The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Want to get better at your music auditions? You CAN transform the way you audition and The Confident Musicianing Podcast guides you through it.
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
Listen if you need practice motivation
We've all been there, and sometimes this time of year can feel like a drag. So here are some resources to get your practice flowing!
Need that encouragement? Join the Standing Ovation Series! (Click here to sign up)
Here's the link to practice with me in real time: patreon.com/Eleanoroboe
Here is my conversation with Maestro Jacob Joyce. Click here to listen!
Ready for practice organisation? Get your Notabl_ practice journal here, and use code ELEANOR15 for 15% off your order!
This episode is available as a blog post. Click here to read!
Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing 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 the go, welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. Hello, welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1:This is a cozy corner of the internet where we discuss all things to do with music, and today we are going to be talking about beginning of the year, practice motivation. I assume, because you clicked on this, you want to be motivated for the new year. Oh my gosh, I mean we all do seriously. So this little cozy short episode will be kind of talking about different things that you can do and you can use to get motivated as a musician. So I have four things that will help you kind of become more motivated and hopefully give you a little more excitement for practicing in the new year. Because, let's be honest, we just kind of I know it was like maybe a few weeks ago, but we finished the holidays and just hanging out with our families. However, you celebrated the holidays and now it's time to kind of get back to things and we might be kind of feeling like, oh, just a little okay, you know, get back into the swing of it. Or maybe we're feeling really good about it and we're like you know what, I'm feeling good, but I still want a little more motivation. This episode is all about motivation and things that can help you be motivated. So I hope that you can take one thing from this episode and do it or use it or listen to it, whatever it is, and kind of have more motivation when you practice. So that's my challenge for you Take like one thing, one thing that you think would help you become more motivated or just kind of inspire you. So let's get right into it.
Speaker 1:The first thing is a standing ovation series. I have been doing the standing ovation series for almost a year now and I kind of launch it and do it in kind of groups a few times a year, but you can actually join it whenever you want. So this is a three day series where every day you get an email from me celebrating your practice, literally like a standing ovation. So you get an email from me and I, number one, celebrate your practice and number two, kind of give you something to think about for the next day. It can be so, so, so helpful. Like I've literally gotten people coming back to me after they do the series and saying amazing stuff Like, for instance, your standing ovation series did the trick. It gave me added encouragement to challenge and surprise myself. That is from Nicholas. Or I got back to my oboe and sounded quite okay after a long time of no practice. That is from Kaylin. And I'm gonna be honest with you literally when I get messages like that, my my heart expands like twice the size, full of absolute joy that the things that I am doing are helping other musicians, because that's literally what I am about helping other musicians and that is what the Standing Ovation series is about as well. So if that sounds like something that you think could be helpful, please do sign up. The link is in the show notes. Literally all you have to do is sign up and then you'll get three days of just encouragement and inspiration, and those three days can really act as like a boost to get you into the swing of things. So if that sounds like something that you want to do, then please, please, please, do sign up. All right.
Speaker 1:So the next thing is actually really exciting. It is practice with me in real time videos. I think that this is a very interesting idea because you know, like when people study, you know those like study videos where it's like study with me and you just put the person up on your phone and then you study with them and it's supposed to kind of help you be more focused and like there's someone else in the room. I have been doing that with practicing and you might be like, oh no, how does that work? Because practicing is sound based, but you can turn me down and put me in the corner and practice with me, and I think that that can be so helpful to kind of keep us accountable for each other. Literally, when I film those sessions for the practice with me's in real time, I get so much better at practice sessions, I get so much more done, I'm so much more focused. So that's kind of what this is Now get so much more done. I'm so much more focused. So that's kind of what this is.
Speaker 1:Now you have two options. The first option is you can watch these on YouTube and they are kind of split and like there's, it's like a section of it. Or, if you want to watch the whole thing, you can watch that over on Patreon. I do have a Patreon. It's kind of a new thing. I'm really really really excited about it and you can get not only practice videos but also more behind the scenes stuff from me. I do live streams, there are how-to videos All of these things are over on Patreon, as well as full practice with me in real time videos, where you can literally just put me up on a shelf or maybe even on your music stand or maybe like to the side and practice with me, and that is something that we can do together and it can really help with staying focused. Staying focused and having a little practice buddy, because let's just be practice buddies, it's gonna be good. So that is something that seems like it could be helpful for you in getting more motivation and getting into the swing of things with practice. Please, please, please, do go do that. I will link the the links for that down below and if you you want full length practice with me videos as well as a bunch of other fun stuff, please do check out Patreon. That's something that it's like the new thing that I'm doing and I'm so excited about it and I hope you are too.
