How I Make The Most of My Lessons Through Note-taking

Ever since I started taking notes after my lessons, I have gotten more out of my lessons and it has helped my growth as an oboist. Here is how I do it.

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 only recommend things I love. This contains an affiliate code which means that I receive a commission -- with no extra cost to you! 😊

Transcript

Welcome And Journey Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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, 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. Thank you so much for being here. I think today's episode is a really important one and one that has really helped me in my own growth as an oboist or just generally as a musician, so I'm really excited to get into it. Today is such a rainy day. It is rainy and windy. I was out um doing some errands and like it was crazy. I was really kind of struggling to like see much of like what was in front of me. I mean it wasn't that bad, but like it was just like you know, like when rain just gets in your face and you're just like, ugh. But like overall it was fine. Um and it was very kind of cold and wet, but I think especially when you live in Scotland, you kind of have to romanticize that um and be like it's a lovely rainy day, so I suppose that's what I'm gonna do um today. But now I am here and it is nice and cozy. Um, and we can get into talking about taking notes after lessons. Um, this was something that I did when I was working um with the um associate principal over the Pittsburgh Symphony when I lived in the States, and I started out by um not taking notes. Like when I started working with him, I did not take notes, and I remember him suggesting that I should. Um, and the and like when I did, it honestly changed everything. Like it really changed the game. Every lesson became so much more valuable and useful for me because I remembered things. That was about four-ish years ago, and I still take notes, and it has just really helped my my growth between lessons and like how much I grow um between lessons versus when I don't take notes. So today we're gonna be diving right into this. We're gonna be talking about the benefits of taking notes, what I've found, and also um kind of how I do it, so that if you are interested in taking notes, you can kind of get started on that. So there are really good uh pros to taking notes. I think the coolest thing is that you kind of create like a like a capsule of a time period, if that makes sense. So, like I, for instance, if I had a lesson um that was like really valuable, I mean I take notes on all of my lessons, but if I had a lesson that was really kind of insightful or interesting, and I maybe a few years down the road, I'm like, oh what did what did you know what did we say in that lesson? I don't really remember. I can literally go into a notebook and look at the notes I took on from that day, and it feels like, oh yeah, I remember everything. Like the lesson, it just like I remember it. And I think that that is so cool, especially when I've had lessons with like um I like when I did trial lessons for my um university conservatoire auditions. I you know had had trial lessons with all of the different teachers, and they gave me so many kind of differing and insightful thoughts and and opinions on my playing, and like being able to go back to that and being like, what did this person say? They like put it in a really interesting way that really helped me to do whatever I needed to do, and I can literally go in a notebook and read what they said because I I made notes and I wrote it down. That to me is really really helpful. Also, if I am picking up a piece of music that maybe I had worked on before, and I am like, okay, you know, this is the music, but I can't remember that you know there was one thing or two things or whatever about this piece that like I was really working on, and you know, something that someone said, I can just take a look at those notes. I have honestly like 10, 12 notebooks just full of notes, and just like scribbles and you know, like so many different notes, and for me those notes are golden because they are you know years and years of like lessons with really really um insightful people. Um, and for me that that that is so valuable, and so I really appreciate the fact that I have those notes, and I'm really grateful that I started doing it, and now I um I'm in the habit of doing it, and I I don't do a lesson without taking notes. So let's talk about how I take notes because you might be like really excited, like, okay, you know, this sounds good, but how do I actually take notes? Because it's different from say taking notes in a lecture. If you're used to taking notes in a lecture, it's it's just a wee bit different. So let's get into that. So I think a good question is, you know, should it be in the lesson or after the lesson? For me, I almost always take notes after the lesson. I tend to not take notes in the lesson, um, because for that, like I'm absorbing, right? I feel like when I'm in the lesson, I am like a sponge and I'm absorbing all the information. Um, and then after the lesson, I like put all of that, I brain dump that information on a sheet of paper or in a notebook. And for me, that that kind of helps me to stay in the moment. I think if I took notes in the lesson, I probably would um not get through as much as as I did, you know, would would if I took notes after the lesson, so that's kind of what I do. I kind of just soak up all the info and then brain dump afterwards, um, and that's kind of what I do. Sometimes I take the notes in the lesson, but that's more for reads. So if I am because I'm an oval player, I make my own reads, I am learning how to do that. Um, and so if I am, you know, like doing something with reads, I might jot like those down