Rethinking Genius

I'm always fascinated by the process of learning a new piece.  As a music teacher it's what keeps the job interesting for me.  Each time you teach a piece you become better at teaching it.  The more pitfalls you see students fall into the better you become at helping them to avoid those traps. When a student becomes advanced enough, learning the notes to a new piece becomes easy.  You no longer have to spend the entire lesson helping him learn how to "extend his third finger."  It is during this magical time that the focus of the lesson shifts away from mechanical details and more toward art details. Appreciating the art behind a piece is a completely separate challenge from just playing the notes.  Students will sometimes reach a point where they can kinda  play through everything but fall just short of being comfortable.  It's at this point that I often have to have the conversation with my students about developing a "healthy obsession" wit...