Speaker 1:Okay, the third thing is a podcast episode that came out last April, but I still listen to it sometimes because it was such an insightful conversation. This podcast episode is the first episode that I ever did with a guest, and the guest is Maestro Jacob Joyce, the associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and this episode, like Maestro, just absolutely poured so much knowledge into 45 minutes in this episode. It is so incredibly helpful and I listen to it when I'm feeling unmotivated or when I feel like, oh my gosh, I'm kind of don't feel enough, or, you know, am I doing enough, or whatever, or maybe I'm nervous for auditions, like literally, it is so, so helpful and I remember just sitting there when we were filming the episode or, like recording the episode, just kind of being in awe of the amount of knowledge that he was able to, to kind of just bring out and and talk about, and I learned so much and so this episode is on this episode for that, because if that's something that sounds like you would help you, please do go listen to it. It is such a good episode, just full of so much knowledge's. It's like maestro is so full of knowledge and it's such a helpful episode. I I'm still listening to it because maestro has so many amazing things to say. We talk about networking, the power of networking, making a change in your music career, because maestro went from violin to conducting um, managing both studying music and another degree at the same time, top things that young musicians can focus on in their career, and how Maestro Joyce prepares for important auditions, and so much more. Like it is so motivating, so motivating, so that will be in the show notes. Please do check that out.
Speaker 1:And the last thing is planning your practice. If you are not motivated to practice, that's okay. We all have been through that. But one of the things that I have found so helpful to kind of get me motivated when I'm not motivated is having a plan, because if you're not motivated, then you're kind of just like oh, I don't know what to do, I don't want to do it. But if you have literally a piece of paper saying for 15 minutes you are going to do this and then for 10 minutes after that you will do this. It's so much easier to actually get it done. So I challenge you to plan your practice, and, of course, we have something to do that with.
Speaker 1:So I recently started using Notables practice journals to plan my practice and it absolutely changed how I plan my practice and how this kind of works. Seriously, it was so, so cool. Not only do I know when I need to practice, but I also know when I need to stop, and I think that that is something that is so helpful as well, because Sometimes you know, your brain is like, oh my gosh, I haven't practiced enough. I haven't practiced enough, I have to keep going. But if you have a piece of paper that says, actually, you have practiced enough because you worked on this, that and the other, and the page is complete for the day and it's time to move on to other things, that can be really helpful To kind of calm your mind down when it's like, oh my gosh, I haven't practiced enough. So that can be so helpful as well.
Speaker 1:Now, when I found out that these journals were helping because let's be I mean it has like they have everything laid out already. I planned my practice before, especially for university auditions, but I did that from a blank sheet of paper and sometimes it was way harder to kind of actually get going with motivation. But with Notables, practice Journals, literally you have everything set up already. You just need to kind of fill in with what you need to do. So that can be so helpful as well.
Speaker 1:So when I first realized that this was working, I knew that I had to tell you about it and I knew that I had to get you a code, and that code is Eleanor15 for 15% off. That is E-L-E-A-N-O-R-1-5 for 15% off your order. And yeah, do yourself a favor and just get that journal, use the code and start the new year off right, because they can be so helpful. And so, life like practice change, practice, life changing for your practice, um, and it can really help with motivation as well. So you know me, I never recommend anything that I don't love. And it can really help with motivation as well. So you know me, I never recommend anything that I don't love. And so this is an affiliate code, which means I do receive a commission, but with no extra cost to you. All right, shall we do a recap? I feel like doing a recap.
Speaker 1:Number one is the standing ovation series. This is a three-day series where every day you get an email from me celebrating your practice. The next is Practice With Me videos. You can get like bits of it on YouTube and you can also get full videos on Patreon. So if that's something that sounds like you, then please do check that out.
Speaker 1:Number three is the episode with Meister Jacob Joyce, the associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. So much knowledge in that out. Number three is the episode with Meister Jacob Joyce, the associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. So much knowledge in that episode. Literally, it's so, so, so motivational. Please do go listen to it. And the last thing is Notable's practice journal. This practice journal can really help with motivation and just also structuring your practice and making it efficient and effective, which is so helpful as well.
Speaker 1:So all of these links are in the show notes. So please, please, please do go check that out. Yeah, and I challenge you to pick one of these things that you want to do and you want to look into and get in that motivation. All right, all right, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. As always, all of these links will be in the show notes, as well as the blog post that goes with this episode. I hope that this helps you find some motivation in your practice and I will see you in the next episode. All right, take care. Bye-bye.
