Performance Power^™
Practicing for Artistic Success
presents

International Marathon Seminars for Players of All Instruments     BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE PRACTICE ROOM AND THE STAGE Mastering Technique & The Art of Interpretation

Burton Kaplan, Seminar Leader

In a PERFORMANCE POWER™ MARATHON SEMINAR, you will try out new techniques for harnessing and integrating your powers of mind, body and spirit when you make music. This session features strategies to increase the speed of your reflexes and pattern their rhythmic control, improve left-right coordination, and develop awareness of phrasing ideas which effect coordination thereby stimulating greater performance consistency and confidence. In addition, you will be shown strategies to improve your interpretative creativity and conviction leading to improved communication and increased sense of personal fulfillment. Performance Power™ is dedicated to giving the serious musician control of the path between musical inspiration and performance realization.

"I was particularly pleased at how well you were able to capture the essence of each important point in such a short time, all the while maintaining a sense of continuity across the whole range of concepts. Of special significance for me was your highlighting concentration. You hit the bull's eye here, and I know that everyone present was most grateful to you for your emphasizing such a core issue."
David Cerrone, Director, Encore School for Strings

"I have participated in two Performance Power^™ Marathon Seminars, and on each occasion I gained important insights into my problems and ways for solving them. My playing and my understanding of how to practice and prepare for performance have improved immeasurably, and scarcely a day goes by when I do not consciously call to mind some of Burton Kaplan's insights. I believe that any performer, on whatever instrument, would find the seminars immensely valuable."
Thomas Mark, Resident Pianist, Newport Coffee Concerts Chamber Series

"Despite months of practice and coaching from several musicians, I had reach an impasse. Burton Kaplan was able to zero in on some key areas of my technique and practice habits that enabled me to increase my performance tempos 20% within several weeks. He created the opportunity to get to the heart of the matter unashamedly, work on it, and achieve rapid success."
Dawn Weiss, Principal Flutist, Oregon Symphony

"The seminar cut my trouble shooting time way down. Now, I pick out problem spots quickly and can usually find them easily, instead of killing a lot of time with endless repetition. It has made me a much more efficient practicer."
Paul Tullis, Violist, Dallas Opera Orchestra

"Performance Power^™ is a super-concentrated, ready-to-use-and enjoy treasure of ideas and tools. Burton Kaplan offers specific ways to gain access to our own ability as musicians and storytellers. I highly recommend these sessions to anyone, regardless of instrument, who desires to reach higher levels of expression, consistency and satisfaction in practice and performance."
Amy Frost, Assistant Principal Cello, New Haven Symphony

"I am writing to thank you for a most inspiring Performance Power^™ Seminar in Toronto last week. Every minute of the day was informative and enjoyable. The benefits to myself and to my students have been immediate and dramatic."
Katherine Rapoport, Professor of Viola, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto

"The marathon seminar is the perfect shot-in-the-arm to bring back the joy of playing my instrument that I once had, but forgot when I became a working musician. It's important for me to remember why I became a musician, and Mr. Kaplan's seminar is the right reminder."
Laura Zaerr, Willamette University Harp Instructor

"Burton Kaplan's approach is a perfect combination of creativity and optimal self-observation without negative judgment. My practicing has become much more efficient and as a result, I've become a better player."
Lauraine Carpenter, Second Trumpet, San Jose Symphony

"Focusing on just a few items discussed at the seminar helped me to improve my audition skills. Recently, I won my first professional orchestral audition! I'd recommend your seminar to anyone seeking to improve their practice and audition skills."
Tracy Rowell, Double Bass, National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada

Is a Performance Power™ Marathon Seminar for you?
I imagine that as a serious musician you have known many ecstatic moments of musical pleasure; and you must have experienced your share of frustration, bewilderment, and pain in the practice room as well. To be sure, practicing to achieve the controlled spontaneity required to create musical art is not easy. But, like any craft it is amenable to intelligent and conscious management.

In our weekly one-hour lessons, we barely had enough time to play through the material we practiced for six days. There was virtually no time left to be taught to manage our practicing effectively. Nor was there an actual method to help us to concentrate, memorize, manage time, set realistic goals and perform with consistency and confidence. There were clues for practicing correctly, but no training method. In our formative years, we were expected to develop the precise skills and awareness of an Olympic athlete as a result of coaching ourselves for fifteen to twenty-five hours a week, after receiving a maximum of 60 minutes of advice.

So we followed the folk-rules which we picked up "by ear." We practiced long hours, and repeated the music over and over and over, rotefully thorough, persevering in spite of fatigue, in spite of pain, in spite of not achieving a result proportional to our effort, often in spite of seeming to lose ground rather than gain it.

There is a growing body of knowledge now available to relieve you of your music practice bondage. Psychologists in the more lucrative fields of sports and corporate business have been evolving techniques of self management which are equally applicable to the practicing and performing musician. Burton Kaplan has been gathering and organizing this information for the musician for the past twenty-five years.

As a participant or auditor in an intimate and intense Performance Power™ Marathon Seminar, you will be cued into precise techniques to make music practicing a meaningful, manageable and satisfying skill. You will learn how to control our progress, set achievable goals, improve your concentration, perform with greater consistency and comfort, develop your memory, synchronize your body, mind and spirit, and improve the elasticity of your muscles as you play. All instrumentalists are welcome.