(in just twenty minutes a day!)

Music, perhaps more than any other human activity, enlists the synthetic cooperation of intellect, creativity and athleticism. As a physician and psychotherapist who spent nearly a decade working with students of classical music, I was deeply impressed by this inextricable interrelationship between mind and body. Eventually I devised a method of practice designed to enhance the technical and musical abilities of string players, and I am pleased to reintroduce it here for Stringendo readers.

First, a few general observations. Listening closely to string players one can over time distinguish superior from inferior technical ability (for now we will leave aside the matter of creative interpretation). The superior musician plays with a fluidity and ease, an accuracy of pitch and a tone that is robust even when soft. He or she can also play rapidly and softly simultaneously.