PODCAST: Inside Berklee—Kenny Werner

Many musicians are inhibited, held back by a constant critic in their minds and, consequently, unable to access their full musical potential, says Kenny Werner, artistic director of Berklee's Effortless Mastery Institute. But that master space within, where joy in music resides, is inside all of us if we could only get out of our own way, he says.

“The preoccupation with one’s self—'how do I play?'—starts to trump one’s love of music until one cannot find that love of music anymore,” Werner, the author of the book Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, says.

In this edition of Inside Berklee, Werner discusses how to break these negative patterns and how his institute can help musicians do this by teaching them to play from the deepest parts of themselves and rediscover their connection to the music.

Kenny Werner will be performing with his trio and special guests Joe Lovano and George Garzone at the Berklee Performance Center on February 2. 

Producer: Kimberly Ashton
Engineer: Steven Xia
Recorded at the BIRN Studios