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Inner Game
The inner game of music
Librarian's note: Alternative cover : ISBN 0330300172
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
May 23, 2014
This was accidentally given to me by my viola instructor after being recommended as a way to improve my performing skills. However, while many of the concepts the book gives are excellent, I found the writing patronising and long-winded. While it is sometimes useful to have the 'Inner Game' techniques spelled out in musical concepts, I have found that 'the Inner Game of Tennis', which I am currently reading, is generally more useful in spelling out concepts. Many of the exercises in 'the Inner Game of Music' seem to dumb down the concepts presented rather than promote them. I think almost all readers of this book are experienced musicians looking to up their game and tapping exercises were both pointless and hindered reading the book in public.
If you're looking for similar concepts I would highly recommend reading 'the Inner Game of Tennis'. It presents the same concepts but in a more concise manner that does not assume the reader is clueless. The tennis metaphors are not a hindrance and the book is considerably shorter!
If you're looking for similar concepts I would highly recommend reading 'the Inner Game of Tennis'. It presents the same concepts but in a more concise manner that does not assume the reader is clueless. The tennis metaphors are not a hindrance and the book is considerably shorter!
September 14, 2011
Great book. Every musician, every music student, and specifically every music teacher, should not only read it, but own it for future references.
There are so many great tips and ideas, and ways to both play music and teach it that get better long term results. Some of which I have already implanted in my own playing and teaching, some of which I am simply waiting for the opportunity to do so.
That being said, there are also several sections that seem like a bit of overkill to me. We must remember to not get to wrapped up in gimmicks and technical ideas, but that music often just needs to be completely free in order to survive and flourish.
This book is a mix of both, but it's still important to have the complete idea of the "Inner Game" technique in order to know when to use it, and when to simply let go.
Musicians: Go out right now and buy this book. Don't borrow it, don't check it out from the library. You need to own it, mark it up, put bookmarks in it, know it all. Do it.
There are so many great tips and ideas, and ways to both play music and teach it that get better long term results. Some of which I have already implanted in my own playing and teaching, some of which I am simply waiting for the opportunity to do so.
That being said, there are also several sections that seem like a bit of overkill to me. We must remember to not get to wrapped up in gimmicks and technical ideas, but that music often just needs to be completely free in order to survive and flourish.
This book is a mix of both, but it's still important to have the complete idea of the "Inner Game" technique in order to know when to use it, and when to simply let go.
Musicians: Go out right now and buy this book. Don't borrow it, don't check it out from the library. You need to own it, mark it up, put bookmarks in it, know it all. Do it.
April 7, 2015
The book provides a comprehensive analysis on what helps / hinders our musical growth. As a musician early on in the development, I find some advices extremely valuable.
The concept of "self 1 and self 2" lays the foundation for most discussions: every musician involves two “self” in terms of performance - Self 1 is logical, judgmental, and self-conscious, Self 2 is spontaneous, natural. We should apply techniques to be aware about self 2. Our goal is to let self 2 express the most, and reframe the impact of self 1.
Another concept reveals three aspects of training - will, trust, and awareness. There are many tips on how to increase will (set clear goals), trust (build up confidence and focus) and awareness (connect with emotions and memory).
It’s a book worth re-read as I continue on music practice.
Some great quotes:
Thinking is natural, and thoughts are likely to be present in every aspect of our lives: sometimes we pay attention to our thoughts, and sometimes we ignore them and change the subject. Self 1 includes not only our own thoughts, but also whatever we have picked up from our teacher’s instructions, the hints our friends give us, our parents’ hopes and desires, and our own urge to fulfill or reject those expectations. It includes everything we “think” we should be doing or worrying about.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 18). . Kindle Edition.
The challenge of the Inner Game is for you to bypass the critical interference of Self 1 and unleash the natural power and grace of Self 2.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 24). . Kindle Edition.
Our musical challenge is to imagine that we always have a second chance—to give ourselves permission to fail.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 33). . Kindle Edition.
The body’s kinesthetic sense is an important part of musicianship. Dancing, singing, foot tapping, and “conducting along with the record” are other ways to engage the body with the music.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 59). . Kindle Edition.
