The Confident Musicianing Podcast
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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
Finding Fresh Joy in Pieces You’ve Played to Death
Ever picked up a piece you've played before and struggled to find a fresh spark? Here's how I keep my pieces fresh and interesting!
This episode has a blog post to go with it. Read it here.
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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You can DM me on Tiktok and Insta @eleanor.oboe or email me at eleanor@confidentmusicianing.com.
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, 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 Musitioning Podcast. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Confident Musitioning Podcast. I'm so glad you're here. I hope you had a good week recently. Um I had a really good week this past week. I have started back up at the conservatoire, and this week was so busy. I had so many rehearsals at the beginning of kind of the year at the conservatoire. They do these concerts like right at the beginning. And so this past week was a concert. Like we started rehearsals on at the beginning of the week, and then the concert was on Friday, and so it was like really quite focused and lots of rehearsals, but it was really good. Um, and I had some other projects going on, starting back up, lessons. I have my very first coranglais lesson this past week. Um, it's weird because I've been playing corangle for so long, you know. I feel like as an oboist, you just need coranglays, you know. Um, in uh in in the States, when I lived in the States, I was in a youth orchestra, and you know, sometimes you just got put in on the coranglay. Um, also known as the English horn. Um and you know, I recently played Holst's Planets on the Coranglay, and then this past week I just had a lesson with it, and it was my very first lesson. It felt very weird because I was like, I have you know so much experience, but I've never actually had a lesson, so it was quite strange. But it was a really good lesson, and overall it was a really good week. So, but I think the the thing that kind of started this idea for this topic of this episode was I have done some audition recordings for some um different opportunities that I went to audition for, and the piece that I chose is a piece that I actually performed a few months ago for my final recital in my first year, and so it was a piece that I was picking up again that I just finished, um, and I thought to myself, I haven't done an episode recently about how to kind of find that spark, that joy in the piece that you've just finished, you know, like I feel like when you pick up a piece after a while, um you can kind of there's you there's one out of two routes to go. You could either um be like, oh, this is this is boring because I've done this and I don't really know what to do with it, or you can be like, this is a second chance to kind of find a new avenue of performing this piece. I feel like you know, people ask, oh, why do you read books over and over? Or why do you watch films over and over? It's like because you know the film or the book is the same, but you have changed. Do you know what I mean? You're different, and music is the exact same thing. Why are you picking up this piece again? Because I'm different, and so I hope to give it something different. Do you know what I mean? So today we're gonna talk a little bit about how to get how to not get bored. Not how to get bored, how to not get bored of pieces that you've already done, whether you're picking them up after a while, or maybe you're just practicing them over and over and over, and it's like a long thing. I remember when I was applying for universities and conservatoires, I had pieces. I had the Mozart oboe concerto, and I studied that concerto. I mean I played it, I practiced it for about eight months. Like every single week, just just working on it, working on it, working on it for eight months. That is tricky, that's very tricky because by month two, you're like, I'm I know how it goes. You know, you're like, I've got it. Um, but then there's always more to unpack. But it does get, I don't, I don't really want to say boring, it tiring, that's a better word. It gets tiring. And when I just picked up this piece, it wasn't very tiring, but it reminded me of how tiring the Mutzer Obo Concerto was when I practiced it for eight months straight. Um, and so I want to kind of get into that. Whether you are prepping something, you know, doing months of prep, maybe you're starting something that you know you're gonna be looking at for a while, or you just want to listen to this episode. Let's dive right into it. So here are kind of three ways that I look at kind of keeping the the spark of excitement in a piece that you really, really know and you feel like what do I do now? Like what what what's left, you know? So the first thing, and I think this is probably the the most powerful thing that I have done, is creating stories around your pieces. I have gotten so many comments on like Instagram of people saying, How do you how do you create create stories? Like whenever I talk about it, they're like, What do you mean creating stories? So I wanna I wanna I wanna talk to you about it. So creating stories is like just creating a narrative around the piece. When the composer was composing the piece, the composer probably had an idea of kind of the story of the piece, and a lot of pieces have a specific kind of feeling to them of like you know, things that are maybe a little stressful. Maybe the first movement is quite fast and jolly, the second movement is quite stressful, the third movement resolves everything, you know, things like that. There is a progression, but it's a