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 board-certified neurologist, sleep specialist, and epileptologist at the University of Pittsburgh, where her work focuses on cognitive performance, sleep, and neurological recovery under high-demand conditions. In addition to her clinical and academic work, she consults with high-performing populations including professional athletes, executives, pilots, and first responders, and has served as a neurology consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In this episode, we explore why practice sometimes doesn’t “stick,” how sleep affects emotional reactivity and performance anxiety, why pianists improved 10-13% overnight without additional practice, how naps and “sleep banking” can help before auditions and performances, what musicians should know about jet lag and chronotypes, and the surprisingly small sleep habits that may have the biggest impact on performing at your true level.

Get all the nerdy details in this month's interview:
Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse: The Science of Sleep for Musicians

More from The Bulletproof Musician

• Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
• Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
• Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
• Live and self-paced courses

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 aspect of your technique that you’ve worked hard to fix - until it shows up again at exactly the wrong moment.

Why does this happen?

In this month's episode, cognitive psychologist Paul Baxter explains why bad habits are so persistent, and shares a little-known research-based method that may help change stubborn habits more quickly - and permanently.

Get all the nerdy details in this month's interview:

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

Additional Resources

The exact Old Way New Way protocol and examples across a wide range of performance domains can be found in Paul's book, Overcoming Performance Roadblocks

More from The Bulletproof Musician

• Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
• Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
• Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
• Live and self-paced courses

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 effective practice.

Micah Killion is Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Brass Coordinator at Montclair State University and former principal trumpet of the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. A Yamaha Performing Artist with degrees from Juilliard, Teachers College–Columbia, and UT Austin, his research on expert practice and music learning has been presented at leading institutions including Juilliard, Eastman, and the Royal Academy of Music.

In this episode, Micah shares what he discovered after closely analyzing how elite performers actually practice - and why their approach looks very different from the way most musicians were taught. We explore the decision-making process behind effective practice, the surprising role of mistakes in learning, and a simple strategy that can help musicians practice more efficiently, musically, and consistently.

Get all the nerdy details right here:

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

More from The Bulletproof Musician

• Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
• Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
• Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
• Live and self-paced courses

More from The Bulletproof Musician

• Get the free weekly newsletter, for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content.
• Pressure Proof: A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage.
• Learning Lab: A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice.
• Live and self-paced courses