The Confident Musicianing Podcast
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The Confident Musicianing Podcast
How we can rest as musicians
Since I have been given the assignment of resting for a week, we are talking about resting as musicians, and how we all can do it.
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It's not just the actual playing in the session, it's your brain's recovery afterwards. Hello and welcome to the Confident Musician podcast. My name is Eleanor and I am a British American oboist studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Literally my dream school and it took me a long way to get there. I applied and auditioned for 12 schools in three different countries. It was a lot of hard work but, oh my gosh, so worth it. I want you to have the confidence to work hard in achieving your goals. So come with me as we go on this journey together. So sit down, pull up a chair, take a seat or, if you're on, go. Welcome to the Confident Musician Podcast. Hello, hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the Confident Musician Podcast. Thank you for being here. It's so exciting that we can spend this time together and just have a chat, have a little hangout. It's all great. So at this point, term has ended.
Speaker 1:At university I am studying, although at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland I am a first year and the term the first term of the year has ended and, oh my gosh, it is so exciting and so amazing and right now I am in this mode of rest, of relaxation. I mean I am doing a lot of exciting things, but you know I'm focusing on reflection and all of this stuff in terms of the break that I'm on. I'm currently on winter break from term and it's very interesting to go back and to reflect on term. I spent a lot of time studying, a lot of time practicing. I really enjoyed my classes. I hung out with friends. I made new friends. You know, when I started this course I knew no one, basically, and now I know a lot of people. So it's just very, very, very exciting and, oboe-wise, it's really inspiring.
Speaker 1:Personally, because I recently posted a reel on my Instagram that shows two months of oboe progress, from October to December. And, to be honest, I remember thinking about okay, what am I going to post? You know, when I'm planning my posts, etc. I'm like, what am I going to post? And I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I did this kind of you know progress reel? But what I didn't realize was how much progress I had made and how much I didn't realize that I had made that progress. And so creating that reel was really an exciting and special experience for me because I didn't realize just how much work I had put in Oberweiss. So this term has been full of work, full of growth, of learning all this stuff.
Speaker 1:And I don't know about you maybe you are in school, maybe you're also at university, maybe you're not, I don't know but I'm sure that you can reflect back on these past months for you as well. But the thing about that and about my OBU progress is that I recently had a lesson with my teacher and we were talking about Christmas break, we were talking about winter break, and my teacher said something that I was kind of shocked about. He said I want you to take the whole week of Christmas off from Oba, the entire week, like Monday to Sunday off. And I remember being like what, what, what are you talking about what? And he was like it will be good for you taking that that week and today as of recording this podcast episode. That week is next week.
Speaker 1:By the time you're hearing it, it is this week and I am a bit nervous. I am a bit nervous to talk. You know like to do this because I know that resting is good. I have taken breaks before, but it is. It's always a bit nerve wracking, but I'm very excited to take a break. I feel like I need a break. I feel like I'm just a wee bit burnt out, to be honest. So I am excited to take a break. But, um, with this, it made me realize that I want to talk to you about rest and relaxation and how we can take breaks, the art of resting from your instrument, because I find it so interesting, and I'm sure I will do an episode of my thoughts about the break that I did take after next week, but it's something that I want to just chat about. So today we are going to talk about ways we can relax, things that we can think about when we are relaxing and just taking a break from our instruments. Because I don't know about you, if you are taking a break. You know this winter break, when this episode comes out, it will be Christmas week, the week of Christmas. I don't know if you're taking that week off. If you're not, I don't know. But let's dive into some ways to relax and how we can relax.
Speaker 1:So the first thing is it is okay to struggle to relax. I think that this is a very good thing to start off with. I struggle to relax. When my teacher was like you are going to take a week off, I was a bit gobsmacked. To be honest, I was a bit like what, what, what am I gonna do with all my time? I don't know. So when I do relax, I often busy myself with other things, literally. Yesterday I was looking at online courses that I could take about, like other things, during next week, because I'm like I'm gonna have time, I want to learn new things, and I think that that's a good thing in in some respects. But also, if I busy myself too much with other things, um then is it actually relaxing or is it just me doing other things? Um, that's just something to maybe ponder and think about. So I am still working through my relaxation journey and I think that that is okay.
Speaker 1:I am a workaholic. I have so many projects, so many exciting things. My work with Confident Musicianing gives me so much joy. My Oboe practice gives me so much joy. So sometimes it is a bit hard to take a break from that and I think that whatever you are working on whether it is university work, whether it is a project, even just like your instrument, you know so practicing your instrument that is okay to take a break from, and also it's okay to struggle with the rest, because sometimes resting is difficult if we're just used to go, go, go. You know what I mean. So giving yourself some grace to figure out how you can relax is okay. Just experiment. It's a trial and error thing, right, like it doesn't have to be perfect and we're all still learning how to do things. I feel like a lot of the time, we have so much pressure to be perfect at music, so then we put pressure to be perfect at resting as well, and I think it's okay to struggle with both sides with music and resting and it's okay to find out how you want to rest the most.
Speaker 1:So the next thing is understanding that rest is part of the process. Okay, I have to tell you something. I have to tell you something super, duper, duper, interesting and exciting. So I am currently preparing for technical exams. There's technical exams in term two. I have to do fairling studies, I have to do excerpts, I have to do scales, all these things and I'm thinking what is the most effective way for me to practice so that next week, when I have my practice break, I don't really lose things. And it's quite interesting. I think it's different for everyone, but I've been using a lot of mental practice and if you don't know what mental practice is, I will put in the show notes an episode about mental practice. It's a really great way to practice but it kind of makes you take a break from the instrument. You're still practicing but you're not practicing with the instrument. And I have been incorporating mental practice with my practice and it has really been helping me understand the excerpts faster and get to know them better and play them better. So if that's something you're interested in the idea of mental practice the episode is in the show notes, so please do check that out. But understanding that rest is part of the process. Now, that is mental practice is a rest from actually playing your instrument, but it's not a full rest from practicing. But it's a really good example of resting certain things is really really really helpful for your process, for your progress.
