In this chapter we’ve covered some of the components which can provide you with an empowering and resilient musical mindset.
Armed with a Big Picture Vision and a sense of your Musical Core, you’ll have new clarity and confidence about where you’re trying to reach in your musical journey.
Adopting our four Pillar Beliefs (Musical Inside and Out, Universal Potential, Better Together and Enjoying the Journey) can defend you against the negative messages and myths that society otherwise tends to burden us with.
Choosing a Growth Mindset continually keeps you open to reaching your fullest potential, and Beginner’s Mind lets you find exciting new opportunities even with familiar musical material.
Setting the expectation that you will develop your skills towards mastery through Trial and Improvement produces fast, consistent progress and keeps you moving forwards step by step, and taking a Loose Grip Mindset allows for Convergent Learning to occur, so that you can benefit fully from the synergistic effects of a range of concepts, methods and practices.
Since starting to teach these Mindset principles inside Musical U it’s been striking to see the impact they have on musicians’ results. Even more striking is that those who enjoy the most success are those who regularly revisit this material and give their mindset a regular “tune up”.
That’s why before we dive into the subsequent chapters, which are all more practical and skills-oriented, it’s so important to have taken the time to introduce these mindset principles—and why this may well be the chapter you’ll want to plan on revisiting the most.