***I received this book as a gift***

Werner’s Effortless Mastery was just the book I needed. I am a baby violinist, having taken it up at the advanced age of 38. I had inherited a violin, and decided this was the perfect thing to help keep my neural pathways healthy. Learning new skills is always good for that. The practise has been beneficial in many ways. For the first time in decades, I could consciously release the tension in my wrists. It was great for teaching that skill!

Unfortunately, I ran into several mental blocks that really discouraged me. That is when my brother-in-law surprised me with a copy of Effortless Mastery. I was more than a little sceptical when I first started reading, especially since Werner's biggest focus was piano. However, the stories he told spoke to me on a deeper level. I decided what the hell and started using the practises he offered. What do you know? They worked just as well for a baby violinist as for an accomplished pianist.

It was very hard for me to let go of the notion I had to do things perfectly, even though this was a brand new skill to me. Werner's tools and techniques helped me find true joy in my learning. I can laugh at my mistakes, and be as enthused as a little kid at my successes, when they come. I let go of needing to do things perfectly, and let my body dictate the appropriate adjustments to suit the medical conditions I live with. I'm playing for me, only me, and to have fun. Werner's Effortless Mastery helped me to accept and embrace these things. Practise had become something I dreaded. Now it is something I look forward to, and enjoy. As I have found more joy in my playing, and acceptance of myself, I've become more comfortable not caring if others hear me. I had been painfully shy, and wouldn't practise unless I was alone. This also made it difficult to work with my teacher. I would get so flustered at having to play where another could hear me that I was terrible, even at things I could do quite well alone.

Werner's work is quite readable, full of shared experiences relating how he himself evolved along the path he is now guiding others along. Many of the meditations and exercises are tools I am familiar with from my spiritual path, but here Werner has adapted them perfectly to a musician’s needs. These adaptations never would have occurred to me, and I am very thankful this book was gifted to me!

My only qualms were an overuse of exclamations and italics to get points across, and that at times it devolved into socio-philosophical ramblings which made some winnowing necessary in order to get the most valuable nuggets. It was quite clear, though, that the author was quite joyful at writing this book, and sharing his methods, and that made all the difference. I would highly recommend Werner's Effortless Mastery to anyone who needs a new way to look at their music practise and find greater depths of enjoyment with it. ( )

There isn't really a way to classify this book. It's a bio, it's about jazz, it's eastern philosophy, etc... I'm a fan of Kenny's playing, but I'm a bigger fan of his approach to the instrument and his personal philosophy. Can come off as a little self-important at times, but a good read and very valuable to the practicing musician. ( )

[Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician within]. By Kenny Werner
This book comes with four CDs which provide background and instructions on how to meditate to release that master musician within - well I think they do because my borrowed copy of Werner’s book was missing the CDs. Perhaps the previous borrower is still meditating about returning them sometime, however you don’t necessarily need the CDs to enjoy this inspirational book

Kenny Werner is a successful jazz pianist who has played with some of the greatest names in jazz and his book is mainly aimed at the practicing musician, but also has plenty of good advice for the beginner. The advice is centered around the need to come to terms with yourself as a musician, to practice a form of meditation that will get you in a good frame of mind to play your instrument whether it is piano, woodwinds or brass. Werner repeats this message throughout the book and sums it up near the end like this:

“The space itself is the teacher, and life becomes centered around learning to connect with the space. Music becomes secondary. You remember gigs not by how well you played, but by how much you let go. Those are usually the best gigs anyway, but now the priority has changed. You’re no longer bothered by what is out there, but absorbed by what is in here “

Werner says that many practicing musicians are held back from achieving more by the fear of sounding and playing badly. The fear factor; the pressure to perform, plays havoc with many musicians and Werner says that to overcome this they should let go of their ego’s become more humble and go back to playing what they know. He advocates practicing a piece of music until it can be played without thinking, only then should the musician allow himself to move on or in the case of a jazz musician to improvise. His method of preparing the musician is through a simple meditation routine, which he claims will help them become better players.

Werner has plenty of experience as a teacher and musician playing at the top level and has found a method that obviously works for him and may well work for many others. Music should be easy he says, that’s the secret. He is careful to widen the scope of his book to include classical as well as jazz musicians and much of what he says is common sense for anyone who has played an instrument. His book is shot through with anecdotes which alleviate the sometimes repetitive nature of his message and for some readers the spiritual journey that is advocated may not appeal.

For a beginner in music like myself the upbeat nature of the book is encouraging, anyone can learn to play well if they set about it in the right way and in the right frame of mind. I also found the practical advice on how to be comfortable with your instrument extremely useful and I have started to use some of this when practising. A friend of mine who is a professional musician and who lent me the book is very enthusiastic about the wise words inside, which obviously rings true with him. I am not about to search out those missing CDs because I am not sure I will ever need them, but I believe I have benefited much from reading Kenny’s book. A four star read. ( )

Helpful; at times too "new age-like", but in general a useful and helpful book for the musician suffering from performance anxiety and/or low self-esteem. ( )