ArtistWorks Music Series — Becoming a Confident Player: Howard Levy
In this week’s episode of the ArtistWorks Music Series podcast, ArtistWorks CEO Patricia Butler sits down with boundary-pushing harmonica player Howard Levy to continue the conversation on the concept of becoming a confident musician with another ArtistWorks master instructor. Together, they explore the role that confidence plays in performance, how to properly set expectations to bolster your confidence, and the steps you can take to grow into a truly fearless player. The show is available wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can listen here at ArtistWorks.
As many of us have witnessed, master musicians radiate confidence when they’re performing. As an audience member, it quickly becomes apparent that you’re watching an undisputed master perform when every note, rest, passage, or shift in dynamics feels intentional, precise, and purposeful. However, despite what we may perceive in the audience, even master musicians make mistakes on stage. What truly distinguishes a master player from the rest is his or her ability to play through the mistake and recover with confidence.
“Mistakes are the way that we learn,” Howard explains. “We can’t always tell when we’re making a mistake because we’re so involved in the actual playing. So, if you’re doing some practicing and you’re working on a tune, record yourself playing it and listen back. By doing that, you can truly evaluate your performance, learn from mistakes, and improve.”
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, Howard provides specific techniques to help musicians of all levels grow their confidence, learn to play through their mistakes, and become rock-solid players.
“The diatonic harmonica is particularly weird,” Howard explains. “Since we don’t have all the chromatic notes equally available, there’s all sorts of special techniques — throat and ambiture positions — that we need to use just to play a major scale. So, as a teacher, I have to provide students with tunes and techniques that they can succeed at so that they build confidence and don’t get demoralized.”
To learn more about becoming a confident player, ways you can improve your success, and trust the work you’re putting in on your harmonica, or any other instrument, listen to the full podcast with Howard Levy here:
If you’re interested in studying the harmonica and learning even more about Howard’s approaches to growing as a musician, check out his online harmonica lessons right here at ArtistWorks!
ABOUT THE ARTISTWORKS MUSIC SERIES:
On the ArtistWorks Music Series, CEO Patricia Butler speaks with master musicians across all genres who teach at ArtistWorks. Join them as they dive deep into topics like becoming a musician, playing at all skill levels, and the journey of learning music.
Looking to dive into more music podcasts? You’ve come to the right place. Investigate previous episodes where plenty of topics are explored with fantastic, hand-selected, and knowledgeable guests.
Tune in for new episodes released every other Wednesday on all platforms, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show!
Want to get started on overcoming the roadblock on your musical journey with our online music lessons? Try out some free sample music lessons with any of our master musicians and learn from the best!