really fun thing to put specific stories in the piece. So, I mean, you can you can make it as specific or as vague as you possibly want to. For instance, for the piece that I did um that I just did, that I just picked up again, I had a story to it already that was also something that helped me memorize it, but basically it was just a a route that I take from my flat um to go to a nearby park. And I just, you know, I take it and and and I go, and there's like different different places that I pass by, or like, you know, maybe specific places where I notice things, and that correlated to the piece and different sections of the piece. I was like, oh, this section feels like, you know, when I'm passing this place, or this section feels like when I finally arrived at at the park, um, and I feel very excited because I look at the trees and the birds and all of these things, and that's a story, right? Because then I I'm like, okay, well, these notes sound like the birds, or these notes sound like the cars, or yeah, do you see what I mean? Like, I'm creating a narrative around that, a story. And maybe I don't share this story, maybe I mean, maybe I could, but maybe I don't. Um, but it is it's something for me, it's something for me, so when I play it, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm you know, hearing the birds, or I'm hearing the cars, or you know, whatever it is. Um you can also make it like more, you know, maybe not as practical as that, but like more exciting. Um, maybe something more like, oh, this passage sounds like you know, dancing. So maybe you imagine dancers. I love to imagine specifically ballet dancers, like a nice pot deu. Um, that's when the dancers are two dancers are dancing together. Um, and I love to imagine that when I'm playing specific parts of pieces, because I'm like, oh, I you know, I can imagine the dance that might go with this. That is a really effective way for me to kind of create stories around my pieces. You know, it can be it can be whatever you want it to be, which is so exciting, especially for something or for someone like me who is very imaginative. I love stories, and if you are imaginative like me, even if you're not and you're maybe slightly intrigued, I challenge you to kind of next time when you look at a piece, what story can you come like can you can you take from that, you know? Like it's not just notes on a page, there is a story, and you can create that story, or you can maybe do research and see if there's already an existing story, but for me, I j I like to create the stories, and that helps me remember the piece better and play it better more expressively because I have a story to tell. Do you know what I mean? So that's the first thing. The second thing is kind of looking at it from a theory perspective like it's a puzzle. So I mean, I suppose this depends on your level of theory knowledge. I feel like I I'm always lacking in the theory knowledge, but I think that that's just because I can see how far I'm going to go in my degree. So I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know much, but I have a feeling that if I keep working, I will learn more. Um that's how studying works. So, but but I think you know, taking pieces and looking at them like a puzzle is really fun. I recently, I mean, last year with for my final project in my theory class, I had to take a piece and I had to kind of dissect it. I scribbled all over it, you know, the different keys and the different, you know, things that changed and you know, like what what cadences there were and apogitours and just like all of these very technical theory things, you know, what what key was this in and how did it modulate to this? All of these fun things. Um, and I thought to myself, I was like, you know, I can I can take a look at this and I can be like, oh my gosh, it's a very difficult assignment, and I'm nervous about it, or I can be like, it's a fun puzzle. And now when I do pieces, especially when I look at pieces that maybe I've looked at for a while, I look at it like a puzzle. I'm like, okay, what key is this measure in? You know, what key is this bar in? What key is this bar in? You know, what why do we have an accent on this? Why do we have a sharp symbol or a flat symbol on this note? What does that mean? And I think oftentimes I get it wrong, you know, and and sometimes I have to cross-reference with other things, maybe I have to ask someone for help, maybe you know, like all of these things, but that helps me learn. Do you know what I mean? And so when you are doing your piece, no matter like what you know about theory, maybe maybe what you don't know about theory, like whatever it is, understanding it to the level of your knowledge is a really fun way to work through that. I feel like we all have different levels of theory knowledge, and so you know, if if for you understanding what key the piece is in, that's a great thing to do. Or maybe if you can look and be like, oh, I can see a chord, or oh, I can see a key change, or oh I can see you know this note doesn't really make sense with the rest. I wonder why. Always ask why, and then it leads to more questions, and then you can learn. Do you know what I mean? Like for me, that's that's something that I really enjoy. I'm like, why is this note like this? Why is there this note? This doesn't make sense to me. And then I go and ask for help, and you know, and then people help me and they're like, Eleanor, you you this this is how it works with the theory. I'm like, oh yeah. Um, and then I learn, you know, it's a great cycle, and then I learn more about the piece, and then I can remember it better, and it also it kind of creates a new look to it and and a new excitement to it. So that's one thing, or the second thing that I do to kind of