The body, like a computer, remembers its instructions when it has been properly programmed. But like even the most sophisticated computer, it needs to be programmed “a bit at a time.”
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 67). . Kindle Edition.
Trust isn’t the kind of thing you exactly learn—you either trust or you don’t. And when you feel you can’t trust, you can’t let go. So why is it sometimes so difficult to trust? I’ve found that there are often obstacles between us and our capacity to trust, and in order to overcome them, we first need to know what they are and how they work.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 78). . Kindle Edition.
The secret of getting past your worries about how you’ll appear to others is to give yourself the character and emotions of the music. You become the music, not yourself.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 80). . Kindle Edition.
Leonard Bernstein once said: “The only way I have of knowing I’ve done a really remarkable performance is when I lose my ego completely and become the composer. I have the feeling that I’m creating the piece, writing the piece on stage, just click, click, click, making it up as I go, along with those hundred people who are also making it up with me.”
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 81). . Kindle Edition.
Boredom is what I feel when I don’t feel sufficiently challenged by what I’m doing. But I can always choose to find challenge in what would otherwise seem boring circumstances.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 123). . Kindle Edition.
One major element in “letting go” is our vulnerability. Much of the excitement in playing live music comes from not knowing what will happen in each performance.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 123). . Kindle Edition.
“It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning…. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow…. It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but actually welcome problems.”
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 127). . Kindle Edition.
The conductor George Szell remarked, “In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain.”
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 176). . Kindle Edition.
Those who feel unhappy often attribute their problems to a loss of personal identity or to boredom.
Green, Barry (2012-03-11). The Inner Game of Music (p. 190). . Kindle Edition.
February 2, 2015
It's a bit tricky to rate this book. It appears that it has some very sound advice for musicians, but since I'm not a real musician, I cannot tell whether this is true or not. Anyhow.
I learned about the Inner Game from a friend of mine and I've been wanting to read more about it for a while. I was not that interested in The Inner Game of Tenis, since I don't play tenis. I'm trying to pick up music lately and it seemed like a great way to get introduced to those ideas.
The gist of it is creating a distinction between Self 1 (your inner chatter) and Self 2 (your intuitive/reactive self). You should try to silence Self 1 as much as possible and focus on Self 2. A good example is working on dynamics in a musical piece - instead of trying to play evenly, you should just be aware of how loud or soft you play. In this particular example, you create a better feedback loop between what you're doing and what you're hearing, which is purported to be more effective than focusing on trying.
The book is full of exercises and applications of the Inner Game technique. I'm very eager to try some of them, but since they are geared towards proper musicians, I cannot really practice a lot of them.
Even if we put aside the whole Inner Game part, the book was full of interesting stories and thoughts about music - that alone made it worthwhile to read.
I learned about the Inner Game from a friend of mine and I've been wanting to read more about it for a while. I was not that interested in The Inner Game of Tenis, since I don't play tenis. I'm trying to pick up music lately and it seemed like a great way to get introduced to those ideas.
The gist of it is creating a distinction between Self 1 (your inner chatter) and Self 2 (your intuitive/reactive self). You should try to silence Self 1 as much as possible and focus on Self 2. A good example is working on dynamics in a musical piece - instead of trying to play evenly, you should just be aware of how loud or soft you play. In this particular example, you create a better feedback loop between what you're doing and what you're hearing, which is purported to be more effective than focusing on trying.
The book is full of exercises and applications of the Inner Game technique. I'm very eager to try some of them, but since they are geared towards proper musicians, I cannot really practice a lot of them.
Even if we put aside the whole Inner Game part, the book was full of interesting stories and thoughts about music - that alone made it worthwhile to read.
December 12, 2018
Let's clarify something: despite its name, this book is not written by the same guy who wrote "The Inner Game of Golf." I'd heard great things about that book, and decided to pick up this one instead, since I care more about music than golf.
Huge mistake.
Green spends most this book paraphrasing Gallwey, but doing it in a way that comes off as sanctimonious and without adding anything of his own. As a result, TIGoM is like twice as long as TIGoG but somehow still manages to say nothing.
