• When One Door Closes, Another One’s Destined To Open

    When I was young, my mom was told I’d probably never walk properly.

    I was severely bowlegged. I don’t know if it was full blown Blount’s disease (as that tends to get worse with time whereas bowleggedness tends to straighten out as children develop), but it was bad.

    I wore braces. I even had surgery where they break your…

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    What A Near-Death Experience Taught Me

    I jumped in.

    Ferociously paddling my arms and legs like I had observed the other children doing, I tried to get back above water but nothing happened. I just sank deeper and deeper.

    As I looked up, all I could see was dozens of legs kicking… and… blue water.

    Water gushed through my nose and mouth; my ears now flooded. I paddled incessantly for dear life. Surely someone could see me.

    10 seconds passed… 20 seconds… 30 seconds… 40 seconds… a minute.

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    Time to Share Some Family Pics

    If you’ve been with me long enough, you’ve seen me grow from a skinny, goofy teenager (when I first started this site at 17) to a muscular, handsome heartthrob. (Ok, the “muscular” and “heartthrob” part are a little far-fetched but at least give me the “handsome!”)

    More importantly, from a dependent kid without a responsibility in the world to a married man and father of 3.

    So in this post, I thought I’d take a break from music and share some family pics. They are long overdue…

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    How To Get Something From Nothing

    Today’s post isn’t directly about music but anything you aspire to achieve in life.

    In most pursuits, you’ll start with nothing. Heck, if you’re like me, you’ll start with less than nothing…

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    “Initiative! Now that’s what I’m talking about”

    A couple days ago, I wrote about the “Michael Jordan Method To Music Mastery.” I recommend you go check it out.

    But in it, I introduced a concept from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” which asserts that it takes about “10,000 hours to master a skill.”

    I got some really good feedback both via the comments and e-mail. But one of my favorites came from J.R. Massey…

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    Introducing the Biggest Event Of The Year…

    If you haven’t checked out the Musician Breakthrough website, you’re in for a treat. It features 7 musicians and over 70 minutes of online video clips so far. Each of these musicians are competing for a trip to the Bahamas! And a few lucky visitors (like you) can win an iPad and Hear & Play Products. Head over to the site, vote on your favorite clips, learn a bunch, and get in on the action! Click here

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    5 Breakthrough Ways To Transform Your Playing This Year

    As we all know, the first of the year is a time to set resolutions, goals, and “bucket” lists for most folks.

    And while it doesn’t take a “new year” to get pumped up, we love a feeling of new beginning.

    So in that spirit, I’ve come up with 5 breakthrough things you can do NOW to realize transformation in your piano playing in 2011…

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