Comments on: Meadowmount School of Music, Westport, New York

By: Kimberly Barber

Kimberly Barber — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:04:20 +0000

I am both a professional musician (opera singer) and voice professor and pedagogue (Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada) and I have just finished reading your book. I know that it will have profound impacts on the way I teach and the way I approach my practice from here on in. I will be recommending it to both students and colleagues–to some degree it affirmed for me what I had begun to understand in the decade since I began teaching, and gives me the science behind my previous conviction. I have also passed it on to my husband–a girls’ amateur soccer coach.
I have seen time and time again in my students that despite seemingly natural predestination, those with “talent” or “gift” who do not practice effectively do not progress, and those who are focused, determined and practice consistently can grow far beyond those regardless of their initial supposed gifts or lack thereof.

By: Nicole Federici

Nicole Federici — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:09:09 +0000

Hi Mr. Coyle.
I loved your book and your blog.
As a violinist and a violist myself, I can say that many players (professional and student) do not know how to avoid getting a “hickey” from playing the violin or viola- and it is not caused by hours of practice. It is caused by an ill-fitting chinrest and or a sub-optimal violin hold. I know this because I solved this problem for myself (and a few of my students and friends) some years ago, by inventing a chinrest that allows a player to find an optimal hold very quickly. Somehow, this is not widely understood in my field. I suppose this lack of awareness is a bit like the lack of awareness about deep practice for many people…
an idea (this chinrest was good for Kreisler, so it is good enough for me/everyone thinks musical genius is inborn, so it must be true).
I recommend your book to all of my students and their parents. Strangely, this idea that high levels of musical skill emerge only from those who are gifted persists anyhow. Another interesting myth is the idea of tone-deafness, an affliction many believe resembles color-blindness- even if this is proven incorrect to some, they believe that one example is a miracle, and an isolated incident. I hope more people come to embrace these practice ideas you aim to popularize, so that more students of any subject can set higher goals and achieve them. Thank you!!!!

By: What Shape is Your Talent? « The Talent Code

What Shape is Your Talent? « The Talent Code — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:02:14 +0000

[...] should match the shape of the circuit. And that’s what I observed at the talent hotbeds like Meadowmount (where loops ruled), Brazilian futsal (home of fast, reactive spiderwebs), or the Bronte household [...]

By: Ann Williams

Ann Williams — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:50:40 +0000

Yo-Yo Ma has a violin hickey? How about the cellists in the video? Throws accuracy of article into question, which is a shame. (It rather undermines the concept, which is a sound one.) One should actually take care NOT to get a violin hickey, just as one should try not to get shin splints.

By: Ruth Howard

Ruth Howard — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:23:28 +0000

I’ m appreciating your site after referral via Steve Hardagon at LearnCentral.org.
Aha chunk separately practice each reconstruct later!

By: What Can Myelin Do For You? « The Talent Code

What Can Myelin Do For You? « The Talent Code — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:55:46 +0000

[...] packages over slippery floors), and it works brilliantly. UPS is doing exactly what the coaches at Meadowmount, The Shyness Clinic, Spartak or any of the other talent hotbeds are doing: using deep practice to [...]