I'll save you some time with what this inner game stuff is all about:
1) do it for fun,
2) be aware of your performance,
3) the first step to fixing problems is to identify exactly what the problem is,
4) don't overthink it.
Good advice, but not good enough to warrant trudging through 242 pages of shit.
Huge mistake.
Green spends most this book paraphrasing Gallwey, but doing it in a way that comes off as sanctimonious and without adding anything of his own. As a result, TIGoM is like twice as long as TIGoG but somehow still manages to say nothing.
I'll save you some time with what this inner game stuff is all about:
1) do it for fun,
2) be aware of your performance,
3) the first step to fixing problems is to identify exactly what the problem is,
4) don't overthink it.
Good advice, but not good enough to warrant trudging through 242 pages of shit.
February 25, 2012
I actually did not even finish this book. I was recommended to it by my piano teacher, hoping that it would help me with some of my performance anxiety. However, I found it completely unhelpful. I found myself falling to sleep while reading it when it wasn't even bedtime.
To keep it short and sweet, I found the analogies and connections from sports to music a little far fetched, and it didn't keep me interested. There was too many mathematical equations as to how this plus that would equal doodlysquat. I wanted to be inspired and reassured about my performance anxiety, not lulled to sleep.
This is a completely personal opinion, though. Everyone learns and appreciates things differently.
To keep it short and sweet, I found the analogies and connections from sports to music a little far fetched, and it didn't keep me interested. There was too many mathematical equations as to how this plus that would equal doodlysquat. I wanted to be inspired and reassured about my performance anxiety, not lulled to sleep.
This is a completely personal opinion, though. Everyone learns and appreciates things differently.
June 4, 2025
CRAZY concepts presented in here. Some of them aren’t super relevant (at least to me) but nothing in here is wrong. Even though it’s a music focused book it can essentially be applied to anything one would want to do or learn. Really interesting breaking things down into a “self one” and a “self two” when going through pretty complex topics. This book easily could have been a drag but Barry Green has a really interesting way of phrasing things to make them easy to understand. Breaking down the concepts into trust, will, and awareness was also really cool. Even though Barry Green is an orchestra dude, these concepts can obviously be applied to any kind of music.
March 20, 2021
Derivative, long-winded, and dull. I skimmed and skipped around, but I didn’t finish.
Summary: “trying fails; awareness cures”. That’s a well known mantra from other, better written, psychology and mindfulness books. This one, written in the early 80s, seems to just try to repeat that one powerful idea for ~300 pages.
Summary: “trying fails; awareness cures”. That’s a well known mantra from other, better written, psychology and mindfulness books. This one, written in the early 80s, seems to just try to repeat that one powerful idea for ~300 pages.
July 26, 2011
A combination of sports-derived psuedopsychology and bad advice such as, "Make a list of all the things that make you nervous." It's the only book I brought to the Boundary Waters but otherwise I would not have finished it.
October 27, 2025
Worst read of 2025 👍
November 4, 2013
My vocal teacher recommended this to me. I thought it was alright. The techniques and tips the book covers are things that may marginally improve your abilities. But it in no way can substitute a real teacher.
A common theme in the book is to: try this, now try that, and notice if it feels and sounds different. For example, the author would suggest try playing a passage as loud as you comfortably can, then as soft as you comfortably can, and suggest you to try and find a middle level in between. I mean, that kind of generic advice might be good for the first step, but doesn't really offer anything substantially useful for going beyond that level of mastery.
I feel like this book addresses and is helpful to certain students of music struggling with the specific problems covered in the book. Which are: not trusting own abilities, muscle tension, balancing awareness and focus, and inefficient practice habits.
Overall I think it would help most students. But you should skim through parts that you feel are irrelevant
A common theme in the book is to: try this, now try that, and notice if it feels and sounds different. For example, the author would suggest try playing a passage as loud as you comfortably can, then as soft as you comfortably can, and suggest you to try and find a middle level in between. I mean, that kind of generic advice might be good for the first step, but doesn't really offer anything substantially useful for going beyond that level of mastery.
