Nobody is born a musician. Rather, people become musical. They do so through the right experiences as children, and with the right kind of support from the adults in their lives. Most teachers and parents believe that music can be a powerful a gift to kids. Ideally it becomes a lifelong gift, rather than merely a pastime of childhood to be reminisced about later. Unfortunately, not all music educational experiences produce a lasting musicianship. This book shares how learning experiences can be made more relevant, practical, and real world for young people studying music. With such experiences, kids can be on their way to becoming real musicians, defined as people whose musical skills allow them to leading musically active lives, whether music making is their profession or a personally-fulfilling part of their leisure time.

In recent years, a psychological perspective has gained increasing acceptance in the education provided to musicians: teachers, performers, and "creatives" alike. Research in music psychology has revealed how musicians acquire the ability to convey emotional intentions as sounded music, how listeners perceive it as feelings and moods, and how this powerful process relates to social and cultural dynamics. Of course, people who identify as musicians have special interest in these matters. A well-cited volume ever since its initial publication in 2007, Psychology for Musicians is now brought up-to-date in a second edition, particularly in expanding outside the exclusive context of Western formal/academic settings. This new edition draws on insights from recent research in music psychology, combining academic rigor with accessibility to offer readers research-supported ideas that they can readily apply in their musical activities.

In recent years, a psychological perspective has gained increasing acceptance in the education provided to musicians: teachers, performers, and "creatives" alike. Research in music psychology has revealed how musicians acquire the ability to convey emotional intentions as sounded music, how listeners perceive it as feelings and moods, and how this powerful process relates to social and cultural dynamics. Of course, people who identify as musicians have special interest in these matters. A well-cited volume ever since its initial publication in 2007, Psychology for Musicians is now brought up-to-date in a second edition, particularly in expanding outside the exclusive context of Western formal/academic settings. This new edition draws on insights from recent research in music psychology, combining academic rigor with accessibility to offer readers research-supported ideas that they can readily apply in their musical activities.

This book provides a concise, accessible, and up-to-date introduction to psychological research for musicians - performers, music educators, and studio teachers. Designed to address the needs and priorities of the performing musician rather than the research community, it reviews the relevant psychological research findings in relation to situations and issues faced by musicians, and draws out practical implications for the practice of teaching and performance. Rather than a list of DOs and DON'Ts, this book equips musicians with an understanding of the basic psychological principles that underlie music performcance, enabling each reader to apply the content flexibly to the task at hand. Following a brief review of the scientific method as a way of thinking about the issues and problems in music, this text addresses the nature-nurture problem, identification and assessment of musical aptitude, musical development, adult skill maintenance, technical and expressive skills, practice, interpretation and expressivity, sight-reading, memorization, creativity, and composition, performance anxiety, critical listening, and teaching and learning. While there is a large body of empirical research regarding music, most musicians lack the scientific training to interpret these studies. This text bridges this gap by relating these skills to the musician's experiences, addressing their needs directly with non-technical language and practical application. The book includes multiple illustrations, brief music examples, cases, questions, and suggestions for further reading.