The Confident Musicianing Podcast
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The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Thinking of taking a year before uni? I did, and here is what I learned
Deferring a year before uni was a scary decision for me, but I am so glad that I did it. Today we are diving into 3 important things that I learned from my deferred year.
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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.
Speaker 1:When I had gotten into different conservatoires in the UK, I visited the UK to check them out and to see which one I liked the best. And I remember that first night staying in the UK I was in a hotel and I felt so panicky, so unbelievably panicky. I was like led in bed and I was unable to sleep, partially because of the loud pub right below me, but also because I knew this was a much bigger leap than I realized, and I knew deep down that I needed to defer a year before starting uni, that starting it right after graduating high school would be not helpful. It would not help me in any way and I needed that time to prepare. And let me tell you, I am so glad that I deferred. I am so glad that I deferred. I was able to have a much better move to the UK because of it and I was more prepared financially, emotionally, logistically, and I was also able to start this podcast, which means so much to me. Now, looking back on it, you know when I say, oh, I deferred a year. Looking back on it, I think that there are so many things I have learned from deferring a year and I remember when I was so scared about making that decision. I wish I knew the things that I know now about deferring a year. So if you were thinking about potentially deferring a year before starting university, this video, this podcast, is for you. We are going to go into a few things that I learned from deferring a year that will hopefully help you to decide whether you should or should not. So let's go into it.
Speaker 1:Okay, the first thing that I learned is that everyone's pace is different, and I truly learned this. I was really nervous about deferring a year because I thought that that meant that I would end up being a year behind from the rest of the students my age. They would graduate a year earlier. They would be in the professional world a year earlier. They would maybe get jobs. In my mind, this is what I was thinking they would get jobs a year earlier than I would. And if we're thinking logistically, yes, the people that I went to high school with, the people that you know I did like youth orchestra with in high school, they are a year ahead of me in university.
Speaker 1:But when I actually got to university and started, you know, studying at university, I realized just how different everyone's pace is. Everyone is on their own time frame. I have friends who are a year older than me, who are in my year, who are a year younger than me, who are two years younger than me. In my year I have people in my year who are like five, six years older than me. I have people in my year who are my parents' age.
Speaker 1:So everyone is on their own path and if deferring a year is going to serve you, I think it's so, so important to do it. So if you feel like a little stressed about the idea of taking a year and being behind of the people your age by a year, especially in the music world, where it's like, when we get out of conservatoire, if we want, say, an orchestral job, those things are extremely competitive and so when we think about, oh my gosh, if I I'm behind a year, then I might not be able to get you know things as easily. But the thing about it is that, and what I've learned from going to a conservatoire is that every single person is on their own path and if your path includes a year off or, you know, a year off of school not necessarily practice, but a year where you take some time to prepare for university, that is so valuable to you and so important and, to be honest, might even help you, I mean it will definitely help you in university, maybe more than people who might have rushed right into it. You know, know, maybe that's, maybe that's something that they need to do and they need to just go into it and that's great for them. But sometimes we need to have that year. So if that sounds like something you need and maybe deep down, if you think about it deep down, you're like I need to take a year, then that's really important to consider. You won't necessarily be like behind in the way that I was thinking of. I'm going to be a year behind.
Speaker 1:Okay, the next thing is there are a lot of different types of years off or deferred years. Now, I think I said this like two minutes ago, especially for musicians a year off is not a year off of music, right? We're not taking a year to like not look at our instrument at all. I don't think that that's an effective use of our time at all in terms of a deferred year. But there are a lot of different types of years off. Some people backpack through new countries or just relax for a year. Some people do internships. Some people just get a job and start working to get the money that they need for university. Other people apply for scholarship after scholarship after scholarship. Other people maybe need to prepare more emotionally and mentally because, let's be honest, going to university is a big step and we are all in our own journeys in terms of our emotional and mental health. Some people need to prepare more logistically. All of these are great ways to spend the year if they serve you.
