Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance - Paperback

by Vanessa Cornett (Author)

In The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance, author Vanessa Cornett offers guidelines to help musicians cultivate artistic vision, objectivity, freedom, quiet awareness, and self-compassion, both on- and offstage in order to become more resilient performers. Contrary to modern culture's embrace of busyness and divided attention, Cornett's contemplative techniques provide greater space for artistic self-expression and satisfaction. With the aid of a companion website that includes audio files and downloadable templates, The Mindful Musician provides a method to promote attentional focus, self-assessment, emotional awareness, and creativity. The first of its kind to combine mindfulness practices with research in cognitive and sport psychology, this book helps musicians explore the roots of anxiety and other challenges related to performance, all through the deliberate focus of awareness.

Author Biography

Vanessa Cornett is Director of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of Music at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul where she teaches classes in music performance, teaching, mindfulness, and the contemplative nature of art and music. She has worked with students and professional musicians around the world, and her honors include awards for her research publications and outstanding teaching. A certified meditation instructor, she frequently lectures and publishes on topics of mindfulness, performance psychology, anxiety management, and mental skills for musicians.