I feel like this book addresses and is helpful to certain students of music struggling with the specific problems covered in the book. Which are: not trusting own abilities, muscle tension, balancing awareness and focus, and inefficient practice habits.
Overall I think it would help most students. But you should skim through parts that you feel are irrelevant
September 16, 2016
Well actually DNF. I tried to keep reading, just was not good and didn't really hold my interest.
Referred to "The Inner Game of Tennis" so much I figured I should just read that book instead. Picked up that book instead and, yup, much better.
"The Inner Game of Tennis" is much better and you can pretty much make your own connections from tennis to music.
Referred to "The Inner Game of Tennis" so much I figured I should just read that book instead. Picked up that book instead and, yup, much better.
"The Inner Game of Tennis" is much better and you can pretty much make your own connections from tennis to music.
October 27, 2020
Too much inner game, too little music.
August 31, 2024
I was a little disappointed in this. I bought it (from Barnes and Noble online for $30 and yet on the back of the book the price is 27.95 go figure) to help me in performance but I don’t believe much of its methods will help me. Plus, a skipped large sections of the last 60 pages as largely irrelevant and superfluous; the book should have been much shorter.
April 8, 2019
Kesinlikle her müzisyenin okuması gereken bir kitap.
August 23, 2025
I enjoyed listening to this audiobook as a beginner flutist (with prior experience in other instruments). With the audio version, I missed the pdf references, but still got some things out of listening.
September 2, 2022
Interesting read, but most of it felt obvious, so I was disappointed by the lack of revelation or advice that I could impart to my students.
June 18, 2024
I actually finished it a while ago. As far as sports/ music psychology goes, this book gave me lots of little tips and tricks to revitalise my practice and listening experience. I think I'll read the OG tennis book though.
July 22, 2019
My fav quotes (not a review):
-Page 2 |
"The point of the Inner Game of sports or music is always the same – to reduce mental interferences that inhibit the full expression of human potential."
-Page 5 |
"Not too many people know that Mozart was also one of the finer billiards players in Europe, or that he gained inspiration for his music from listening to the click of the balls and the soft thud as they bounced off the green baize of the billiard table."
-Page 10 |
"there are two games being played: the outer game, where we overcome obstacles outside ourselves to reach an outer goal – winning at tennis, playing well, or succeeding at whatever we are interested in – and an inner game, in which we overcome internal obstacles such as self-doubt and fear."
-Page 15 |
"‘the game ends up playing the person’, rather than the other way around."
-Page 27 |
"It is understandable that our teachers, parents and friends may have instilled some fears and doubts in us when they told us what we ‘should’ be doing. As anyone who teaches the Inner Game quickly finds out, it requires effort and attention to teach without prescribing ‘shoulds and shouldn’ts’."
-Page 27 |
"The critical Self 1 may tell us: ‘You are going to goof up . . . Here comes the hard part . . . Relax your third finger and press the thumb . . .’ But we don’t have to listen."
-Page 38 |
"Permission to fail leads to success There’s a custom in golf called ‘taking a Mulligan’. It works like this. If you miss your first drive at the first hole, you can take a Mulligan and do the shot over again. Although Mulligan doesn’t seem to have made it into the professional circuit, it’s a nice idea."
-Page 64 |
"Performance goal 4: the music in your head Many of us have heard our teachers say ‘If you can’t hear it in your head, you can’t play it.’ The Suzuki method teaches children to play music without reading it, and uses recordings to give them an idea of the way the music should sound."
-Page 68 |
"‘Amateur’ has come to mean ‘non-professional’ or ‘unpaid’. But the word is derived from the French aimer (‘to love’) and literally means someone who ‘loves’ what they do. The true amateur, then, is someone whose attitude to music never loses sight of their experience goal."
-Page 70 |
"there’s a wide-spread legend that the tarantella is named after a spider, the tarantula, whose poisonous bite was a serious problem in southern Italy in. the Middle Ages. Apparently, the people of those times believed that this furious dance would cure the spider’s bite – hence the name. The dance has taken on a new meaning for me. Instead of concentrating on all those fast shifts, flurries of notes, bowings and fingerings, I allow myself to feel the panic and energy of a poisoned villager dancing as though life itself depended on it."
