Confident musicians: we all want to be them. And today we will dive into 5 things that they do, that we can all also do! Anything and everything from how they use nerve-racking situations inspiring to how they work up to performing and auditioning... all the way to how they navigate what could be embarrassing situations... and everything in between. Join me, and let's jump into become more confident musicians!
Tell me about your quick wins! Big or small; I want to hear about them... and they could be featured in the next podcast episode! Email me at: eleanor@confidentmusicianing.com DM me on Instagram at: @eleanor.oboe
Make sure you sign up for more fun, helpful, and inspiring music content... right in your inbox! Click here to sign up.
Confident musicians: we all want to be them. And today we will dive into 5 things that they do, that we can all also do! Anything and everything from how they use nerve-racking situations inspiring to how they work up to performing and auditioning... all the way to how they navigate what could be embarrassing situations... and everything in between. Join me, and let's jump into become more confident musicians!
Tell me about your quick wins! Big or small; I want to hear about them... and they could be featured in the next podcast episode! Email me at: eleanor@confidentmusicianing.com DM me on Instagram at: @eleanor.oboe
Make sure you sign up for more fun, helpful, and inspiring music content... right in your inbox! Click here to sign up.
Your host, Eleanor:
I'm guessing, by the fact that you are listening to a podcast called the confident musicianing podcast and you are listening to an episode specifically about confident musicians, that you maybe, just maybe, want to become ready, a more confident musician. Am I right, or am I right? Well, you are in the right place, my friend, because there are a ton of things that confident musicians do, ton of different habits and whatnot, and we are about to dive right into them. So let's get into it. Hello and welcome to the confident musicianing podcast. I'm your host, eleanor, and, after countless practice sessions, a ton of broken reads and seven different music school acceptances in three different countries, I have learned a thing or two about savoring your practicing, becoming your best practice companion and actively working towards your musical goals, and I want to share this with you because I want you to become your best musical self. Are you with me on this? Let's get started. Hey there, before we dive in, I want to share a quick win with you.
Your host, Eleanor:
If you have been listening to the podcast for a while and maybe following me for a while, you probably know that I like wins, quick wins, big wins, tiny wins, whatever wins, and I want to share with you a quick win that I recently had. Usually when I play an orchestra, I play with my teacher's reads and but with this specific rehearsal I didn't have any working reads for my teacher. They were all kind of dead and I realized like, oh no, I have to have a working read. So I made one and I have been learning how to make reads for a while now, but this one was the first one that I played in public and that actually sounded really, really, really good in public and that was such a huge win for me because I mean, that's such a good milestone. So I just wanted to share it with you because it made me excited and I love sharing the exciting things. If you have any wins big, small, whatever they are I would be so grateful if you could let me know if you're willing to share it with me. You can totally share it with me. You can email me at elinor, at confidentmusiciancom, or you can DM me at elinorobo and maybe they might end up on the podcast. If that's okay with you, maybe your wins can end up on the podcast. I would love to feature people's wins, your guys' wins, in the future episodes. That would be absolutely amazing. So if you're interested in doing that, please, please, please, do send me a quick message, either through email or through Instagram, and I'm gonna put those links in the description or in the show notes, but that would be absolutely amazing. So, yeah, okay, let's dive in Number one.
Your host, Eleanor:
When confident musicians are in a room with people who are better than they, they use it as a learning opportunity. I absolutely love being around people who are better than me at my instrument, but that was not always the case. I used to get super duper, duper jealous. I used to feel nervous, I used to feel insecure because they were way better than I was and it just it wasn't. It wasn't great. But then I started to realize, wait, I can learn something from these people. I can. Instead of feeling nervous around them and insecure, I could learn something from them. I could be inspired by them. It could be a good thing, and I still struggle now sometimes with feeling a little insecure. I think we all do. We're all human. But now I'm able to kind of create a situation where I am really, really inspired by them and I think that that is something that could be amazing. So for you, it might be someone who is better than you in orchestra, or maybe an older student, and they are way better, and all that you can do is just gulk at their amazingness, right, just be like, oh my gosh, they're amazing. Well, I challenge you to try to be inspired by that amazingness and let it rub off on you, because, at least for me, when I am with people who are better than I am, I tend to play better. I tend to play better, and I wonder if that's the same for you.
Your host, Eleanor:
Number two they aren't afraid to embarrass themselves. Confident musicians are not afraid to embarrass themselves. This can be definitely tricky, because we are all human and it is in our nature to be sensitive to getting embarrassed 100%. We are afraid of trying new things for fear of shame or embarrassment 100%. But I always say and this is something that is really, really important it's only embarrassing if you make it embarrassing, it's only embarrassing if you let it be embarrassing. Embarrassment is kind of it's an opinion. Someone might say that's embarrassing and someone else might look at the same thing and be like, no, it's not.
Your host, Eleanor:
So let me ask you a question. If there were no chance of shame or rejection or embarrassment, what would you do musically? Think about it. Would it be an audition for a specific ensemble that you've always wanted? Would it be, maybe, making more connections with other musicians? You want to talk to more musicians, make more friends or even do like, make more connections professionally, is it that? Or maybe it's even just playing out in orchestra, being more confident in orchestra?