help with the piece. It's also great when you're first learning a piece to just kind of look at that, especially if it has a lot of arpeggios or things like that, a lot of like semi-quavers, 16th notes. If you just look at if you just look at a sea of notes and you're like, okay, what do I do? It just looks like a ton of notes. But then if you start to actually create like, oh, this measures and this key and this this is a this type of arpeggio, you know, whatever, and then oftentimes I'll drool over it and I'll just like write the key and like oh, this is a diminished arpeggio, and you know, because I've practiced diminished arpeggios, for instance, my fingers just know what to do when it's like, oh, it's a diminished arpeggio starting on D or whatever. My fingers know exactly how that goes, and then it just goes up and down and it's great, you know, and that that's really helpful. If I hadn't done that, I would have just looked at a bunch of notes and been like, oh my gosh, it's just a bunch of notes, and I have to remember remember all of them, you know. So it's a helpful thing. Theory is a really helpful tool. Understanding how music works um is a really helpful way. If you are working on learning theory and you're using different like ways to learn, I'd love to know more about them. I feel like I'm always trying to figure out more ways to learn theory, and also I want to get kind of a gauge as to what everyone is doing when they're learning theory. So if you want to let me know how you learn theory, I'd love to know. Um, you can DM me on Instagram at Eleanor.ovo, you can email me Eleanor at confidentmusitioning.com. Confident Musitioning has um one N at the end, it's musician ING. Um and yeah, confident musician or Eleanor at confidentmusitioning.com, you can you can send me an email, send me a DM. Let me know how you study theory. I'd love to know. All right, and the last thing is finding different places to play. This is really, really helpful because finding different places to play is really fun. Um, if you want to play for your friends, play for your friends and play this piece for your friends and and see what they say about it, you know. Um play for music friends, play for non-music friends, play for your family, play for your fish. I don't know if your fish would really have good advice for you. Um, but like play for whomever. See their thoughts, see what they like, you know, see if they're like, oh, I really like this section, but this one kind of feels quite tiring or whatnot. And you're like, okay, how what do you want to hear with it? You know, get another person's perspective. It's really, really helpful. I think that that that's something that we don't really do enough. I at least don't really do enough. Um, finding different places to play, just playing for people, um, seeing their perspective, because then that might ignite something for you to be like, ah, I never thought of it that way. I want to try playing it like this or or that. You know what I mean? Like, that's a really good way of doing that. So um, speaking of kind of you know, prepping pieces and whatnot, I think especially if we're trying to spark more joy, spark more um excitement and focus into the pieces, a great way to do that is effective practice sessions. And this leads me to telling you all about a really good tool that I use for my practice sessions, which is a notable practice journal. This journal keeps my practice sessions together, it just really does. Like honestly, um, it's really helpful with keeping my practicing together because I can plan my practice with the journal, but I can also reflect, and that is a big thing because then the next sessions can be better and better and better because I've reflected on them. Do you know what I mean? So, 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 LNR15 for 15% off your journal. That is E-L-E-A-N-O-R 15 for 15% off your journal, and let's have more focused, effective practice sessions because that is what we need, especially when we are looking at repertoire that might feel quite tiring to us because we've been doing it for a while. Getting that joy really helps with you know planning those sessions, and um, or planning the sessions helps with getting the joy, and using a notable practice journal can be really helpful for that. 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. Um, by the way, the code will be in the description um in the show notes, and so will a link to Notables sites for for you to take a look at if you want to. Alright, that is about it. Let's do it, just do a quick recap for this. So the the first one was creating stories around your pieces, whatever you want your stories to be, whether they are made up fiction, maybe non-fiction, like I don't know, making a cup of coffee in the morning. Um maybe that's your story because the quavers sound like I don't know the the milk in your coffee. I I have no idea. But like, you know, things like that. Create stories. Um, the next thing, looking at it from a theory perspective, like like it's a puzzle, you know, why are the notes like this? Why are the notes structural like this? What significance does it have? It's really helpful in kind of creating that joy and that spark. Um, and then the last thing is finding different places to play and having feedback from people, even if that's you know, in a in a lesson, but also just with friends, with family members, with whomever you want, um, and getting that perspective. All right, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I am so grateful. Um, if you enjoyed this episode, please do show all the love, like, subscribe, comment, share with all of your musician friends, even non musician friends. Why not? And I will see you in the next episode. Alright, take care.