-Page 72 |
"Find the precise place where the problem arises. Use your awareness skills to locate ‘What’ is going wrong, ‘Where’, ‘When’, and ‘How Much’."
-Page 83 |
"that I was losing my focus on the music by worrying about my reputation and that of the Inner Game. She told me she suspected my performance wasn’t working because I’d put all my attention on my awareness and will techniques and forgotten to trust myself. And she suggested that I had problems with my self-image, compounded by the fear that my fellow musicians’ whole impression of the Inner Game was on the line."
-Page 130
"This kind of teaching is quite different from the ‘do this’ style of instruction with which everything from tennis to music is usually taught. Instead of the teacher telling a student to ‘change the tempo in the last bar,’ for example, they are more likely to ask questions that focus the student’s attention on the problem areas. This allows the student to make the necessary corrections without being told exactly what to do."
-Page 133
"‘Try’ instructions tend to cause anxiety, and then we are liable to tense up and ‘try too hard’, making us fail at tasks we might otherwise accomplish without any problems."
-Page 134
"The ironic thing is that almost all ‘do this’ and ‘try’ instructions could be rephrased as awareness instructions."
-Page 134
"‘Notice how evenly each of your fingertips transfers the weight from your arm. Notice the most comfortable place for your thumb, somewhere opposite your first and second fingers.’"
-Page 135
"Be aware of . . . Listen for . . . How does it feel when you . . . Tell me the difference you notice between . . . What do you hear when you . . . Pay attention to the . . . Let’s see if . . . Notice the feeling you get when"
-Page 137
"Sometimes you may feel it would be quicker and more effective simply to tell someone ‘do this’ instead of asking them whether they can tell what’s missing. You’ll usually find you can still give a specific suggestion, while rephrasing it in awareness terms. For instance, you might say something like ‘Let’s run an experiment: use the fourth finger this time, and see if it works better on the shift than the second.’"
-Page 138
"Notice what sort of curvature of your fingers lets you play with the least effort and best support. (Play with your fingers curved.) Imagine there’s a ruler balancing on your wrists as you play. (Don’t flop your wrists.) See how close your fingers are to the keys when your semiquavers sound correct. (Keep your fingers close to the keys.)"
-Page 139
"See if your face reflects the meaning of the music. (Look more expressive while you sing.)"
-Page 140
"Notice whether your neck muscles are stiff when the music gets more difficult. (Relax your neck.)"
-Page 159
"He has researched the ways in which different musical vibrations affect different parts of the body, and reports that higher frequencies seem to register in the head, while lower sounds are ‘felt’ in the throat, chest or abdomen."
-Page 160
"Another way to experience music you are listening to, in your body is to pretend you are one of the performers."
-Page 162
"If you listen to the Fifth with an appreciation for the way he must have felt about his approaching deafness, the volcanic, exuberant, impulsive and unrelenting power of the music may reach you even more deeply."
-Page 165
Skip, "That was great!”
Say, “I could really feel your expression. I loved it!"
-Page 204
"‘Brass, you are too early with your entrance. Come in later this time,’ could be rephrased as an awareness instruction: ‘Brass, notice whether you are early or late with your entrance,’ or ‘Pay attention to the three notes in the violins just before you come in.’"
-Page 2 |
"The point of the Inner Game of sports or music is always the same – to reduce mental interferences that inhibit the full expression of human potential."
-Page 5 |
"Not too many people know that Mozart was also one of the finer billiards players in Europe, or that he gained inspiration for his music from listening to the click of the balls and the soft thud as they bounced off the green baize of the billiard table."
-Page 10 |
"there are two games being played: the outer game, where we overcome obstacles outside ourselves to reach an outer goal – winning at tennis, playing well, or succeeding at whatever we are interested in – and an inner game, in which we overcome internal obstacles such as self-doubt and fear."
-Page 15 |
"‘the game ends up playing the person’, rather than the other way around."
-Page 27 |
"It is understandable that our teachers, parents and friends may have instilled some fears and doubts in us when they told us what we ‘should’ be doing. As anyone who teaches the Inner Game quickly finds out, it requires effort and attention to teach without prescribing ‘shoulds and shouldn’ts’."
