This is HER Brain [and Life] on Music!

"The desire to do something because you find it deeply satisfying and personally challenging inspires the highest levels of creativity, whether it's in the arts, sciences, or business."

Teresa Amabile, Professor, Harvard University

Since she was five years old, Dr. McQuade has studied music. It has been a daily part of her life and has become not unlike eating and sleeping and breathing...a necessity for living. She began piano lessons at that early age and the countless hours of lessons and practice over decades have resulted in a mind and a soul that resonates with song. Thankfully, Dr. McQuade attended a school that was committed to arts education. While the inclusion of music in school benefits all students tremendously, it takes an attentive and caring teacher to guide a child beyond the basic benefits to a life altering experience. In the fifth grade, Dr. McQuade had such a teacher. The opportunity to sing the lead in the school's Christmas musical placed her on a road to becoming the musician, performer, and pedagogue that she is today. A teacher recognized potential in her student and took action. Piano lessons had created a fertile bed and receptive mind upon which her musicianship could grow.

"If you believe intelligence is a fixed quantity, then every educational and professional encounter becomes a measure of how much you have. If you believe intelligence is something you can increase, then the same encounters become opportunities for growth. In one view, intelligence is something you demonstrate; in the other, it's something you develop."

Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

And develop she did! Dr. McQuade is musically intelligent. However, she never saw her gift as something fixed but rather was willing to suffer the pain required for mastery of her art. Each opportunity and challenge has become one for growth.

Natural talent, interest, and aptitude have their place. They do matter. However, it is the effort, attention, and opportunity that takes one from mere talent to near perfection. Dr. McQuade cherished the gift of music in her life and devoted the quantity and quality of hours necessary to master her craft. She subjected herself to the rigors of the practice room, the classroom, and the performance hall. As a result, both her brain and her heart beat with the rhythm of music. She recognizes that her gift is not one to be hoarded but rather to be shared both on the stage and in the studio.

Do you LOVE music? Does it excite, intrigue, or challenge you? Interested in seeing where that might take YOU? Begin or continue YOUR PATH TO MASTERY by booking your first lessons with Dr. McQuade. Join her in the studio to benefit from her discipline as a musician and her passion for teaching.