"Stop! You aren't thinking about what you are doing. You can't do this unless you give it 100% of your focus." My piano teacher went on to tell me about how her mentor had stopped her in the middle of playing a piece because she got distracted by a bird on the outside of the window. Taci King was a very kind woman, but she made it clear that I wasn't going to get any better unless I learned to control my mind and concentrate on the task at hand and at that moment, the task at hand was playing a particular piece of music. This lesson has stuck in my mind more than any other from the two years I studied with her in high-school.  I remember it every time I'm trying to do something … [Read more...]