Participant & Expert Testimonials
Participants:
Those Who Have Experienced Full Compositional Coaching
Kumell Rizvi, a hobbyist interviewed before and after experiencing
Brainarm, discusses his enlightening experience with the method (Spring 2019).
Written Testimonials from Participants
Paolo Del Papa
"I was looking for a new method to refine my approach to piano and to allow me to compose. This revolutionary method allowed me to create a piece, which has been successfully played during two concerts. My satisfaction was great! Brainarm opened a musical world that I wasn't aware of. Now I play regularly and have created about thirty pieces with a self-confidence I've never had before. This has contributed to my mental health as well."
Jessica Germani
Up to the age of 20, I never studied nor touched a musical instrument, and I only saw the piano as a great dream never to be accomplished. But now, thanks to this method and to a pianist-composer able to bring out who you really are and all the music that you have within which you didn't know you had (because you never had a chance to realise it), I can honestly say that I have set great achievements and that it still allows me today not to be discouraged and to believe in myself, always.
Stefano Cerquozzi
"I finally completed the first of my piano compositions, it is called 'Ode to Skrjabin'. I am very satisfied with the result. Now all I need to do is learn how to play it. Many ask me how on earth I composed something without knowing how to play it. To those who ask such questions, I smile and explain that it seemed strange to me as well up until the moment I saw the method at work. Each one of us has music within, even without the means of expressing it, because that means is the Brainarm method. You are the mind and they let you borrow the hands... It's like having a stand-in actor, when you can't execute a difficult and virtuosic piece, your stuntman comes in and replaces you just enough to reorganise your work to a neat standard. It is an experience for all, for those who have always dreamt of composing as well as for those that didn't even know they had music to express."
Matthias Leeck
"It's really amazing. It is a great technique! I have no music background but spent a whole afternoon composing. The result is intriguing. It is like a cast of my feelings and of my character. Thank you very much!"
Desmond Calliste
"It was a great experience, doing away with the 'formalities' that 'stunt' the very essence of what Creativity and Expression are really about! It was a great confidence booster! For anyone who undertakes this experience it can only move them to greater things! The chasm between establishment and god-given musical ability, one fine example of which was that of King David of the Bible who was an accomplished composer!"
Simone’s experience
Further testimonials from participants are available on
Journalist Perspectives
"He promised to bring out of him the music he didn't think he had. [...] Those minimal fairy tales, that are really not so minimal, the ones you don't expect, that maybe you can only live far away from the hallucinations of the metropolis, that make you suspect that life doesn't lie in a computer, in waiting in vain, in another dull day. There was more life in the hugs of those amateurs, less than amateurs in some cases (my brother had only been participating for just about two months*), who were congratulating each other, who were despairing, who were encouraging each other with hugs, than in many empty liturgies. There is need of real music, of enchantment... Music is an immense force, gigantic. Music changes the souls and changes men. Music can take men and make them better. And this approach, which I recommend you try out for yourself, wherever you are, has managed, I must admit it, to surprise me, due to its enthusiasm, its results and that mixture of vigour and familiarity."
*Read about Paolo Del Papa's experience above.
Read the full article on his blog (Italian language)
Massimo Del Papa
"It will surely bear its fruits! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to you and to all those who will try the Brainarm method, for the music you will keep on pouring out from your essence and for the invigorating effect that you will provide to those who will come to listen to your music!"
Alessandra Cicalini
Expert Perspectives on Democratising Composition
Marc Parella
“...And the League of American Orchestra was about to kick me out for saying this was the future of music! And it is. As a composer I am more interested in the creative process and what technology can do to help connect people with music than I am in figuring out the politics of who gets heard and who doesn't on a symphony orchestra program.”
Dickran Atamian (aka Jack Price)
"It's a great concept! It totally works!"
In his VIDEO TESTIMONIAL he reviews Brainarm and reflects upon its huge implications, such as classical concert audience education, and increased student retention for music teachers. VIDEO TESTIMONIAL
Fabrizio De Rossi Re
"Brainarm strongly contributes to spreading creative music practice even among people with no specific musical studies.
This system brings human beings much closer to personal creativity, building far more self-confidence than any technical and musical acquisitions can do. That's why it is particularly beneficial on a human level.
Brainarm can promote better relationships among people, leading to a more peaceful and creative world for all."
Fausto Bongelli
"Recently I attended a Brainarm session of one of my own friends, a bank manager who was totally new to music. I appreciated the evolutionary path of the process which started from improvisation, and then came to a definition of the materials at stake, which got filtered by the sensitivity and taste of the "neophyte". I wish Guido Mallardi and the system he has developed a wide popularization, that can contribute actively to the practice of music as a creative approach for everyone, expecially on the expressive and emotional level."
Sergio René Martinez
"Brainarm is very interesting, and above all for me as a composer, since there is an increasing approach to creativity and composition for a wider audience."
Terry Daniels
"Great concept! The future of music composition is here!"
Eddie Davey
"I am indeed interested! For instance I think that we all start learning to read music when we are too young establishing an eye-hand relationship, rather than training the hand to do what the ears hear first. By doing so we inhibit the imagination and spontaneous improvisation, impoverishing our self-creating skills!"
Roger Moisan
"Getting 'non-musicians' doing music is a brilliant step in removing the elitist perception of composing and music-making that many people have. Some of the best musicians and musical people I have come across appear in the most unlikely places, builders whistling while they work, etc. I can see Brainarm working in special schools, rehab centres, young offenders' institutions, and mainstream schools, just as an initial thought."
“Brainarm is a music therapeutic way of self-expression.”
Daniel Nicholson introduced the Brainarm concept during a public demonstration held by Guido Mallardi in summer 2018 at Hanna & Sons piano shop (Wimbledon). On that occasion, willing volunteers were given the opportunity to try Brainarm in person.
Marc Perella
...And the League of American Orchestra was about to kick me out for saying this was the future of music! And it is. As a composer I am more interested in the creative process and what technology can do to help connect people with music than I am in figuring out the politics of who gets heard and who doesn't on a symphony orchestra program.”
Fabrizio De Rossi Re
"Brainarm strongly contributes to spreading creative music practice even among people with no specific musical studies.
This system brings human beings much closer to personal creativity, building far more self-confidence than any technical and musical acquisitions can do. That's why it is particularly beneficial on a human level.
Brainarm can promote better relationships among people, leading to a more peaceful and creative world for all."
(Original picture modified - credits: Circuspolka CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Dickran Atamian (aka Jack Price)
"It's a great concept!
It totally works!"
In his VIDEO TESTIMONIAL he reviews Brainarm
and reflects upon its huge implications, such as classical concert audience education, and increased student retention for music teachers.
Fausto Bongelli
"Recently I attended a Brainarm session of one of my own friends, a bank manager who was totally new to music. I appreciated the evolutionary path of the process which started from improvisation, and then came to a definition of the materials at stake, which got filtered by the sensitivity and taste of the "neophyte". I wish Guido Mallardi and the system he has developed a wide popularization, that can contribute actively to the practice of music as a creative approach for everyone, expecially on the expressive and emotional level."