The Lifelong Musician
Lifelong growth.
Helping artists deepen their roots beneath long-term artistic life.
Use this material as you see fit. Revisit what matters. Pass over what does not. Return when needed.
The work is ultimately yours.
Start Here…
These are a few foundational resources many artists repeatedly return to over long periods of growth.
Not because they contain every answer. But because they often help artists:
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continue
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refocus
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reconnect
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understand growth more clearly
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sustain artistic life more intentionally
Explore what helps. Pass over what does not. Return when needed.
Or: explore the rooms directly.
The War of Art — Steven Pressfield Resistance • Discipline • Consistency • Artistic Engagement The War of Art is such a great place to begin exploring the mindset required of an artist - no matter the craft. The book is short, direct, and always seems to help put me back on the right path after reading it. It helps frame the role resistance plays and why it can be so difficult to consistently do the work. Pressfield presents resistance almost like an active force working against us through distraction, avoidance, fear, self-doubt, and the temptation to wait until we “feel ready.” That idea alone can be eye-opening once you begin recognizing those patterns in yourself. What has stayed with me is the way Pressfield talks about discipline and artistic work. He presents the process as something you continually return to — a daily walk with your “muse”. If you want to eat, you go hunt for your dinner. You do not wait around hoping inspiration magically arrives at your door. This book is especially helpful when motivation fades and you still need to get down and do the work. I return to it every couple of years and always leave with greater clarity, discipline, and readiness to continue growing in my craft.
The Talent Code — Daniel Coyle Deep Practice • Skill Building • Learning • Intentional Growth Rarely does a year go by that I don’t revisit this book. The Talent Code helped fundamentally change the way I think about practice, learning, and long-term growth. What once felt fuzzy or inconsistent became understandable, intentional, and repeatable. I continually find cracks in my approach and awareness that affect my progress in practice and teaching. Revisiting Coyle’s ideas helps sharpen my practicing, problem solving, and skill development both for myself and my students. Talent Code helps explain not just what works, but why it works. Chunking is a great example. Many musicians use it and see short-term improvement, but without understanding why it is effective, it is just another practice tool or “do this because I said so” type of instruction. Understanding how concepts like this work deepens the way you engage with them. Coyle reinforces that growth is not random. Meaningful improvement comes through intentional engagement with the learning process itself. Not only does focused repetition, attention to mistakes, slowing things down, and deeply engaging with the learning process play enormous roles in long-term improvement, but the book also explores something equally important: belief. Seeing yourself as capable of growth helps the mind commit more deeply to the process itself. This is one of the few books I encourage students to re-read again over the years. I’ve found that the concepts only deepen each time my students and I return to this book. A deeper relationship with this book moved me beyond mechanical practice and into deeper understanding of patience, awareness, and the art of learning itself.
Beginner’s Mind — Yo-Yo Ma Curiosity • Receptiveness • Wonder • Exploration • Re-engagement There are seasons where music simply does not speak the same way it once did. Sometimes that has come from burnout, pressure, routine, or feeling disconnected from the reason I began making music in the first place. Beginner’s Mind is one of the books I return to during those seasons. Yo-Yo Ma explores the importance of curiosity, openness, exploration, and remaining receptive to the world around you — not just as a musician, but as a human being. The book moves lightly between reflections, short stories, musical excerpts, and simple observations about life and artistry. Rather than trying to force answers, Ma invites you back toward wonder, exploration, and asking questions again. One of Ma’s main points is that growth and meaning are not always found through achievement, labels, or mastery alone. There is something deeply important about remaining curious, engaged, and open to new experiences even after years of discipline and refinement. When I find myself grinding through music mechanically or feel disconnected from the art itself, this mindset is one of the first places I turn. Beginner’s Mind continually reminds me that there is still something new to hear, experience, explore, and share if I remain open enough to look for it.
The Music Lesson — Victor Wooten Playfulness • Listening • Expression • Interaction • Musical Humanity The Music Lesson is a book I revisit every few years, and one I encourage my students to read as well. Studying music can become so focused on technical perfection and discipline that it becomes easy to forget why we became musicians in the first place. What this book continually helps restore in me is the reminder that music is not merely technical execution. Music is interaction, listening, expression, feel, spontaneity, and play. The discipline required to hone your craft is important, but discipline itself is not music. It is simply a demand placed on us in order to express music more freely. Wooten explores these ideas through a whimsical and often symbolic story centered around a struggling musician and a seemingly “divine” mentor figure named Michael. The story moves through deeper ideas at times, but always lands on musical truths. This book helped me recognize how easily musicians can become obsessed with correctness over connection. Great musicians are constantly listening, adjusting, reacting, and shaping music together in real time. If that interactive playfulness disappears, even the most demanding performances can become too mechanical. The Music Lesson continues to help me reconnect with the living side of music whenever I begin drifting too far into perfectionism or routine. It reminds me that music is ultimately something shared, experienced, and felt — not merely controlled.
The Entrepreneurial Musician Podcast Exploration • Perspective • Conversation • Possibility • Artistic Direction Podcasts are a beast of their own and I avoided them for years. But while they grew in popularity, I had found myself feeling further outside the traditional music industry and I finally decided to give one a chance: The Entrepreneurial Musician Podcast. Inside these conversations is not polished “industry advice,” but real musicians openly discussing how they built meaningful artistic lives. Andrew Hitz speaks with performers, educators, creators, entrepreneurs, and artists who shaped careers outside the narrow path musicians are taught to pursue. One of the most important things this podcast gave me was perspective. Many of these guests approached music, teaching, creativity, business, and artistic identity in truly exciting ways. The conversations taught me that there are many ways to build a meaningful life in music, even if your path does not look traditional. The Entrepreneurial Musician also helped me realize I was not alone in trying to figure this life out. Even highly accomplished musicians continue wrestling with uncertainty, direction, balance, identity, and growth over long periods of time. There are many great music podcasts out there, but TEM remains one of the few places I continually return to for honest conversations about artistic life.