by Mike Telin

As the joke goes: A young musician stops a man on a New York sidewalk and asks: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, the man replies. On Friday, May 30 beginning at 6:45 pm in Studio 113 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Brad DeRoche will give a lecture titled “Acquisition of Expertise on the Classical Guitar: The Effects of Mindset, Willpower, Goals, and Practice in the Quest for Mastery.” Free and open to the public, the lecture is presented by the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival.

DeRoche, who is director of classical guitar studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the summer Arts Camp, as well as chair of the music department at Delta College, traces his interest in the subject of achievement back to his own desire to become a more accomplished classical guitar player as well as a better teacher. DeRoche also holds positions as instructor of guitar at Central Michigan University and Saginaw Valley State University.

“About a dozen years ago, I read an article in BBC Music Magazine by K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University,” DeRoche said during a recent telephone conversation. “The article was about what goes into the making of a successful musician. Ericsson was searching for the X factor: what is it that makes violinist A better the violinist B.” [Read more…]