Speaker 1:Resting is productive. I think that that is so, so, so important. To say yeah, it's just, it's so important. I was recently in a masterclass with Armand Gicoulon and Armand said something that was so, so, so helpful. It was an oboe masterclass. It was amazing. I played Schumann's third oboe romance and it was really interesting something that Armand said. He said that getting better, and I might misquote this, but the gist of it was getting better is not just about the practice, but it's about the recovery after. The progress comes from the recovery after your practice. And I remember sitting there in this like auditorium, in this theatre, and being like, oh my gosh, armand just like dropped a bomb of wisdom and knowledge, and I literally just like I got out a notebook and I just wrote it down because I knew that that was going to be so helpful for me in my practice, because rest is part of the process. Right, progress comes from the rest afterwards. It's not just the actual playing in the session, it's's your brain's recovery afterwards. And so I think that that is something that is important to remember as well, because I think that that is something that is so, so, so helpful in terms of our understanding of rest. Rest is important and, to be honest, in that masterclass it was a bit mind-blowing. I was like, oh my gosh, that is so good to know.
Speaker 1:The last thing I think is important to talk about today is I challenge you to find the things that give you joy in this period of rest. Whether you are about to rest or maybe you're thinking about it, what are you going to do in that rest? That is something that I struggle with. When we were talking about the first thing, struggling of, like, what are you going to do in your resting, in your relaxation? And, to be honest, maybe not scrolling all day on your phone is a good idea. We are all victims of this. I feel like we we all get into this habit of just mindlessly scrolling or watching things or you know whatever, and that, to be honest, is really not a great way to rest. It really isn't. So I challenge you after this episode, or maybe just now, or get like a notebook, if you want to write this down, but just come up with a list of things that you enjoyed doing. And if you haven't done hobbies recently because I know, as musicians, sometimes we get so busy, especially around this time If you haven't done hobbies recently, I challenge you to get a notebook or just put it in your notes app app, or maybe just in your head.
Speaker 1:Think about a few things that you enjoy doing that have nothing to do with music. So for me, that is learning languages. I love learning languages, literally. Give me a grammar chart. I'm all excited about that. Like that is the best thing I know. That's so niche. I also love knitting. I love sewing. Hand sewing, um, I have a thing for hand sewing historical garments, like learning about costume history. That has absolutely nothing to do with music, um, but it's a hobby of mine. It's really, really, really fun for me.
Speaker 1:So think about something that you enjoy doing, whether that is maybe going for a walk or knitting as well. Maybe you like reading, maybe you like cooking I love cooking. Maybe you want to bake something, maybe you haven't baked something in a while. Or just like even just tidy the house, tidy your room, you know, whatever it is, make your space organized. If that's something that you want to do as well, that is a great form of rest, things that bring you joy, seriously. It can be so so like I don't want to say mundane, but like, so, like just chill, but it can bring you so much joy and be so exciting for you. And I think that that is so important when we rest to be mindful of how we're resting, whether that is you know reading, or maybe you just need to sleep. Maybe you're like I'm so tired, I just need to sleep. Maybe it's going for a walk. Maybe you haven't been outside enough recently and you want to go outside All of these things to maybe not get you to scroll or just sit on a screen, because that is something that will not help any of us.
Speaker 1:So I challenge you to just think about it. Just think about what you're going to do. What did you enjoy, for instance, as a child? I think that this is an exciting thing to think about. Before you had responsibilities, maybe before you had homework, before you had all these things, what did you enjoy doing? And that can really help us, even though it seems like childish, almost being like. Well, when I was a child, I enjoyed different things than what I enjoy now. But I think, starting on that basis of what did I enjoy, and then that can maybe come up with more ideas as to what you might enjoy now. So I invite you to give it a go into thinking. What do you want to do? Because for me, in the next week it's Christmas. We're going to do Christmas, but I think I'm also going to do some language learning. I'm definitely going to knit. I have a project that's almost ready, almost done, and I want to finish it. I am going to be cooking things, be baking things, going for walks, all of these things to just refill my cup, because that can be so, so, so helpful.
Speaker 1:All right, let's do a bit of a recap. The first thing is understanding that struggling to relax is okay. It is, in fact, okay. The second thing is rest is a part of the process. Rest is a part of the process. This is a good thing. Practicing all day, every day, only does so much. The resting after can be so helpful for your progress as well. And the last thing is I challenge you to think about the things that help you find joy, so that when you are resting, you have things that you want to do, so, whether that is reading or baking, or going for a walk, etc. Things that will help rejuvenate your mind and fill your cup, rather than sitting and endlessly scrolling like social media. So those are some ideas for you.
Speaker 1:I hope that you have a lovely, restful holiday season, whatever that looks like to you. For me, my Christmas looks a little different, because now I live in the UK and I'm you know it's. It's just a different vibe. It's just a different thing, um, and I'm excited to to bring old traditions that I've had, um, and combine them with new traditions as well. So I'm really excited about this um, and I hope that you have a lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely holiday season.
Speaker 1:That is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It has been lovely. If you want more from me, if you want some more content, some more time to hang out, then you can join my email list, where I send out lots of fun, cozy emails about music and lots of resources, and it's just a good vibe, it's a good time. So if that's something that you're into, then please, please, please, do click the link in the show notes to sign up. And I hope that this episode was good. I hope that you enjoyed it and I wish you a lovely, lovely, lovely holiday season and lots of rest and relaxation for the next year. Alright, take care Bye.
