The Confident Musicianing Podcast

Practice Rooms, Mental Health, and Playlists: Starting My Second Year At Music School

• Eleanor

Share episode

I am embarking on my second year at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. First year was a roller coaster ride. Upon reflection of the past year, here are three things I'm doing differently for second year.


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. 


I never recommend anything that I don't love. This contains an affiliate code which means that I receive a commission -- with no extra cost to you! 😊

SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome to the Confident Musitioning Podcast. My name is Eleanor and I am a British American oboist studying at the Royal Conservatory 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, it's 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 musician podcast. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Confident Musitioning Podcast. Today we are gonna be talking about back to school. Back to school because I have just started back up at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I'm in my second year now studying at the Conservatoire, and it's really exciting. Like honestly, I'm so excited. Um, and it's interesting because I think now is a perfect time for reflection when you're starting something new, kind of reflecting on the things that we've done before, how we want to do them differently, what we want to keep, etc., is really really important. And so during this episode, I am gonna be sharing with you three things that I am doing differently at music school this year compared to last year. So whatever like kind of part of the journey you are on, if you are at a conservatore as well, if you're at university, if you are doing music, um maybe you're at high school level, maybe it's just a hobby, and you're interested in how I'm gonna do things differently this year, um, let's all grab a seat and get started. So this year is a really exciting year. Last year I had a lot. There was a lot going on. I uh moved to the UK, I started at the Conservatoire, I switched oboe styles from the American style to your the the European style, which is completely different, and I did a lot of fun, exciting things. I um I did like different projects, so like orchestra projects, um, I performed in youth orchestra. Uh I also failed my midterm technical exam and I learned a lot in that process. Um, I've talked about this on the podcast before in recent or in past episodes. Um yeah, I've had I had to learn a lot in that process and and work through it. Um, but then I ended up passing the resit, so that was a very exciting um thing. But this year there are three things that I specifically want to do differently. I mean, there's probably more things, and there are also things that I want to keep the same. Um, but here are three things that I am gonna do differently. So the first thing is being in the building more, kind of talking to people more. This is something that um I didn't really do last year. I mean I talked to people, I made connections and whatnot, and of course I was in the building for like classes and whatnot, but I feel like uh I have a flat and um I'm able to practice in my flat, and so last year that's kind of where I practiced. I like really didn't practice much at the conservatoire because I had the option of practicing at my flat, and I think you know that's a great thing, especially if you know, say I couldn't get a practice room. Um but I think at the end it kind of made it harder in a way, almost as well, because I would always just go home to practice, and I think for that uh it I mean it made it so that I was in the building less, so I spoke to fewer people, I made fewer connections. It was kind of lonely sometimes, not gonna lie, like just practicing in my flat. And yes, sometimes it was really nice, and I'm very grateful for the fact that I can practice in my flat, but um this year I want to have a more of a balance and more practice sessions where I'm actually in the building practicing in the building, and you know, when I leave the practice room I am with people, and you know, I I walk through the hallways, and there are people there that I know, and and it can be a little more of an immersive environment rather than just me practicing um in my flat. I think this is this is really really important. Um, I think as well in terms of talking to more people, last year I kind of felt like I could only talk to people in my classes or in my section, um, kind of like keep to myself. Yeah, I I talk to some people, but you know, not too many, etc. Um, and I think a lot of us probably can relate to that, just like being a little nervous to talk to anyone. Um but you know the truth, we can talk to anyone we want. Like you can talk to anyone you want to, you know, like just say hi, you know. I mean, like you can. Um I think that last year I kind of was nervous to kind of start conversations with people and and to to kind of work through that. So I think you know, talking to to people is something that I really want to to start doing more often and kind of introducing myself to more people and being in the building will will definitely help with that. So that's one thing that I want to do. Just go out to people who are not in my section, not maybe a music student, maybe a you know, uh acting student or ballet or whatever, um, and introduce myself and kind of make connections that way. That's something that I really want to do more this year. The next thing is reflecting on myself every week. How am I really doing? So I kind of failed to do this last year, and it it ended in my failing my midterm technical exam. Um, the reason why I failed my midterm technical exam was not because I was not practicing enough, but actually because I was practicing too much. I did too much. I was taking on too many responsibilities, and I wasn't actually checking in with myself on how am I actually doing emotionally, and in you know, emotionally I was overwhelmed and I was burnt out, and I ended up um not being able to perform in a way that you know I wanted to in the exam and that I knew I could, and I ended up failing, and that was a real wake-up call for like I need to take care of my mental health, yeah. Um, and so do you. We all need to take care of our mental health. Um, no matter what