because they might have like numbers, you know, measurements, and I might have to like like that stuff kind of I kind of jot down more in the moment. Um, but when it comes to playing, I tend tend not to to take notes in the lesson. Um, I tend to wait until after. And honestly, sometimes it is more than I think. It's weird. Sometimes I'm like, okay, you know, uh I'll I'll write this much or this much, and it's either a lot more or a lot less. Um, if it's a lot more, it tends to be um like very specific details. A lot less tends to be more overarching themes, but they apply to a lot of things. Um, and for me, it's just afterwards I I do that. So now I'm studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I have my lesson in the Conservatoire, and I might go to the library if I'm staying at the Conservatoire, or maybe when I get home I will take notes. Um, but I do just braindump all of those things, which is which is really good for me. Um, and also I feel like as I write, the more like the more I write, the more I remember more. I feel like for my brain at least, um if I like do it in the in the order that we did it in the lesson, my brain is like, oh and this, oh and this, oh and this, oh and this, even if like I feel like, oh, I feel like I've forgotten things, then my brain starts to kind of remember and I can just brain up the lesson over. I think it is important to not uh worry about getting everything because you might miss some things, but those will also come maybe later in practice sessions. I've had that as well where I'm like, oh yes, I forgot about this thing, but this is important as well. And I might add to my notes after if I remember those things as well. Um, but for me, I I for the most part take notes after. Yes. Oh, and also um when I take notes after, one of the best things that I do is um I have the music out in front of me for for like that is something that's that's good, and we'll get to that um a little more later. So what do we write? Now, now that you know that I take notes generally um after the lesson, what do I write? I have one word for you. I write more than one word, but this encompasses it. Everything, absolutely everything. I write everything, all the things that I can remember. It is a brain dump, you know? Um, just everything. So for me, I write all the details. So for like it could be, for instance, um, I have so many notebooks full of this, but like line four, measure two, um, beats one, it needs to be longer, or it needs to be more staccato, or it needs to be louder, or the crescendo needs to be like really specific stuff, and then I also do bigger stuff, so like um overall I need to be more legato in this section, or overall I need to get a better sense of the pulse. That's something that I'm working on right now. Getting a better sense of the pulse. Um, and for me, like having both of those things, having really specific things and also more overarching things, those two things are really important to have both of them, um, because they encompass everything, right? And I I write down everything, and that's another thing. Um you know, when I look at the music, I can write down all the little things, you know. So if I'm like, okay, I want this note to be shorter, and then this one longer, and then this one shorter, I can literally write like page two, measure five, you know, beat whatever, and then and then write it down literally that specific, um, to really get all of these things. When you look at my journals, um, I have so many, you will see the pages of like specific things about specific beats, and then you might see as well more abstract things, more overarching things. Sometimes my lessons are you know more overarching than details, and vice versa. Just literally, I just write whatever whatever we did in the lesson, whatever we talked about. Um, also you might be thinking, Eleanor, that is a really long time. Do you spend like hours afterwards writing everything? Um, not really, no. It actually takes less time than I think it is going to take, um, which is good, but something that helps with me is if there is or helps me, if there is a like thing, you know, maybe I want to get the second note of the beat shorter, and maybe all of the second notes of the beat are shorter, I'll say, you know, I'll do the first one, so I'll do like you know, whatever measure that first one is in, and then I'll say essimile, which is um, and it it's Italian, it means like and and the same. So like if that that basically means and the rest is also like this, so that kind of helps, or or I write that if it's like okay, something comes back, so maybe there's like a phrase that I'm like, I want to do it this way, but I also want to do it this way at the end of the piece. When it comes back, I'll write that a simile, and that um shows that at the end of the piece, like it's the same thing as well. If it's different, then I will write that out as well. Um, that is also something important to note as well, because sometimes we do love a little bit of contrast. Um, and I think another thing to kind of note about this, which I think is important, these notes are for you. These notes are for you only. No one else is gonna read these notes unless you show them to them. These notes are literally for you, so write what works for you. Write things that work for you, write things that make no sense to other people. You know, I've written things in my notebooks that are like uh, you know, make this phrase feel like a winter snowstorm. Someone might look at that and be like, What do you mean? But maybe I know exactly what I mean. Or for me, oftentimes when I hear music, I see colors. So if I sometimes I'll be like, this note here needs to be a really nice purple, you know, a magenta, maybe. And someone else might be like, What does that mean? But for me, I know exactly what a magenta note looks