Speaker 1:For me, I did not backpack through countries. I was more of someone who was applying for scholarships, looking for funding, figuring out the logistics of it. I think as well, mentally and emotionally, I needed that year as well, and I also took the time to create more of like creative endeavors in terms of starting this podcast, working very hard on my social medias, doing things like that, and creating this confident musicianing community that we have. That I like. I focused that year on starting to do that, and I think that that's so important because now we have this community. I think if I didn't take this year, then, you know, I would be at university, I would be doing, I would be doing practicing and I would be learning, but maybe I wouldn't have the connections that I have now through this podcast. Or maybe, you know, I wouldn't have been able to focus as much on my social media and not be able to use it in effective and helpful ways. Now, now for you, you might not be like, okay, I'm going to take a year to focus on social media, because that's not necessarily what I did wholly, you know, not completely, but that's something that I incorporated into my year and now it has been really helpful in my growth as well, and also we've created an amazing community that I absolutely love. So if you are taking a year, building that year. The way you want to build it is so important.
Speaker 1:For me it was scholarship looking. It was applying for funding. It was practicing, it was preparing to change you know scrapes styles because I changed from the American style of oboe playing to the European. It was finding a flat. It was mostly like the logistical and financial aspects of it. But if you take a year, don't compare it to all the Instagram gap years that were spent backpacking through Europe trying new things, all of these things, because if that's not what your year, like your deferred year, looks like, then why would we ever compare it to that? I did not backpack through anywhere because, honestly, I didn't have the time or money to do that. So how you spend your deferred year is really important to you and it's really special to you and it's personalized and you get to decide how you do this year. So ask yourself what you want out of this year.
Speaker 1:I remember when I started my gap year I had a weekend after the summer because I did a summer job and when I finished my summer job I had a weekend that I called a transitional weekend and if I look literally, if I look back into like my diaries and my calendars. Back then, I marked out this weekend, and this weekend was specifically to decide what I was going to do with my year. You know what. How much time would I focus on finding funding versus the logistics of it? You know all of these things. How would I spend my time? And I also, you know, cleaned my space physically, cleaned my space digitally as well to have the best year that I could deferred year that I could and for me, I remember that transitional weekend was extremely important for me to realize how I wanted to spend my year and what I wanted to work on the most, or maybe not as much, but still consistently, you know. So, for you, what do you want out of this year? I think it's really important to reflect on this and it can always change. The beginning of my deferred year looked very different from the end. Also, in some ways, it looked very similar. So now this goes straight into the next thing, which is structuring your year. Now, this is kind of like the second point, but more focused, and we were kind of moving into this as well. So, structuring your year for me, I just worked and worked and worked and worked on finding funding and organizing the move.
Speaker 1:I woke up every single weekday at 7am, I started working at 8am and I kind of didn't stop until 7pm. Saying that right now sounds really overwhelming to me. I'm kind of like how did I actually do that? And the thing that helped me to be consistent in my gap year endeavors is how I structured my rest. I'm going to be honest and say that I did struggle with taking breaks during the day. It's something that I still struggle with. I find in my mind I'm like, okay, when I wake up, once I've had breakfast and kind of done a morning routine, once I'm ready to go, I need to work, work, work, work, work, work, work until about 8pm and then I can relax. And that's something that I still struggle with being able to just take 15, 20, 30 minutes in the day and take a break.
Speaker 1:But I did, during my day during my gap year, have a lunch. It was half 12. It was half 12. Every day, from half 12 to half one, I had lunch and that was my time. I decided not to work at all in that time and that was, you know, very much designated. Then, when I got to about 7 PM, I stopped working and I did hobbies. I did like tons of hobbies.
Speaker 1:I have, you know, from my gap year. I have so many things I did. I learned I have so much more grammar knowledge because I learned languages. You know I have so much more language knowledge. I also sewed. So I literally have physical pieces of clothing that I hand sewed in, you know, in my breaks and also on the weekends. I made it so that I mean, I still practiced on the weekends, but I made it so that I didn't work on finding funding or, you know, doing things like logistically doing things for the podcast, although sometimes I did on the weekends.
