Peter Ferreira's Blog

Mozart the Romantic
January 29 2010 – Filmed live at Studio 59 in Torrington, Conn.

Peter Ferreira, violin
Timothy Wallace, piano
Marissa Famiglietti, soprano

Mozart the Romantic

The above video was filmed with a low quality camera and also compressed for faster loading. Video and sound quality is greately reduced.

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Gigi, my German shorthaired pointer in a hopeless situation.

Hope in a hopeless situation…

Behind every action, beneath every endeavor lies this quiet, persistent, creative force, giving strength to all who believe in it, and blend it into their lives. But let’s be realistic…

How do you practice hope when you’re feeling anything but hopeful?

No matter how bleak the prospect, in every case there has to be some hopeful possibility that lies beyond the difficulty. It’s easy to be hopeful when things are going well.  It’s when things are going badly that hopelessness comes around with its two dreary companions:

The impulse to stop trying and the temptation to quit.  Sometimes it takes raw courage not to give in.

Hope is important in teaching.  Trust that there is hope for every student.  Even if the student seems hopeless, there is still a chance for him to learn—your method may not work for him, but perhaps another teacher’s method will.

Look at what you still have not what you’ve lost! 

Learn to focus on what you have rather than what you’ve lost.

When life drenches us with a series of negative events we may start feeling like we must have done something to deserve all the bad happenings. We may start to doubt ourselves and begin to feel as though our whole life has been one failure after another. This is not true. Everyone has accomplished something. Whether you’ve had children and raised a family, started your own business, survived an illness or learned to play an instrument… you have accomplished plenty whether you realize it or not!

Things happen for a reason. Each day is an opportunity to learn. In each situation there is a lesson. Learn to be more aware and look for the lessons.

There is HOPE for the HOPELESS!!

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Odds and Ends, Bits and Pieces

Things I have heard over the years and you should refrain from telling a musician:

We can’t pay you but we can feed you!
Being a musician is not a real job.
Musicians have a really easy job.
Background music jobs are good to get your name out there.
Have you ever played in the Subway?

A few things you should avoid:

Playing for FREE is a touchy subject! I have learned over the years that once you start playing for free (ex: church jobs) you make it harder to charge for your work in the future. It didn’t take me long to learn that, and today the only time I will play for free is to help with fundraising money for a very good cause or a special event that I see fit. This also helps set a standard for other musicians and their employers. You should also be warned that most PROFESSIONAL musicians do look down on musicians who do not set these rules! It is very important to “teach the world” that being a musician is just as important as being a lawyer, teacher, doctor, etc., etc.. We also went to school, paid our tuition and worked hard to get where we are! And like many others, we also have bills and/or a family to feed.

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Why does anyone want to become a soloist? It is one of the toughest professions in the world. But to my amazement music schools are full of “soloists”! As a teacher, I encounter every year, dozens of parents who firmly believe their child is the next great violinist. The truth is, it takes a very special breed to make it to the concert hall as a soloist. The life of the soloist is many time a lonely one, away from the family and friends, living from a suite case for weeks or months and traveling to different strange places and countries and hotel to hotel. Although this may sound very appealing to many it is not an easy life and takes a very special breed of musician to do it. Soloists have to be very driven and goal-oriented people who must also be very knowledgeable about the music they play. They all have strong personalities that project to the audience and have a lot of conviction about their musical ideas. Most soloists are also very much in touch with their emotions.

To be a successful soloist you need to build your self-confidence so that you can go out on stage and command the attention of the audience and orchestra. You need to find a healthy balance between your intellectual and emotional approach to music, which means you need a deep understanding of the technical/theoretical aspects of the music as well as being able to access your emotional response to the music. It is also important to tap into your love of people and music! This love will draw you into communicating with the audience and your fellow musicians allowing you to demonstrate the drama and beauty of the music you are performing.

People skills are a must! Much of a soloist’s time is spent meeting people. You must be able to talk to your audience and make them feel at home with you. Music is a BUSINESS!

You have no hope of being a soloist if you don’t have world-class technique! Without it, you have little chance. You can be an amazingly musical person, but if you can’t play in tune or play fast enough, nobody will want to listen to you! The technical standards are very high today. You must practice obsessively and be willing to give up a lot of your life if you have any hope of making it (many people give up a lot of their life, don’t succeed, and are very sad and angry about the things they gave up, so be aware of the consequences of your actions).

Good teachers are a must! The occasional master class is not enough. You need someone to push you week after week, someone who is a great positive musician and a good enough violinist who can point you in the right direction. Avoid negative musicians who dwell in their own failure! Trust me… there are many out there.

