By Ernie Mansfield There is a story about Leopold Auer, who was a famous Russian violin teacher. Auer was the teacher of Jascha Heifetz, who later became one of the most famous violinists of our time. Heifetz was the first violinist to perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto up to speed. [...]

Students - and parents of students - often have concerns about how much time should be devoted to practicing instruments at home. I think it is important to understand that being overly concerned about practice can lead to unnecessary levels of stress, and can actually detract from learning an instrument. [...]

I recently had a conversation with a friend. He doesn’t play the piano, but he wants to learn. In fact, he has been wanting to learn for a long time. I mentioned to him that I would give him a couple of free lessons. He countered that he had found [...]

From time to time, I will post answers to frequently asked questions that I receive from customers and prospective customers. Please feel free to post a question here, and I will do my best to answer it. For more immediate response, please call or email. What is the best type [...]

Someone once asked a well-known writer, “How do you write a book?” The writer replied, “Well, you get this magical device, called a pen…and then you get some magical stuff called paper…” implying, of course, that there is nothing particularly tricky or secret about writing a book, except doing it! [...]

By Ernie Mansfield - May 2011 Many people tell me their stories of how they always wanted to play piano. Or, how they used to take lessons when they were a kid. Or, how they were taking lessons, but then something came up, and they had to stop. Or, they [...]

What if there was a routine that you could follow, and you could methodically practice this routine each day, and by doing so, improve your musicals skills to such an extent that you could become an excellent musician just by following this simple routine? Sounds too good to be true? [...]

My friend has several parrots as pets. Now, the interesting and entertaining thing about parrots is that they can talk, by picking up and echoing the sounds they hear around them. This is quite fascinating and entertaining. But, the birds do not understand what they are saying. Now, there are [...]

Lenny Pickett is one of the most famous saxophonists of our time (Tower of Power, Saturday Night Live Band). Lenny grew up in Oakland. In this interview, Conversations With Lenny Pickett, Lenny talks about his history, what he practices, and his four rules for success. I have summarized his [...]