Your host, Eleanor:
What is that one thing that you would do if there were no chance of shame, fear, rejection, embarrassment what would it be? Think about it. Okay, do you have something in your head? If you do, that's great, and if you don't yet, that's okay. This is a new concept. But let me tell you something. The truth is, you are not alone in feeling nervous to do these things, but the embarrassment is not a guarantee. And think about what you could get out of these things if you tried them, if you tried that thing that you want to do. So working through embarrassment and a fear to try new things is musically worth doing Because, let's say, you apply to that ensemble, you audition for that ensemble, you may get rejected, you may be embarrassing, but you may get it, you may make great connections through it and you may end up doing something that you had never imagined you would be able to do so.
Your host, Eleanor:
Embarrassment holds us back, fear holds us back, but embarrassment is not guaranteed. Of course, we are still all working through it, but think about the opportunities you might get if you tried to not be hindered by embarrassment and I know it's hard. I know it's hard. I'm not saying these things like oh my gosh, just do it quickly. It's hard and it takes time. I get that. I've been through that. That's really, really, really important to remember. So take your time with this. You'll get through it. You'll work through it, it'll be great.
Your host, Eleanor:
Number three they celebrate where they are now, as well as striving to become better. Let's emphasize the first part. They celebrate where they are now. What is that? Again, they celebrate where they are now. Do you celebrate where you are now? Do you take a look at the things that you've done, that you've already accomplished, the obstacles that you've gone through? Do you celebrate that? If the answer is yes, go you. That's amazing. And if the answer is no, then it's time to start now For me, at the end of every week, I sit down with a notebook and I write down all the things that I can remember that went well, all the wins, musically, non-musically.
Your host, Eleanor:
I just write them down and it is a really, really great way to celebrate where I am at and the things that I have accomplished, because I can look back through that journal and be like, oh yeah, I remember three weeks ago I was working through this and now you know I've accomplished it and it's amazing. Or maybe even six months ago or a year ago, right, that's how you end up celebrating how far you've come, because you need to take time to celebrate you. Even the little things like, for instance, listening to this podcast. You made a decision to hang out with me and talk about confident musicians. That's amazing. Look at you go.
Your host, Eleanor:
Number four they utilize self-talk as a way to stay confident. The power of self-talk is so strong it can either make or break us. So let's let it make us. Let's do good self-talk. I go into this a ton in episode eight, which is called sweaty palms three things you need to say to yourself before that audition. It is all about you guessed it three things you need to say to yourself before that audition. But there are three really, really, really insightful mindset things so that you can go into your audition feeling calm, collected and confident, which is what we all want. So if you want to go listen to that episode. It is in the description or the show notes of this episode and, yeah, I really hope you go check that out because it is a really, really, really interesting episode. I really had fun making that one.
Your host, Eleanor:
A key aspect of positive self-talk is showing yourself patience. For instance, if it takes you longer to accomplish something than you thought it would. Showing yourself patience and being like, okay, I am trying my best and I am doing the best I can, and yeah, it's taking longer, but I'm still doing amazing at it. You know, it's still, it's still going and I'm going to show myself patience. That is really really, really, really, really helpful. I don't know how many reallys was that. I don't remember Number five.
Your host, Eleanor:
They surround themselves with supportive people. This one important, because this one is a game changer. When you are in a room with other musicians who support you, that is an amazing feeling. I remember one time I was talking to another oboeist and we had set up a like a video call and I had never met her before, but we were chatting about studying oboe universities and then the conversation just flowed into us, talking about all the different musical opportunities that we had coming up and how excited we were and there was just so much positivity because I would be like, yeah, I'm doing this. And she was like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. And then she was like I'm doing this and like I'm so excited for you, like we at the beginning were strangers and at the end we were so excited for each other. That is what we need Positive people, positive talk. You know, it's what we need, especially as musicians.
Your host, Eleanor:
Because, let me tell you this, your time is too precious for unnecessary negativity. I'm gonna say it again your time is too precious for unnecessary negativity. So, evaluating what you surround yourself with Not just who, but what what types of people Are they positive people? Are they unnecessary, unnecessarily negative people? Do they support you? What about the media you watch? And I don't just mean TV shows or films, but maybe social media scrolling and other things like that what type of media do you consume? Is it positive, is it negative? How does it affect your mindset? How does it affect if you feel inspired, if you feel down, if you feel anxious, if you feel sad, all of the things how does it make you feel? Being very mindful about what media you consume can be really, really helpful because we need to surround ourselves with positive things, positive people, positive media, all of that. That's so important Because, remember, your time is precious and filling it with support and positivity is so beneficial.
Your host, Eleanor:
Alright, so that is it for this episode today. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. That is so lovely of you. I invite you to try to incorporate at least one of these five things into your next week, or maybe two days, or maybe one day. Whatever you want to do, I invite you to just take one of them. Just take one of them and try to incorporate them as you go about your day, about your musical life. So I hope to see you in the next episode and, yeah, bye.