The Confident Musicianing Podcast
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I’m Eleanor, and together we dive into concrete strategies for the before, during, and after of your audition process so that you can be better prepared and crush that performance! If you’re a music student ready to revolutionize your auditioning, let’s jump in. Tune in every Tuesday for another insight-filled episode; see you there!
The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Coming Back From A Musical Break? Here's 3 Things To Start Off Right
Getting back into the groove is super exciting. Join me, as we chat about 3 things you can do to start off strong!
This episode is available as a blog post. Click here to read!
Ready to celebrate yourself? Here is the Standing Ovation Series!
Let's get you planning your practice! Click here for the Goal-Setting Strategy
which basically just shows that we all need to take breaks, and breaks are productive. Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. I'm your host, eleanor, and after countless practice sessions, a ton of broken reeds 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. Let's get started. Hey there and welcome back.
Speaker 1:Breaks are something that we all need and that we all need to take, but sometimes it feels like, in order to be a good musician, you have to never take breaks, and I completely disagree with that. I remember last summer I I'm going to be honest wasn't having the best practice time. I was working on some really difficult things and I was just kind of in a rut, and then I had to get my wisdom teeth out and after that I couldn't practice for a while. I had to take a break, and what I didn't realize is that when I came back, I was playing better than when I left, which I thought was so crazy and so cool, which basically just shows that we all need to take breaks and breaks are productive. So let's say you've taken that break, or maybe you're going to, but you're not sure how you want to get back into the swing of things when you are done. Well, that is what today is all about. The first thing to remember is to start off slow. When I had to take a long break after I got my wisdom teeth out, I could not push myself. The first few days that I practiced were really slow and not hard at all. Seriously, I like played five minutes, ten minutes, right, I was really really listening to my body because it just, you know, had gum surgery. Basically, even if your break isn't from something medical, don't go straight into the deep end. So start to like slowly reacquaint yourself when you are coming back after a break. If you go straight into the deep end, you know it might feel like too much, you might feel stressed, it might feel overwhelmed, it's like, oh my gosh. So start, you know, slower, right, kind of go into it slowly, reacquaint yourself with fun pieces or scales or something that isn't all that hard, because a start is a start and then, of course, you can get into the harder stuff, but the first practice session, or the first two or first three, need to be calm and not all that tricky. Okay, you're just reacquainting yourself with the instrument.
Speaker 1:The next thing is to celebrate yourself. Coming back after a break is a real accomplishment and that is worth celebrating. Even if it feels small to you, it is a huge step to getting back to playing. And if, when people tell you to celebrate you and you feel confused as to how you are not alone, I get that feeling, which is why we have the Standing Ovation series. This is a three-day series built to get you celebrating your hard work without worrying how to celebrate. Every day for three days, you get an email commending you for all your hard work and giving you something to think about for the next day of practice. So I dare you to take this step and invest in yourself. Today there is a link to sign up in the show notes, so make sure you go check that out.
Speaker 1:You know celebrating yourself is so, so important. I've realized the more I celebrate the small things, the more I feel ready and empowered to do the big things Like I remember I didn't always celebrate myself. This wasn't always a thing. But I have a friend who, like she, loves to celebrate herself and she, you know, really, really, really, really believes in this. And I remember she told me she was like Eleanor, you have to celebrate yourself. You have to take, you know, some time to realize I'm doing really cool things. And I remember thinking what do you mean? Like, how in the world do I celebrate myself? Which is why I created the Standing Ovation series, because, just like me, you are probably thinking the same thing how do I celebrate myself? So make sure you go check that out.
Speaker 1:The third thing is to remember that you aren't behind, so don't feel guilty about it. And I know that that is so easy to say, like don't feel guilty, don't feel guilty. But you know we kind of have to try and do it. Okay, because this is a hard thing to do Telling yourself that you aren't behind and trying to not feel guilty about it, because when you come back after a break, sometimes you feel like you're behind, especially when you look at other people who might not have had a break. But let's remember that breaks are productive. If you need to take one, then they are productive, okay. And when you come back from a break and you're maybe feeling a little bit stressed because you feel behind. Remember that you are not behind. And a great phrase that I tell myself whenever I feel behind. I know that this is really kind of sounds obvious, but it's so helpful. I just tell myself you are not behind, you are in the right place for you right now. This is the right place for you right now. And that really helps me if I look at someone else and I'm like, but they're in that place and I'm like, okay, well, that's the right place for them right now. Okay, and you are in the right place for you right now.
Speaker 1:Now, in order to also kind of work on this concretely in a more, you know, physical way, almost Take where you are right now and create a practice plan. It can be like really small, like maybe one or two goals for the day that you want to accomplish, but this can really help you to start getting back into the flow and not necessarily feeling behind, because you have the goals that you want to accomplish, okay. So just take maybe one or two things to really dive into that. And if you maybe don't have much experience with planning your practice, or maybe you want to get better at it. I understand that, which is why I have created the goal setting strategy. This is a quick little guide and it basically shows you how you can take your big goals and turn them into everyday, efficient practice sessions. All you need to do is just fill it out Literally. I have made it as easy as I possibly can for you, so make sure you go check that out in the show notes.
Speaker 1:All right, let's do a quick recap. So the first thing is to start off slow. Don't always get into the deep end right. Start off slow and then you can slowly reacquaint yourself with those fun pieces. The next thing is to celebrate yourself. You are coming back after a break. That is a real accomplishment.
Speaker 1:And if you want to learn more about how to celebrate yourself, sign up for the standing ovation series. And the last thing is you are not behind, so don't feel guilty. Now we can do multiple different ways of working through that. We can say phrases to ourselves like I am not behind, I am in the right place for me right now. But we can also start doing, you know, practice goals in our practices so that we can have something to focus on.
Speaker 1:And if that sounds like you. Make sure you go check out the goal setting strategy, because that can be really, really helpful. That is in the show notes. All right, that is it for this episode. Thank you so much for being here with me today. As always, all the things to do with this episode will be in the show notes, from the blog post that goes with this episode to the link for the standing ovation series and the link for the goal setting strategy. Okay, do yourself a favor and check out those show notes because, let's be honest, there's some fun stuff in there, and if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you give it a follow and I will see you in the next episode. Bye.
