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The Bulletproof Musician

by Noa Kageyama

Chart positions today · South Africa

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Latest episodes

  • 2026.8 | Lorna McGhee

    August 2, 2026 · 54 min

    Do elite performers actually feel as confident as they look? In this conversation with Boston Symphony principal flutist Lorna McGhee, we explore what's really happening beneath a confident-looking performance, and why she's come to…

  • Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse: The Science of Sleep for Musicians

    May 10, 2026 · 43 min

    What if one of the most overlooked factors affecting memory consolidation, emotional regulation, practice efficiency, and performance consistency wasn’t a new practice strategy - but sleep? Dr. Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse is a triple…

  • Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them)

    April 7, 2026 · 35 min

    Have you ever had the experience of fixing something in the practice room…only to have it come back in performance? Maybe it’s a passage where tension creeps back in. Or a section where your fingers revert to an old fingering. Or some…

  • Micah Killion: The One Thing Artist-Level Musicians Do Differently in the Practice Room

    March 8, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

    How should musicians actually practice to improve faster? In this conversation with researcher and trumpet professor Micah Killion, we explore what expert musicians do differently in the practice room and what research reveals about…

  • How to Start a Performance with More Accuracy (Without the Onstage Warm-Up)

    January 18, 2026 · 8 min

    One of my teachers often used to say that no matter what you’re playing, when you’re on stage, the beginning of a piece is always the hardest part. Not because the opening is more difficult technically, but because we’ve generally been…

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  • When You Can’t Get Yourself to Start Practicing, Try This

    January 11, 2026 · 8 min

    In some years it feels easier to begin the new year with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Other years, it can be difficult to get going and build up those new habits that we’d love to develop. Whichever kind of year this is shaping up to be…

  • The Central Strategy Expert Musicians Use to Practice Difficult Passages

    December 28, 2025 · 9 min

    We all get stuck on problem passages from time to time. And it can be very natural to simply throw more repetitions at it, in hopes that this will eventually unlock something. But in doing so, we end up accumulating more and more incorrect…

  • How a Small Change in Self-Talk Could Improve Performance Under Pressure

    December 21, 2025 · 8 min

    The voice in our head can be an asset at times - but also kind of a jerk at the worst possible moments. And like that one person in the “quiet car” of the train that doesn’t seem to understand the rules, it never seems to be quiet when we…

  • A Learning Method That Outperformed Traditional Practice

    December 14, 2025 · 10 min

    A few months ago, when a sportswriter published an article in The New York Times about an unusual and “revolutionary” practice method that NBA star Victor Wembanyama and other elite athletes and teams (like the World Series-winning LA…

  • How Much Perfectionism Do You Really Need to Succeed?

    December 7, 2025 · 8 min

    A friend recently asked if it's true that becoming a virtuoso performer requires being a perfectionist. Well, spoiler alert, it's not a simple yes or no answer. And there are a lot of fascinating nuances to explore.  One of which involves…

  • Pallavi Mahidhara: On Practicing for Flexibility, Not Perfection

    November 30, 2025 · 48 min

    Playing for other people, whether it’s an audience of one, a dozen, or several hundred, can be a stressful thing! So it’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of performance, like how to manage nerves and avoid mistakes. But performing…

  • What Happened When Musicians Slept 90 Minutes More

    November 23, 2025 · 6 min

    Sleep and recovery is an aspect of preparation that athletes prioritize, with teams hiring sleep consultants, and many athletes going to great lengths to ensure they’re getting enough sleep. And studies suggest that this investment of time…

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About the show

Ever wonder why you can practice for hours, sound great in the practice room, and still be frustratingly hit or miss on stage? Join performance psychologist and Juilliard alumnus/faculty Noa Kageyama, and explore research-based “practice hacks” for beating anxiety, practicing more effectively, and playing up to your full abilities when it matters most.