Customer Reviews

Passionate Practice: The Musician's Guide to Learning, Memorizing, and Performing

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This is a typical self-help book: a lot of "therapy", that is to say mystifying nonsense and psychobabble. I had my suspicions immediately upon getting to the Introduction page: here we have an epigraph from one "Guru Nanak The First Sikh Guru"; goes like this [capitalisation preserved]: "Divine Music is heard in every soul, Continuous, resonant, self-sustaining". Boy, that's deep, that truly expresses ... something. OK, now, quick to the bibliography at the end: here my suspicions were further augmented by the presence of Coelho and Arundhati Roy among the sources. Intelligent people don't read this kind of stuff. OK, moving on to the bio blurb on the last page: a nice picture of the author here -- and a list of accomplishements worthy of a Benvenuto Cellini, including, among other things, not one, not two, but three Master's degrees -- in Journalism, Political Science, and Psychology. One wonders how this is possible and how meaningful all these are ... and in addition, the book is somewhat poorly written, at least for a Master in Journalism. Strangely, no music degrees are listed; this is unusual for someone teaching music (and who, in addition, had the time to obtain three unrelated Master's degrees).

A few specific examples of:

(1) Mystifying drivel, p. 27 "Picture a point of light at a spot in your abdomen and watch yourself breathing to that spot, lighting it up". That's good guidance! -- Deepak Chopra himself couldn't put this better.

(2) Strange grammar and usage, p. xiii, "As a teacher it became my goal to put all the components [...]". I can see HW Fowler spinning in his grave... More of that, p. xv, "This book contains the means to free yourself from [...] As you traverse the road ahead, please bring along ...". Travel, perhaps? Traverse would mean to cross the road; hardly the intended meaning. Page 41, "... notice the minimum amount of energy you need ...". Amount can be of sugar, but not of energy -- energy is an abstract noun. Master's in Journalism, huh.

(3) The book is full of pseudoscientific and/or cutesy little magic words (very typical for the bs-rich self-help genre) -- "Magic Carpet", "Eight-Point Sensory System", "Puppy Dog Hands", "Uh-oh Mindset", "At-one-With-the-Universe" this and that, "R/A Response", etc.

I'm being pedantic, I know.

The bottomline:

I'm not sure if Regent Press is a vanity publisher, but this book feels self-published. OK, tastes differ, fine: suppose you're curious, so check it out and if you find it helpful, god bless -- but do check it out. New-Age "therapeutic" types might like it... As for me, it's not enough (charitably) substance and too much formulaic tripe, so I'm sending it back.

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PS. This review was originally posted on August 31, 2006, and since then accumulated 40 our of 67 helpful votes. Yesterday it mysteriously disappeared, along with the comments. Why? Well, think of it. Negative reviews on Amazon just have this tendency to suddenly and totally silently disappear. Strangely, this never happens to five-star ones. Anyway, here's a repost. Enjoy. (Comments, as always, are welcome, especially if relevant and cogently expressed.)

What I look for in an instructional manual are easy-to-follow instructions, personality, and at least one good tip that I can internalize for longterm use. Margret Elson's Passionate Practice succeeds on all three counts. As soon as the book arrived, I began working my way methodically through the various exercises and I found them all easy to understand, if sometimes tricky to do. Elson's humor and straightforward, encouraging language helped me to stay on task. What have I internalized, now that this book is tucked away among my Mozart and Beethoven piano music? A greater awareness of tension in my hands, not only when I'm at the piano, but when I'm talking on the phone or driving. As soon as I notice my hands clenched on the steering wheel, remembering Passionate Practice, I relax them. Ditto for that tough phone call--and when I soften my grip on the handset and breathe, the phone call usually gets easier. I loved Elson's technique for attacking problems with memorization and/or wrong notes when two sections of the music are only slightly different. The short version is that you get into the position of two statues that express the feeling of the two passages, and it's surprising how very different statues One and Two can turn out to be. After practicing my statues away from the piano, I find my knowledge of the music substantially changed when I return to the keyboard. For more detailed accounts of this and other techniques, I recommend you get your own copy of Passionate Practice.

As someone who has known Ms. Elson for several decades, I can attest to her pianistic artistry and her creative teaching. As an experienced piano teacher myself, I have found her ideas for performance preparation, including practice/preparation techniques and focussing techniques during performance, which draw upon many different sensory resources to be extremely helpful for both me and my students. A number of my students have sworn by it. What I appreciate about Margret is her ability to write a book that is both concise and yet rich in content, easily readable and humorous, yet effective in its step-by-step processes. She practices what she preaches by reaching the reader through many sensory approaches. Anyone who has heard her performances knows that she plays with exquisite taste, style and passion. I highly recommend this thoughtfully written book.

While the book is clearly titled to attract musicians who aim to hone their practicing and focusing skills, I found this book useful for a completely different reason. When I read it, in place of "learning a piece" I read "speaking in public" and really benefitted from the awareness and focusing techniques that are emphasized. Since the book is an easy read, useful ideas and skills can be extracted by reading just a few paragraphs. On the other hand, the depth of the book, and integral and fundamental role of many of its teachings makes it the kind of book you can learn even more from by going back and reading it again, picking up on things you missed the first time. I recommend this book for people interested in learning new techniques for improving their skills, focus, and confidence. It has a very natural flow that makes it an enjoyable read as well.

If anyone had told me five years ago that I'd be playing my own recital, I would have doubted their sanity. BUT, by following the guidelines in this book I was able to overcome my deep seated anxieties about performing and actually play an entire program. The recital was a great success and, amazingly, an enjoyable experience for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from stage fright. IT WORKS!

Margaret Elson's "Passionate Practice" has been a source of wisdom and encouragement since I read it when it was first published. I have returned to it many times. Elson's blend of psychotherapeutic expertise with her experience as a musician makes this book helpful to many. The author is a scholar-practitioner whose work with pianists transfers to wisdom for people striving to enhance their vocational expression and freedom. I hope we will be seeing more books from this writer.

Contrary to what Mr. Schmidt has written, I have to differ that this book is one of those typical "new age" self-help books. There is real substance and common sense mixed in between the poetic quotes. What people might fail to see is that the author is an artist herself and is passionate about her subject. Rather than write in dry, technical jargon, she illuminates and illustrates her examples with a high degree of wit and philosophical reflection--the very grist we need to persevere in what is an otherwise, daunting artistic process. I have studied piano privately with the author for several years and can tell you that her book is just skimming the surface of what she is actually able to teach in person. The author knows her stuff and produces successful results.

This book is fantastic!! It presents excellent techniques for taking your musical practice to the next level. For anyone out there who has a particular hump to get over in their practice, this is the book for you. In a very clear and easy to understand manner, the author shows you how to excel in even the most difficult situations and to do so with a sense of ease. The ideas and lessons presented in this book will help you to face any challenge in life, musical or otherwise.

As a teacher of music myself, I was delighted to discover this book as it has helped me immeasurably with my students. Elson's ideas are original and truly creative. You can't tell from the title but the book has great ideas for dealing with performance problems, specifically physical tension and anxiety. Elson's various exercises and visualizations are smart, very do-able, and they work! I have done them myself and have several of my students doing them, with great success. Where was this book when I needed it, 30 years ago?

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I'm not much of a musician (I play a mean CD player, but that's about it). So, I was surprised when I found myself reading this book and translating a lot of the performance ideas to my athletics and work.
While this book is directed towards musicians, many of the techniques for preparing for a performance as well as the general guidelines of the book are applicable for others as well. I encourage you to read this book, not as a guide to how to play the piano, but as a guide to how to prepare for performances of any type.