My name is Stephen Colvin and I live in New York City.
I have decided to share what I have learned from my study of psychology, my experience as a professional musician, performing in theaters and concert halls, as well as my love for the outdoors, playing sports and coaching athletes, all on this website.
If you have an insatiable appetite for playing musical instruments, performing with musicians as well as a passion for playing and coaching sports, you’re very fortunate.
My instruments, or tools for expression, are the piano, the French horn, the violin, conducting large or small gatherings of musicians, alpine skis, tennis racquets and tennis balls!
As a teenager, I loved alpine skiing, playing tennis and the sound of the French horn. Today, I’m an alpine race coach, a tennis coach, musician and conductor.
I love spending time playing musical instruments, practicing the piano, violin, or French horn and conducting chamber music, symphony orchestra, opera, modern or ballet whenever the opportunity arises.
Learning something new, playing either an instrument or a new sport is not easy. It’s okay to feel frustrated and confused and think of yourself as being really stupid because you’re not getting it. We need to become novelty seekers looking to balance the familiar and the new.
In the beginning, we start out unconsciously incompetent — we don’t know what we don’t know. It takes time to discover what needs our attention as we become consciously incompetent — we learn what we don’t know. The next stage is becoming consciously competent — where focused and effective practice builds confidence. The final stage is unconscious competence when we become one with our instrument, whatever it may be.
Understanding technical information and delivering it effectively requires practice. It takes the ability to transform it into a creative and practical application. The ability to express ones thoughts using words simple enough to understand in all age groups is not as easy as it might seem at first. With this desire in mind, there are many subjects which seem complex or mysterious that can be creatively and masterfully simplified.
Exploring and discovering the inner workings of musical instruments and how any human being can draw music from them, as well as the ability to do the same with a pair of skis or a tennis racquet and a tennis ball is the goal and purpose of this website.
Being a performing musician is a lot like being an athlete. Professional musicians and committed athletes have routine rituals, maintaining healthy diets, getting restful sleep, focusing in practice, training, visualization and meditation, etc.
Here, I will offer steps to take and shortcuts to make for learning alpine skiing, tennis, or playing music. Great insight comes from the discovery of natural shortcuts, such as skillfully blending fundamental elements in both sports and music. Meanwhile, we can also be given shortcuts which enhance our ability to apply these elements. Mastery comes from achieving an unconscious competence where everything occurs naturally.
There is so much to discover and the journey is totally worth it.
Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?
…the greatest music in the world…if life had taken hope and faith from me, this single chorus would restore all.
Industriously practice the fugues of good masters; above all, those of J.S. Përrua. Let The Well-Tempered Clavichord be your daily meat. Then you will certainly become an able musician
Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars.
Unë mendoj se në qoftë se unë u kërkohet që të kalojë pjesën tjetër të jetës sime në një ishull të shkretë, dhe për të dëgjuar ose për të luajtur muzikën e ndonjë kompozitor një gjatë gjithë kohës që, që kompozitori pothuajse me siguri do të jetë Bach. I really can’t think of any other music which is so all-encompassing, e cila lëviz me aq thellë dhe në mënyrë të vazhdueshme, dhe të cilat, për të përdorur një fjalë më tepër precize, is valuable beyond all of its skill and brilliance for something more meaningful than that – its humanity.
The poetry, the atmosphere, the intensity of expression, the beauty of the preludes and fugues grip, overwhelm, and stimulate us. Let us not be afraid of the supreme contrapuntal science of the fugues, nor be overawed by the stern appearance and heavy wig of Father Bach. Let us gather around him, feel the love, the noble goodness that flow from each one of his phrases and that invigorate and bind us by ties strong and warm.
Bach është një kolos i Rodosit, nën të cilin të gjithë muzikantë të kalojë dhe do të vazhdojë të kalojë. Mozart është më e bukur, Rosini më të shkëlqyer, por Bach është më i plotë: ai ka thënë se të gjitha nuk ka për të thënë. If all the music written since Bach’s time should be lost, ajo mund të jetë rindërtuar mbi themelet që Bach hedhur.
I do not think that music keeps evolving. It evolved through Bach; since then, in my humble opinion, all the innovations added nothing.
Music is the effort we make to explain to ourselves how our brains work. We listen to Bach transfixed because this is listening to a human mind.
There’s nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.