Most people don’t get in their car and worry about being killed on their way to the store. Even though we may be drinking coffee, fiddling with the cell phone, and singing along to the radio, none of us think it can happen to us. We’re just so good at rationalizing that our behavior is reasonable – even when it’s not.

So why do we stress out about the possibility of making a mistake in a piece of music? I can almost guarantee it will happen. It’s just a question of how well we handle ourselves when it does.

Let’s start reversing those tendencies: be a little more cautious when operating heavy machinery and a little more daring when playing music!