stage of life we are in, you know, you're never too busy to take care of your mental health because if you are too busy, then your mental health is gonna stop whatever the busyness is. Do you know what I mean? Like for me, I you know was too busy to take care of my mental health, and that's kind of the thing that made it so that I failed my exam. So this year I'm gonna do this thing, and I haven't started it yet, um, but I'm very excited to, and I'm excited to tell you how it goes. But every weekend I want to kind of do a reflection. I have a journal, I journal a lot, and I want to every weekend just have the same questions um and just reflect every week. How am I? You know, how am I doing mentally? How am I doing socially? How am I doing practice-wise, career-wise? Um, you know, how what like just all of these questions that maybe I don't ask myself enough, especially with mental health? How am I doing? You know, am I do I feel burnt out? Do I feel excited? Do I feel energized? You know, have what have I done this past week to help my mental health? You know, have I hung out with friends who have really kind of helped me feel good about myself and about life? Um, or have I done things, maybe too many things that were too draining for me and I feel really exhausted? Like having that weekly check-in, I think, can be really, or hopefully, if if it works, um, I'm hoping that it can be a good way to do that. So, you know, if I start to feel burnt out and stressed, I can have this check-in and and I can maybe realize that earlier before it's too late. Um, in a way, you know, like last year when I failed my exam. That was too late. I realized too late just how burnt out I was, and I don't want to do that again. So, so that's something that I'm planning on doing. The third thing is listening more. Listening more, listening to repertoire more. Um, especially as a music student, it's important to listen to things. Um, listening to the pieces that I'm working on more, carving out time to focus on that, listening, um, yeah, just more time to focus on listening. I think listening is so important in practice, so important in practice. Creating that time to listen to the repertoire that we're playing is so so important. And having that time is really important. And I think last year I kind of got too busy, and you know, I obviously I listened to the pieces I was playing, but I don't think enough. Do you know what I mean? And also listening to other Oboists, you know, recordings and being like, okay, what do I want to do? You know, do I want to sound like this person? Do I want to sound like that person? For instance, like, oh, I like this person's tone, I want to, you know, try and sound more like that, or I like this person's double tonguing, I want to do that, you know, things like that. I don't think I did that enough last year. So that's something that I want to do. I think every week, this my plan. Um, every week I want to kind of create a playlist um of things I want to listen to and just kind of listen to that, and then every week it changes and it depends on what I'm playing, or you know, what I want to listen to, um, and and I want to keep up with that as well. So that's something that I'm planning on doing that's different from last year. Now, before we do a little recap, I have a bonus. This is not something I'm doing differently from last year, it's something that I'm continuing because it really helped, and that is planning my practice. I think as a conservatoire student, it's it's so easy to get so busy at conservatoire, and um yeah, I end up you know, like maybe in practice sessions, not really knowing what I'm practicing, or maybe just playing but not really having a goal for it. And I think as a conservatoire student or just as a busy person, we need to have effective sessions. For me, effective practice sessions is just so important, and so planning my practice is kind of the key to having effective practice sessions, and a tool that I use in my practice planning is a notable practice journal. This journal helps me to not only plan my sessions but also reflect on my sessions so that every session can be kind of just better and better and better. It is such an amazing tool. I started using it um almost a year ago, actually, almost a year ago, and the difference between my practice when I plan effectively with this journal versus when I just get my instrument out and like make noise is so so crazy. Like it's so crazy different. It's so this journal is so so helpful. As soon as I found out that this journal was helping me, I knew I needed to tell you about it, and I knew that I needed to give you a code. So use code Eleanor15 for 15% off your journal, and yeah, get yourself a journal and have those effective practice sessions that we all want. So use code Eleanor15, that is E-L-E-A-N-O-R 15 for 15 15, sorry, 15% off your journal. You know I don't 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. Alright, shall we do a recap? So the first thing is going to the building more and kind of practicing in the building so that I'm surrounded by musicians and introducing myself to more people at the conservatoire and creating those connections more. I think that that's really important and I want to do that more. The next thing is reflecting on myself, kind of checking in with myself every single week, being like, how am I actually doing this week mentally so that I don't end up burning out without realizing it and then you know failing an exam because I'm too burnt out. And the last thing is listening more. Listening more, creating those playlists so that I can listen to um more ovo recordings and understand, you know, the repertoire more. I think that that's really important as a classical music student. So those are the three things I'm doing, and I am continuing to use my notable practice journal for my planning of my practice sessions, and you can too with the code. It is in the description in the show notes. There's a link to get your journal, and yeah, don't forget to use the code for 15% off. Alright, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I'm so grateful that you're here. If you enjoyed it, please do like, subscribe, comment, share with all of your friends, and I will see you in the next episode. Alright, take care. Bye bye.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Eleanor

Host