There is no guarantee that you will succeed! There are maybe 20 big-name soloists out of the thousands of violinists in the world, so the odds aren’t great.

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Peter Ferreira

You have available to you, right now, a power like a supercomputer that can enable you to solve any problem, overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you can set for yourself.

This power has been used throughout history to take people from rags to riches, from poverty and obscurity to success and fame, from unhappiness and frustration to joy and self-fulfillment. And it can do the same for you.

This power has been called many things by many people in many places. It is the fundamental principle of most religions, philosophies and metaphysical teachings. It underlies much of psychology and is the cornerstone of all success and achievement.

In its simplest terms, it is called the “subconscious mind,” although this is a misunderstanding because the true subconscious mind is merely a memory bank of senses and impressions that reacts automatically based on your previous experiences.

It has also been called the “universal subconscious mind” and the “collective unconscious.”

The great Austrian psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, referred to this as the “superconscious mind.” He felt that the collective wisdom and knowledge of all the ages was contained in this superconscious mind and was available to everyone.

Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to it as the “oversoul” and wrote that, “We live in the lap of an immense intelligence that, when we are in its presence, we realize that it is far beyond our human mind.” Emerson, the great American transcendentalist, felt that all power and possibility for the average person came from using this mind on a regular basis.

Napoleon Hill, perhaps the greatest researcher on success of the 20th century, called this power the “infinite intelligence.” After spending more than 20 years interviewing 500 of the most successful men and women alive in America at that time, he concluded that, without exception, their ability to tap into this higher form of infinite intelligence was the primary reason for their great success in life.

THE INFINITE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUR SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND IS AVAILABLE TO YOU IN EVERY MOMENT

Whatever you choose to call it, this power is as available to you at this very minute as it ever has been to anyone, anywhere. I refer to it as the “superconscious mind,” the mind that is above and outside all other minds or intelligences.

The superconscious mind is the source of all examples of pure creativity. It is the superconscious mind that is functioning at the creation of anything that is completely new in the universe. The superconscious mind was tapped into and used by all the great inventors, writers, artists and composers of history on a regular basis, right up to the present day. Every great work of art or creativity is infused with superconscious energy.

Thomas Edison used his superconscious mind regularly to come up with hundreds of brand new ideas and inventions, more than 1,000 of which completely transformed America at the beginning of the 20th century. More recently, William Gates came up with an idea for a basic operating system for the early computers, which he called “MS-DOS.” It was so unique and revolutionary that he and Paul Allen were actually writing the program on the airplane as they flew to their meeting with their first customer.

Today, Bill Gates is the world’s richest man, and it all came from a superconscious flash of insight. Bach, Beethoven and Brahms tapped into the superconscious mind regularly to write some of the finest music ever heard. Mozart was so finely tuned into his superconscious mind that he could both see and hear the music in his head and was then able to write down some of the most beautiful music of the ages, note perfect, the very first time he put pen to paper.

YOUR SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND CAN ACCESS EVERY PIECE OF INFORMATION IN THE UNIVERSAL MIND

Whenever you see, read, listen to, or experience a great achievement of any kind that touches something deep inside you, you are witness to a superconscious creation.
Your superconscious mind can access every piece of information stored in your conscious and subconscious minds. It can also access data and ideas outside your own experience, because it actually lies outside your human mind. This is why it is called a form of universal or infinite intelligence.

You will often get ideas that come to you from far beyond you. It is not unusual for two people separated by thousands of miles of distance to come up with the same idea at the same time. When you are well-attuned to another person, such as your spouse or mate, you will often have thoughts identical to him or her at the same time during the day, and you will only find out that you had reached the same conclusion when you compare notes hours later.

This is an example of your superconscious mind at work. Your superconscious mind is capable of goal-oriented motivation. When you are working determinedly toward a goal of your own choosing, your superconscious mind will generate a continuous flow of ideas and energy to help you move onward. In fact, your superconscious mind is a form of “free energy.” This free energy becomes available to you when you become excited or inspired about achieving something that is really important to you. You seem to be able to continue hour after hour without fatigue.

Sometimes you even forget to eat, and you need far less sleep than you would normally. After you have achieved your goal, you may collapse in exhaustion, but while you are moving toward it, you seem to be flowing with continuous energy and enthusiasm.

YOUR SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND AUTOMATICALLY SOLVES EVERY PROBLEM ON THE WAY TO YOUR GOAL

Your superconscious mind automatically and continually solves every problem on the way to your goal, as long as your goal is clear. Your superconscious mind will also give you the lessons and experiences that you need to succeed, in the form of setbacks, problems, frustrations and temporary failures.