like. Do you know what I mean? So that is something as well. I also use a lot of onomatopoeia, so a lot of words that like sound like what they're supposed to sound like. So, like, um, yum pum pum. That's you know, if I want to get like really bouncy articulation, yum pum pum. Um, you'll find notes, especially from like um when I lived in the states, it's just like everywhere go, yum pum pum pum pum, like over and over. And for me, that really helps um me to understand, even if maybe someone else would look at that and go, those aren't words, what are you talking about? So for you, your notes are yours. You can write whatever you want, whatever works for you. Um, even if it doesn't make any sense to anyone else, you know, like it's your notes, it will be fine. Now that I am studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, I take so many notes. Honestly, like for me, this is it's really important to continue on with it. And it's so cool to see because every single lesson I've had so far I have taken notes from. So I can go back to like my very first lesson in the conservatoire and see what I worked on, or see what you know I've been like, yeah, see what I've worked on. Something that as well has been really helpful for me is um the fact I mean I have transitioned from the American style of obo playing to the European style of obo playing, and there's a lot of different tiny things that I needed to change. So now if I am struggling with something and I'm like, okay, there was there was something way back when when I first started playing on the European style um that we talked about, but I just don't really remember how to do it. I can look at my notes, you know, from way back and see um how I did it, and then like that is that's really helpful. It really helps to I mean, especially like for me, I'm quite forgetful sometimes. It like having these notes are really helpful as well. So, yeah. Now, once you've done your note-taking and you are sitting in a practice room, you want to be able to take those notes and turn them into good practice sessions. And one way that I am really kind of more efficient with my practice is I plan my practice, and a tool that I use when I plan my practice is a notable practice journal. These journals have really helped me in my practice because not only can I plan my practice, but I can also reflect. So I can look back on my practice session and write down what worked and what didn't, so the next time I practice, I can improve on that. For me, it has really, really helped me, and it is a great tool to use when I have my notes already from my class or from my Obo lesson, and I am trying to kind of construct a practice session around these notes. So that is how I use my notable practice journal. And as soon as I realized that it was helping me, I knew that 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. That is E-L-E-A-N-O-R 15 for 15% off your journal. And I will link the link for that and the code in the description in the show notes for you so that you can plan that practice for even more efficiency in your practice. I only recommend things that I absolutely love. This code is an affiliate code, which means I do receive a commission with no extra cost to you. Alright, let's do a recap. So the first thing is kind of the pros. So one thing that's really helpful is that I can look at any lesson I've done, you know, and if I did a lesson that was really specifically insightful, or maybe I need to go back to something that I worked on in the lesson a while ago, I can read those notes and it can feel like that lesson happened yesterday. Um, it's great for trial lessons as well, especially when you are working on um like a lot of different like working with a lot of different people and you want to keep track of what they told you, taking notes is really helpful as well. Um I take my notes after my lesson unless I'm doing like reads. If I have, you know, if like there are measurements involved, I might jot those down in my notebook. But for the most part, I take notes after, and for me it's like in the lesson. I am in the moment, I am like soaking up everything, and then after the lesson I brain dump everything onto a piece of paper and a notebook. What do I write? I write everything, I do detailed stuff, really, really detailed stuff. I do um overall kind of overarching stuff as well. I just write as much as I can, and I also remember things as well later on that maybe I forgot when I was writing. But for me, I feel like the more I write, the more I remember. So it's just I get into a flow state. It's really cool. Um, and the last thing is writing things that work for you. I write a lot of random stuff, you know, imagery that maybe only you would get, um, stuff like you know, onomatopoeia, like yum pum pom, or you know, just kind of noises like that. And that also helps me in my journals. And then, you know, I can look back on my notes and I can remember things. Also, the act of writing things down helps it like solidify in your brain. Sometimes I feel like I don't need to reference my notes from the lesson that I just had because I have written them and so they are stronger in my mind. Um, but overall, writing things down, writing notes after my lesson has honestly completely changed the way I do lessons and how much I get out of lessons. I get out so much more from lessons now than I than I did before. So yeah. That is about it for this episode. I really hoped you enjoyed it, and I hope that this is um inspirational for you to pick up a notebook and just kind of start writing stuff from your lessons because it it is really really helpful. If you enjoyed this episode, please do um like, uh follow, share with all of your friends, especially the ones who um might want to. do some journaling after the lessons and I will see you in the next episode. Alright, take care. Bye-bye.