-Page 27 |
"The critical Self 1 may tell us: ‘You are going to goof up . . . Here comes the hard part . . . Relax your third finger and press the thumb . . .’ But we don’t have to listen."
-Page 38 |
"Permission to fail leads to success There’s a custom in golf called ‘taking a Mulligan’. It works like this. If you miss your first drive at the first hole, you can take a Mulligan and do the shot over again. Although Mulligan doesn’t seem to have made it into the professional circuit, it’s a nice idea."
-Page 64 |
"Performance goal 4: the music in your head Many of us have heard our teachers say ‘If you can’t hear it in your head, you can’t play it.’ The Suzuki method teaches children to play music without reading it, and uses recordings to give them an idea of the way the music should sound."
-Page 68 |
"‘Amateur’ has come to mean ‘non-professional’ or ‘unpaid’. But the word is derived from the French aimer (‘to love’) and literally means someone who ‘loves’ what they do. The true amateur, then, is someone whose attitude to music never loses sight of their experience goal."
-Page 70 |
"there’s a wide-spread legend that the tarantella is named after a spider, the tarantula, whose poisonous bite was a serious problem in southern Italy in. the Middle Ages. Apparently, the people of those times believed that this furious dance would cure the spider’s bite – hence the name. The dance has taken on a new meaning for me. Instead of concentrating on all those fast shifts, flurries of notes, bowings and fingerings, I allow myself to feel the panic and energy of a poisoned villager dancing as though life itself depended on it."
-Page 72 |
"Find the precise place where the problem arises. Use your awareness skills to locate ‘What’ is going wrong, ‘Where’, ‘When’, and ‘How Much’."
-Page 83 |
"that I was losing my focus on the music by worrying about my reputation and that of the Inner Game. She told me she suspected my performance wasn’t working because I’d put all my attention on my awareness and will techniques and forgotten to trust myself. And she suggested that I had problems with my self-image, compounded by the fear that my fellow musicians’ whole impression of the Inner Game was on the line."
-Page 130
"This kind of teaching is quite different from the ‘do this’ style of instruction with which everything from tennis to music is usually taught. Instead of the teacher telling a student to ‘change the tempo in the last bar,’ for example, they are more likely to ask questions that focus the student’s attention on the problem areas. This allows the student to make the necessary corrections without being told exactly what to do."
-Page 133
"‘Try’ instructions tend to cause anxiety, and then we are liable to tense up and ‘try too hard’, making us fail at tasks we might otherwise accomplish without any problems."
-Page 134
"The ironic thing is that almost all ‘do this’ and ‘try’ instructions could be rephrased as awareness instructions."
-Page 134
"‘Notice how evenly each of your fingertips transfers the weight from your arm. Notice the most comfortable place for your thumb, somewhere opposite your first and second fingers.’"
-Page 135
"Be aware of . . . Listen for . . . How does it feel when you . . . Tell me the difference you notice between . . . What do you hear when you . . . Pay attention to the . . . Let’s see if . . . Notice the feeling you get when"
-Page 137
"Sometimes you may feel it would be quicker and more effective simply to tell someone ‘do this’ instead of asking them whether they can tell what’s missing. You’ll usually find you can still give a specific suggestion, while rephrasing it in awareness terms. For instance, you might say something like ‘Let’s run an experiment: use the fourth finger this time, and see if it works better on the shift than the second.’"
-Page 138
"Notice what sort of curvature of your fingers lets you play with the least effort and best support. (Play with your fingers curved.) Imagine there’s a ruler balancing on your wrists as you play. (Don’t flop your wrists.) See how close your fingers are to the keys when your semiquavers sound correct. (Keep your fingers close to the keys.)"
-Page 139
"See if your face reflects the meaning of the music. (Look more expressive while you sing.)"
-Page 140
"Notice whether your neck muscles are stiff when the music gets more difficult. (Relax your neck.)"
