Music Lessons | Law of Belief
This content was created for Curtis Music Academy
Hi, thanks for joining us for another amazing podcast from Curtis’ Music Academy and about how to become a wonderful musician, where we learn all about playing the piano and playing other kinds of music. Today’s podcast is something interesting and can apply to music lessons. And it’s something you might not have ever thought might be on a podcast for a music academy. But it’s actually a success principle and it’s something I learned when I was in college and I have never forgotten. And it’s called the law of belief. And what you believe in your heart with confidence will become its own self-fulfilling prophecy. That is profound. So. Again, this could apply to many different avenues of life, but I definitely see it in the studio when I’m teaching students at the piano.
So if a student walks in to music lessons and they think I’m going to struggle playing the piano and I’m never really going to get it in, it’s just going to be a dream that I never accomplish. Well, even if they never verbalized that, that will likely become their outcome. So I have read many books about maximizing success, business type things, maximizing your brain potential and certain things like that, and all of them say the same thing. If you’re learning something new, you should fill your mind with positivity about that thing. And so if you are learning the piano, if it is a new thing, you should train your brain to think the following thoughts. I enjoy the piano. I love to play the piano.
Also, by the way, the more you get your emotions involved in positive emotions, that actually strengthens those beliefs. So you should say things like it might be challenging, but I will continue to press on learning the piano during music lessons. These Thoughts should be short. Now, the reason that prompted me to do this podcast is because sometimes I’ll be teaching a student on the piano and they’ll make a mistake. And you can tell that they’re ashamed that they made a mistake. And I always like to encourage them and say, well, I make mistakes literally every time I sit down at the piano. And that is actually true to this day. If I sit down and play the piano, I just make mistakes. It’s no big deal in my mind.
I’m just so confident in my playing that even when I make a mistake, I’ll just pick up where I am as smoothly as possible and continue going because I enjoy it. I like to sit down and play now when my students make mistakes, a lot of times they’ll say, Oh, sorry, or they’ll say I am all thumbs today. And, you know, I actually printed out a piece of paper that says this is a sorry free zone and it’s cheesy and it’s supposed to be funny, but basically there is no need to apologize for when you make a mistake. First of all, you’re a beginner and you’re in music lessons.
That is the place where to make mistakes. Secondly, I have noticed that when you make a mistake and you say something negative, I actually think that that causes you not to learn it as quickly. This is common in music lessons. So I think that when people make mistakes, they should say things like, well, I’m learning, I’m a beginner, but I enjoy playing things like that. And so instead of saying something negative about themselves or I make mistakes all the time, or sometimes people even say things like while I practiced all week, but it never sounds good. Those are things I don’t like to hear as a teacher. And it’s not because I’m trying to be strict or I’m trying to make anybody feel bad, but I want people to understand mistakes are welcome.
You are welcome to make mistakes and it’s going to be a fun process. And I’d rather people focus on, you know what? I am a beginner taking music lessons.. It’s challenging, but I enjoy it. And I’m learning each and every day that I sit down and play. See those create those beliefs of success. So going back to the law of belief, what you believe in your heart with confidence will become its own self-fulfilling prophecy. So what do you want to accomplish on the piano? Most beginners who come in, I ask them their goals. What is it you would like to accomplish? And most people say, I don’t have any experience playing the piano, but it’s just been a lifelong thing I’ve wanted to learn and I say, that’s great. And I show them a difference.
A couple different avenues that we could go down and they kind of tell me what they’re thinking of and everything. But what do you believe about yourself when it comes to what you’re going to be playing on the piano during music lessons? You should actually begin to visualize what you will be in a year. Can you imagine yourself sitting down in your living room at the piano playing a lovely song? No, it doesn’t have to be the most difficult song in the world. But are you enjoying it? Are you having fun? Are you? Is it bringing it to a next level of expression and creativity in your life? So I think those things really help people as well.
Another thing to do with the visualizing, can you see yourself during the holidays with your family and you’re able to open up a book of Christmas songs and play at the piano? Who cares if there’s any mistakes as you’re playing? This is important and should be applied during music lessons. But the whole point is it just creates a wonderful memory. That obviously hasn’t happened yet because we’re just visualizing the future. But when you start thinking in those terms, it actually broadens up your scope and it creates neural pathways in your brain where you can be successful, because when you can imagine something positive, it will likely happen in your life. But on the flip side, most people actually don’t have a vision like that for the future of their goal.