
Berklee Press Announces New Jazz Guitar and Bass Titles
Berklee Press Announces New Jazz Guitar and Bass Titles Berklee Jazz Bass (HL50449636/$19.99) is written by a power team of past and present Berklee instructors (Rich Appleman, Whit Browne, and Bruce Gertz), who have 120+ years of teaching experience between them. This new title will help students learn the intricacies of playing jazz by expanding basic...

My new book, Practice Secrets of the Pros, is now available on Amazon!
Now available on Amazon! Practice Secrets of the Pros: Motivation, Method and Memory for Musicians… and Other Athletes by Alexa Weber Morales Kindle edition In 2010, Grammy-nominated latin jazz singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales began a quest for pragmatic, inspiring advice about musical mastery. She interviewed experts, researched the techniques of memory champions and dove into...

You don’t have be a freak to master music! Q&A with mastery expert K. Anders Ericsson (from my new book!)
Since the release of my album I Wanna Work For You, I’ve been writing a book about practicing. More specifically, I wondered how I could finally get better at things that had eluded me despite a lifetime of effort. Were there keys to motivation, method or memory that the virtuosos knew? After much research, I...

How I shouted down that (inner) critic while performing at a prestigious venue
I was dancing, sweating, playing guiro and singing back-up, carried on a wave of sound and positive energy. The dance floor surged with happy bodies, the seated audience beamed at the stage packed with musicians. I looked down at the set list taped to the stage in front of my microphone and realized that I’d...
New Video Series: Alexa’s Books
Episode 1: Reviewed in brief: The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle The Big-Ass Book of Bling by Mark Montano The Anatomy of Story by John Trudy The Renegade Writer by Linda Formichelli & Diana Burrell Don’t Shoot: The End of Violence in Inner-City America by David Kennedy...

20 inspiring thoughts on playing music (in middle school)
This morning I helped for the first period of 6th grade band and it got me thinking about all the things I like to say to kids when I visit a classroom or teach at summer camp. They all came tumbling out, in no particular order. Well, except for the first one, because I think...

Are you dead or alive?
I’m tired of “I’m old.” I’ve been feeling old since I left home at 18. I got married at 22, and by the time I was 30 I was a wife and a mom with a house and a career and I felt old. I meet old people all the time. They’re 35, or 23,...

Effortless Mastery, the Myth of Flow and Other Green Room Conversations
After making music with them, what I like most about musicians is talking to them. The hang before and after a gig is usually a source of inspiration. Last night was like that. We filed off stage, all 19 of us, either onto the dance floor or into the green room. One thing that’s annoying...