-Page 159
"He has researched the ways in which different musical vibrations affect different parts of the body, and reports that higher frequencies seem to register in the head, while lower sounds are ‘felt’ in the throat, chest or abdomen."
-Page 160
"Another way to experience music you are listening to, in your body is to pretend you are one of the performers."
-Page 162
"If you listen to the Fifth with an appreciation for the way he must have felt about his approaching deafness, the volcanic, exuberant, impulsive and unrelenting power of the music may reach you even more deeply."
-Page 165
Skip, "That was great!”
Say, “I could really feel your expression. I loved it!"
-Page 204
"‘Brass, you are too early with your entrance. Come in later this time,’ could be rephrased as an awareness instruction: ‘Brass, notice whether you are early or late with your entrance,’ or ‘Pay attention to the three notes in the violins just before you come in.’"
May 3, 2022
i read this book throughout my spring 2022 semester and i enjoyed the subject matter but the lengthiness of his writing was what led me to give it a 3-star review
April 26, 2018
This book has some useful information but is definitely entirely for classical players, despite the writer's attempts to make it universal. Its connections to the ideas of 'Inner Game' feel super forced and far better suited to sports as it was originally intended for. The most laborious part of this book is that the writer uses incredibly boring examples of his techniques working again and again which all read exactly like this: "Julie was having issues with her bowing technique, but then I told her this. Before my eyes, she became the best thing ever, we were shocked!". I'd believe he was making them all up if they weren't so boring. He is always 'shocked' by the fact that everything he says works brilliantly for everyone he's ever known. It's like Cake Boss but without the fun or the cake. 2/5
January 17, 2019
I read this after graduating from college with my BM - I had previously read The Inner Game of Tennis as recommended by one of my professors to help conquer stage fright (I know, right?). So, this (The Inner Game of Music) is like the “legit” version that a musician should technically use. However, I thought that The Inner Game of Tennis did a much better job at addressing some of the more intricate details of stage performance (again, I know- right?) and actually benefited me a lot more. So if you’re interested in using this book for that purpose I would actually go with The Inner Game of Tennis and possibly just supplement with this book.
April 4, 2017
This was a re read from my college days in piano performance degrees. It was such a great reprise to see how I have grown as a musician over the years. It explains the idea that a person has two sides to their personality self 1. The self conscious doubting side and self 2. The letting it go, emotion filled side. He gives 4 different ways to work on awareness, several ideas that discuss will power and trust in your playing. It discusses working on your individual instrument, working in ensembles, and improvisation. I did appreciate the memories of the sound recording devices of the 80's.
October 2, 2013
I read this book a few years ago to help me with performance anxieties. Although I found that some of the techniques helped me develop my skills on stage, the book wasn't particularly interesting to read. Many of the chapters often dragged or lacked relevance to music performance.
After reading some of the other reviews on Goodreads I'm glad that other people have managed to get something out of this book, it just didn't do much for myself.
After reading some of the other reviews on Goodreads I'm glad that other people have managed to get something out of this book, it just didn't do much for myself.
December 8, 2015
Meh. Classical music training can apparently be a joyless trudge supervised by ogrous burnt-out failures and mean-spirited bullies. This book is mostly about rehabilitating to a view that music is a joyful experience and you should trust your body and your ears when making it.
Brow-beaten classicistes might profit from this; I didn't.
Brow-beaten classicistes might profit from this; I didn't.
September 6, 2011
This is an astounding work related to breaking down the walls that prevent us from executing a relaxed and enjoyable performance. I recommend this for all musicians, but is applicable to nearly any type of performance.
March 12, 2015
Feels dated and the useful parts of the book could have been put into a pamphlet to save us the time in wading through the repetitive waffle and endless passages like "Brodie found that if he imagined he was his favourite musician his playing improved dramatically".......
February 10, 2019
Not impressive or particularly helpful. Some of the suggestions seem valid but, like many self-help genre books, it is bogged down by a lot of boasting of its own benefit and useless, made-up, psuedo-psychology jargon.
February 17, 2010
This book could've been a lot shorter. And I'm no better now than I was before (although there are several other reasons for that).
July 6, 2012
Not as good as The Inner Game of Tennis...even for musicians.
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