The Confident Musicianing Podcast
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The Confident Musicianing Podcast
3 Ways to Spark That Practice Motivation
Wanna get motivated this autumn? Here are 3 ways to spark that inspiration!
This episode has an accompanying blog post. Click here to read!
Use code ELEANOR15 for 15% off your Notabl_ practice journal, and level up your focus in your sessions! Click here for your journal.
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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. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Confident Musicianing Podcast.
Speaker 1:Today we are going to be discussing three ways to get motivated this autumn for your practicing. Yeah, because it's autumn, it is autumn, autumn. By the time this episode comes out, it will be September. September is autumn, I think it is. I think it is, I think, um, in terms, for me, winter is December, january, february, spring is March, april, may, summer is June, july, august, and then autumn, fall is August, september, sorry, september, october, november. So by that decision, it is autumn, which is very exciting and kind of to look, looking ahead to autumn and to kind of what, what we're going to want to be doing this autumn. That is what this episode is about. But before we get into all of those things, let's have a wee life update. So this is kind of a new segment of the podcast which is talking about kind of anything and everything that I want to let you know about what's been going on recently. So for me, I have a little win that I want to share with you, and that is I tried a European core on Glide Read recently the first time and it worked Okay. So that that's like a statement and I feel like there's more behind that. So let me kind of elaborate.
Speaker 1:So I last year transitioned from the American style of oboe playing to the European style of oboe playing. That is a big deal because they're very different. They are very different styles. I wasn't sure if I could do it. I listened to some people who believed in me and decided you know what, let's go for it. And yeah, this past year has been kind of relearning how to play the oboe, basically at conservatoire, in the European style. But I never had gotten around to trying a European cor anglais read. Usually o'oists tend to also play English horn cor anglais For me. I just had never gotten in a situation where I had to, so I had never tried one.
Speaker 1:And this past week, or this past month-ish ish I went to um. I played in a in a in an orchestra and I played the cor anglais. And I had to to do that. And it was interesting because I did not have access to a cor anglais before I did this course it was like a week-long course, um. So I didn't have access to a cor anglais. I had to get the reeds, but I didn't know if they would work. So I was literally sat in a rehearsal like, is this going to work? And it did, and so it was a little nerve wracking. I was like I don't know if it's going to work, but it did work. It was good. There is a there's actually. I posted on my Instagram and I think it's on TikTok as well the video for that. I recorded myself trying it for the first time. So, yeah, I'm very excited that it worked. It could have gone really badly if I had worked because I was already in a rehearsal for that. But yeah, I know it was really good and I wanted to share that with you. Yeah, because it was a little win.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get on to the content part of the episode, basically the part of the episode that you decided to click on when you read the title and that is three ways to get motivated this autumn in your practicing, in basically just your music preparation and practice. Okay, the first one is going to concerts. This might sound obvious to me. People always say listen, listen, listen, listen to the pieces that you're playing and listen to other people perform and blah, blah, blah. I think a lot of people say that a lot. But going to a concert, like with a live orchestra or whatever ensemble you're going to go see, going to a concert, is a surreal experience. It's like another experience to watch musicians perform pieces and actually have so much joy. Oh my gosh, it's the best, it really is.
Speaker 1:I recently went to a concert in the Edinburgh International Festival. I was asked to attend a concert and, oh my gosh, it was amazing. The musicians. You could tell that they were having fun, like this piece that they were playing. They were playing the Bizet Carmen Suite, but it was arranged for strings and percussion, so kind of like the the major melodies of the opera Carmen, just on marimba. That was really fun. That was really really fun and you could tell the the musicians were having fun and the audience was like actually laughing out loud because it was such fun. It was the best. But it really inspired me and it inspired me to to practice more and to kind of be more attentive and to to show more in in my sessions and in my performing and so kind of having that as something that I was doing, I just it was. Yeah, it was a great thing to go and see, and so it reminds me.
Speaker 1:You know, going to concerts is really, really, really important if we want to be motivated for the autumn. So what concert is happening in your area, whether that's your local orchestra or any ensembles, whatever it is like, I challenge you to get some tickets or a ticket, or, you know, get tickets to the events, to the concerts in your area and just go see musicians perform live. It is amazing. The next thing is to create goals. Okay, I think that this is something that maybe you've heard before, but creating goals can be really helpful, because practicing aimlessly is not helpful, being like, okay, I want to, you know, really focus on things this autumn. So I'm just going to practice every day, but if you don't have a goal, if you don't have a direction, it's just noise right, it's just going to be like you playing maybe the same thing over and over again without actually having a goal. Knowing what you're going to work towards is really important, and that changes the game for practicing. So I invite you create three goals this autumn.
