, maybe there’s some of that. But could it also be that they’re doing something different in the practice room? Like is there some sort of newfangled cutting-edge practice strategy they’re using that you’re not? Well, these faster learners may be doing something quite different than what you’d expect. As a 2014 Harvard study found when they tested a strategy utilized by…birds. 🤔

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44:14

Carolyn Christie: On Overcoming Nerves With Healthier...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/02/02

Ever notice how mean the voice in your head can become on stage? Where it generates YouTube comment section-like levels of criticism and abuse? Or maybe you haven’t even gotten on stage yet. But as you’re waiting your turn, you overhear the person playing right before you, who sounds amazing? And then the voice suddenly makes you question and doubt everything? Yeah, the voice that lives in our head is not always such a good friend. But what can we do about it? How can we turn that off when it...

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9:54

Can We Train Ourselves to Worry Less About Others’...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/01/26

I came across a study years ago which found that fear of negative evaluation was one of the key drivers of performance anxiety in musicians. Which of course makes perfect sense, as we're being evaluated all the time. Often, with meaningful consequences attached.But that doesn't mean it's helpful - or very pleasant to experience either! So is there anything we can do to be less sensitive to what others around us might be thinking about us? At least in rehearsals, auditions, performances, or ev...

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10:49

What Causes "Choking" Under Pressure? And What Can We...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/01/19

Have you ever had one of those days on stage where you suddenly can't seem to do a thing that normally is never an issue? Or maybe it's one of those days where everything just spontaneously falls apart? And for seemingly no reason at all, even though you were as prepared as you've ever been?Athletes call this "choking." Or the "yips" (which I think is funner to say). There's actually been quite a bit of interesting research on why this happens. And the answer is way more interesting than "ner...

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8:36

The Truth About Cramming: Why Your Brain Needs Breaks

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/01/12

Taking breaks in the middle of practice or study sessions can be a pain. Often, it's a lot easier and more convenient to just power through and get it over with.But what price do we pay by not spacing out our learning, over multiple days, or with practice or study breaks? Does this really make that much of a difference?Two studies from the literature suggest that spaced learning can make quite a significant difference, actually. And one study explains why, highlighting the very different thin...

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53:28

Orli Shaham: On Overcoming Setbacks and Learning to...

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2025/01/05

Ever had one of those “I’m a total failure, and I’m never going to be invited to play with these folks again” moments?In this month’s chat, pianist Orli Shaham shares a deeply personal story about a performance at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, where rehearsals went so badly, that the piece she prepared was pulled from the program. It felt like a “complete failure” at the time, but the experience prompted her to evaluate her preparation process. Which eventually led to one of her career highl...

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7:36

A Backward Strategy for Enhanced Goal-Setting Success

The Bulletproof Musician ·

2024/12/29

Maybe you've set some goals for the coming year, but you're not quite sure where to start, and feeling a little overwhelmed? Or maybe you have a history of setting goals but not following through?A 2017 study looked at a "backwards" strategy for goal-setting and found that this increased motivation, follow-through, and actual performance as well!Get all the nerdy details here:A Backward Strategy for Enhanced Goal-Setting Success* * *Have you ever wondered why it is exactly that things often s...

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398 results

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