Speaker 1:But for me that was really really, really important to how I structured my day, since there is no set school day in your year, especially if you are coming from high school a high school situation where you do have a day that you have to be in school from a certain time to a certain time and then you have assignments. It's a really different structure. There's no set school day and I feel like it's so easy to get really stressed because you're like, okay, any time is a great time to be focused and working on things, and it's so easy to get burnt out through that, but saying things like I'm gonna have a lunch this is where my lunch is from and, two, I am going to respect those the boundaries of those of that lunch and, you know, really focus on relaxing during that lunch. After this specific time I am not going to work. It is my time to do what I want, to enjoy things you know and being open to you know. If, say, you need a break, going for a walk, doing like that, just really focusing on your mental well-being as well as, you know, doing the work that you need to do during your gap year, I think if I didn't focus as much on my mental well-being, I would have been way more panicky about this whole situation. I mean, moving is stressful, but I think if I didn't have those set rules, it would be way too stressful for me. Okay, I hope that this was helpful. I hope that this made sense to you and if, if I hope that it helps you. If you are considering taking a gap year, I hope it helps you, um, have a bit more of a perspective of someone who did take a year off, um, but not necessarily someone who backpacked through Europe, although if you want to backpack through Europe, go ahead. I mean that's pretty cool as well. I would have loved to backpack through Europe. It's just not what my priority was during my year.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's do a bit of a recap. The first thing is everyone's pace is different. Everyone's pace is different. I think I was so nervous about being a year behind. But then I get to university and there are people who are six years older than me and also two years older than me and we're in the same lecture because we're in the same year but at the same time. It's not because you know the person who's six years older than me, it's not because they are behind or anything. It's just you know their time for studying. This specific you know degree was different from mine. So everyone's on their own pace.
Speaker 1:The next thing is that there are tons of different types of years off. If you want to backpack places, or if you want to do an internship, I mean that's really cool. I didn't do that, but I think that that could be so cool. Internship, I mean that's really cool. I didn't do that, but I think that that could be so cool. If you literally just need to get a job and work and make some money for university, that is a really really good way to spend a year. If you need to apply for scholarships, if maybe you just need some time to work on your emotional and mental health before you do this big leap, that's also extremely important. Sometimes you just need to be logistical. So everyone's years are different and the way you structure your year is so personal and important to you, and I hope that you can find that balance of what you need.
Speaker 1:The next thing is structuring your year, but more focusing on rest so that you don't get burnt out because there, you know, you have all this time. There is no limit, there is no bell at the end of the school day to say, okay, we're done with this. So having those that structure for me, it was having a lunch, having an hour where I made sure that I didn't um, I didn't work during this time. It was, you know, having an hour where I made sure that I didn't work during this time. It was, you know, having a time at the end of the day where I'm like, okay, I'm done with working, I'm going to, you know, do fun things that I enjoy. So creating that time for rest, for relaxation, for breaks, especially if you are doing something like applying for funding, because that can feel so endless. So creating that time for you is really important.
Speaker 1:Okay, and before we go, I just want to let you know if you are a musician which I have a feeling you might be because you're listening to this podcast and you want to be more structured in your practice. You want to have more effective practice because, let's be honest, if you're taking a year off practicing should, it needs to be so effective so that you can take you know the time that you might have spent wasted in the practice room, so you can take that time and focus it on the things that you need to do as well, like applying for funding or other things, other things. So effective practice is so important, which is why I want to introduce you to Notable. A Notable practice journal is something that I have been using. They are practice journals that help you plan your practice and also reflect after your practice so that you can improve the way you practice every single day.
Speaker 1:As soon as I realized this was working for me, I had to tell you about it and I had to give you a code. So if you want a notable practice journal, use code Eleanor15 for 15% off your journal, that is, e-l-e-a-n-o-r-1-5 for 15% off your journal. Get a notable practice journal and make your year so extremely effective in your practice. You know me, I don't recommend anything that I don't absolutely love. This code is an affiliate code, so I do receive a commission with no extra cost to you. Alright, that's about it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening and watching. I hope that it was helpful. If it was helpful, please do let me know. You can like, comment, subscribe, follow all the fun things and all the links will be available in the description, in the show notes from the blog post that goes with this episode, and also the link to get your notable practice journal. All right, until next time, take care, bye-bye.