Your superconscious mind will also bring you the exact answer you require to solve your problem or achieve your goal, exactly when you are ready for it. When your superconscious mind gives you a hunch or an inspiration, remember, this is time-dated material. You must act on it immediately.

I’ve had many experiences of wrestling with a problem that I have been unable to resolve until the last minute. Then, right when I need it, the answer becomes perfectly clear. This will happen to you as well when you use the power of your superconscious mind.

The critical factor in using your superconscious mind is your attitude. Your superconscious mind functions best with an attitude of calm, confident expectations. When you adopt an attitude of faith and acceptance, when you confidently accept and believe that everything that is happening to you is moving you progressively toward the achievement of your goal, your superconscious mind seems to come alive, like all the lights have been turned on in a room.

This is why successful people seem to have tremendous clarity concerning what they want, along with tremendous calmness and confidence regarding their ability to achieve it. This combination of attitudes will throw the power switch on your superconscious abilities.

Because of your superconscious powers, anything that you can hold in your mind on a continuing basis, you can have. Emerson wrote, “A man becomes what he thinks about, most of the time.” Earl Nightingale wrote, “You become what you think about.” In the Bible it says that, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap.” And this law of sowing and reaping refers to mental states; to your thoughts. Of course, there is a potential danger in the use of your superconscious mind. It is like fire – a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. If you use it improperly, and think negative, fearful thoughts, your superconscious mind will accept your thoughts as a command and go to work to materialize them into your reality.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE AND UNSUCCESSFUL PEOPLE

What is the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people? It is as simple as this: Successful people think and talk about what they want, and unsuccessful people talk about what they don’t want.

So here is a 10-step plan for plugging into your superconscious power to get what you truly want in life. Make this plan a regular habit, and you will be astonished at the results.

1. Decide exactly what you want. This is usually the biggest problem that people have. They don’t know what they want and then they’re surprised when they don’t get it.

2. Write your goal clearly in every detail. A goal that is not written down is merely a wish. When you write it down, you signal to your superconscious mind that you really want to accomplish this particular objective.

3. Write your goal in simple, present tense words on a three-by-five index card and carry it with you to read and re-read throughout the day whenever you get a chance.

4. Make a list of everything you can think of that you can do that will move you toward your goal. Making a list intensifies your desire and deepens your belief that the attainment of the goal is possible for you.

5. Organize the list by priority. What is more important and what is less important?

6. Resolve to take action every day on one of the items on your list. Do something every day that moves you toward your goal so that you can maintain your momentum.

7. Visualize your goal repeatedly. See it in your mind’s eye as though it were already a reality. The more clear and vivid your mental picture of your goal, the faster it will come into your life.

8. Get the feeling of pleasure and enjoyment that you would have if your goal were realized at this very moment. Create the emotion of happiness, satisfaction, and pleasure that you would have if you really achieved your goal.

9. Confidently behave as if your superconscious mind were bringing your goal into reality. Accept that you are moving toward your goal and it is moving toward you.

10. Release your goal completely to your superconscious mind. When you turn your goal over to the power of the universe and just get out of the way, you will always know the right actions to take at the right time.

Starting today, try this power of yours, your superconscious mind, on one goal or idea, and practice it continually until you succeed in achieving that goal. By doing so, you will move from the “positive thinking” of the hopeful person to the “positive knowing” of the totally successful person.

This has worked for me in many ways and I know/belive it can work for you!

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Teaching a student...

I’m sure you know people that play violin for years and make no improvement at all. They stay stuck grinding away at the instrument getting nowhere despite however many lessons they take. If this sounds familiar keep reading I am about to offer …two solutions that will help make your playing sound the way you’ve always dreamed it should be. The first is to practice every day – this is the only way you will ever get good, you must practice at least two hours a day every day with no exceptions. Disciplined daily practice sounds easy and simple but you’ll be amazed how many people do not do this. Once you start practicing every day you will see an immediate leap in your violin playing capabilities.The next thing that you must do to improve your playing is to set goals and make plans for their achievement. So many people just play randomly when they sit down with their violin… don’t be one of those people! You must have a purpose to your playing whenever you pick up your violin; decide what it is you really want to do with the violin, set long and short term goals. Then, make a plan to achieve those goals and never stop working towards them.These are the two things that you absolutely must do to see an improvement in your violin skills. If you are not doing them then I urge you straight away to start immediately.

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