Speaker 1:What do you want to improve? Okay, is it tone? Is it stamina? Is it technique? Is it your trills? Maybe Is it your vibrato? You want to get better. Um, is it maybe a specific piece? Maybe you want to schedule some sort of um concert or recital at the end of autumn. What if you did that? What if, you like, took it upon yourself to do a project where you perform something at the end of autumn and or at the end of the year, whatever you know, or before then, whenever you want to, but you set that date and you work towards that. Then you have some sort of you know goal. That's great. What if you join an ensemble that you know that there's going to be some sort of performance, maybe at the end of the season, and so that's something you can work towards, something like that. Or maybe you have an audition at the end of autumn. That's something you can work towards. Or maybe the thing you work towards is just knowing that you have gotten better at your tone or your vibrato or whatever it is, and you can also, maybe, in order to track that, you can take a video if you're playing now and compare it to a video of you're playing, you know, at the end of the season.
Speaker 1:I kind of have to do that because I put my playing on the internet. That's something that I do. So, um, for me it's kind of like I have to do that Right. For me it's kind of like I have to do that. I have to. I'm kind of forced to listen to myself play all the time so I can kind of progress and my growth. But if you don't do that, then it would be understandable that maybe you would have a harder time kind of seeing that progress and that growth. So I challenge you, have that goal towards the end. You know, create some goals this autumn, track your progress, maybe videotape yourself through like little increments and, yeah, have those goals. What will your goals be? Maybe just make one to three. If you have one big one, like perform in this recital or whatever. That's a bigger goal. But if you happen to be work on this, do this and be a part of this, then you have like three smaller goals, something like that. So just do whatever works for you, but have at least one goal this autumn. And then the last thing is to plan your sessions.
Speaker 1:Motivation comes from movement. I'm going to say that again because it's important. Motivation comes from movement. You don't get motivated and then you go do the thing. Motivation actually comes from momentum. It comes from movement. It comes from already doing these things, because you're like okay, I see I've done these things. You know things are moving in the right direction. I want to keep going. That's motivation. And so planning your sessions and having good practice sessions kind of inspires you to continue having good practice sessions. The more you move, the more motivated you are to move. Say that three times fast I'm not going to try because it sounds like something that maybe I won't be able to do but yeah, the more you move, the more motivated you are to move. Just let that think in for a sec.
Speaker 1:So if you have, you know, if you show up every day for yourself and you have sessions, the more you know you'll want to do more sessions and you'll want to see more of that growth, and so for me, a great way for me to kind of get that motivation for movement is to have effective sessions, have effective practice sessions. Plan those practice sessions so you know what you're going to focus on, you know when you're going to end the session and it's all around. Quite a good way to do that and a great tool that I use for planning my sessions is a notable practice journal. So this is a notable practice journal. So this is a notable practice journal. It is really helpful for me in my sessions because not only can I plan my sessions in it, but I can also reflect. So if something goes well, I can write about it. If something doesn't go well, I can write about it as well, and then the next day I can read those things and be like, oh yeah, I want to try this again, or I don't want to do that or whatever it is, so that every single session can be better planned, more effective and, overall, just a better session.
Speaker 1:As soon as I found out that this was helping me, I knew I needed to tell you about it and I knew I needed to give you a code. So use code ELEANOR15 for 15% off your journal. That is Eleanor15, e-l-e-a-n-o-r-1-5 for 15% off your journal. And, yeah, get yourself an Audible practice journal and start practicing more effectively and have those planned practice sessions. There will be a link in the description, in the show notes, for this code. You know me, I do not recommend anything that I don't absolutely love. This code is an affiliate code, which means I do receive a commission with no extra cost to you.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's do a recap. Let's do a wee recap. So the first thing is going to concerts. Going to concerts, oh my gosh, that's going to be really helpful. That can be really helpful because you see other musicians in places that you want to be Do you know what I mean? Like they are full of joy, they are performing, they are confident. It's like, oh yes, that's amazing. And concerts have been really helpful, for me at least, to really get that motivation going.
Speaker 1:The second thing is creating goals, bigger goals. What do you want to do at the end of the season? What are you working towards, whether that's an actual kind of event or maybe it's just an improvement of something. Create that goal and track your progress. And the last thing is planning your sessions. Motivation comes from movement, so having good, efficient, planned sessions can help you get that motivation going. And a great way that I plan my sessions is through a notable practice journal. So use that code, eleanor15 for 15% off. Alright, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I'm so glad you did. If you enjoyed it, please do show the love, like, subscribe, comment, share, follow, share with all of your friends. Um, yeah, and I'm so glad you you saw this or you listened to this, and I will see you in saw this or you listened to this, and I will see you in the next episode. Alright, take care, bye, bye.
