How to Dress Effectively to Perform and WHY IT MATTERS

When the audition criteria says "wear something comfortable," you might wonder what that means. Today we are breaking down not only why what you wear matters, but also how to use clothes to perform your best. 

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Transcript

Quiet Sunday 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. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Confident Musitioning Podcast. I'm really glad you're here. Um it is a, for me at least, it is a lovely quiet Sunday morning. Sunday mornings in the city tend to be quieter than other times of the week. And I tend to record the podcast on a Sunday because it is the quietest day of the week. But I feel like this Sunday morning is particularly quite magical. I don't know, it just feels really lovely. Um, the city is quiet, you'll hear like the occasional car or maybe someone walking um or something like that, like talking or whatever. Um, but it is just a really lovely time of the week and time of Sunday. Um and so I am recording this episode now, partially because if I recorded it during the week, it would be a nightmare to get all of the background sounds um out, but also because it is just a lovely part of the week and a really kind of slow part of the week where I can just spend this time with you. So I'm really glad that you decided to hang out with me today. Today we're gonna be talking about something that um I find really interesting, and I hope you do too, because we are gonna be talking about dressing for success and why clothes matter in an audition or a performance, because they do. Um, when I was auditioning for 12 music schools in three different countries when I was kind of you know figuring out where I wanted to study music, I always wore the same kind of things in the auditions. Um, and I never wore those things unless I was auditioning and performing. I wore like black concert dress. Um in every audition I wore the same um thing. I mean, I think there were like small variations, but it was all black concert dress. I did my hair in like one of two hairstyles, um, and those were like very specific like concert y things. Um, now I do my hair like that all the time, but like it's you know, it was very for me like specific for performing and auditioning, and I didn't realize that this was so important in the kind of mindset of the audition until after I got into the music schools that I got into, I was going to the opera. I was going to the opera to watch an opera, and I had nothing to wear, like all of my nice clothes were like in the wash, you know, like or they were dirty. Um, and all I really had to wear that was appropriate for the opera was concert black. And I thought, okay, you know, whatever, I'll just put this on um and wear it. And it was so weird because as soon as I put it on, my brain went into audition mode. It like immediately. I feel like like my heart rate changed. I got a little kind of not nervous, but just focused. And my brain was immediately thinking, okay, what do we have? What is this audition for? What are we playing? When are we playing it? You know, what do we need to do beforehand? You know, where do we need to be? Blah blah blah. All of a sudden my brain was in audition mode and it was thinking of all of the things that I needed to think of when I was doing an audition or a performance. And I realized I cannot wear these clothes to the opera because the opera is, you know, something I just want to enjoy. Like I'm not even in the opera, I just want to watch it. Um, and I had to find something else because those clothes were kind of like my audition uniform almost. Like when I put them on, my brain was ready for an audition. Um, to the point where you know, I was like, this is not a good outfit for the opera because this is my audition outfit. So today we're gonna dive more into kind of how I dress for auditions and how I use clothes to help me, and how you can use clothes to help you as well. I um well, whether you dress um professionally for an audition, like you know, concert black or whatever, or maybe you dress with more colors or you know, whatever you do, I hope that this episode can be helpful to be more mindful um in using clothes to not only send a message to the panel or the audience, but also to help you in your um performing and auditioning. So let's get right in. Um, the first thing is clothes send a message. Clothes send a message full stop, not just with auditioned context. Um, you know, if you dress a certain way, you might be signalling to other people that maybe you are part of a specific group or maybe you are part of um, I don't know, like like whatever. Um I feel like the Royal Conservatory of Scotland is right next to um the Glasgow School of Art, and art students um dress in a very specific way, I feel like there's a lot of um creativity in the way they dress, and I think you know there there is kind of that. Um and I love like I feel like um you know where like the music school and the art school are people dress in such really cool ways. Um, but you know, some people at the conservatoire rock up in a suit, like just go to lectures in a suit, you know, and they are sending a message versus you know, someone who might rock up in sweats or in you know other things, like they are sending different messages. So, in you know, no matter what context, like for instance, okay, um, the dancers, the Royal Conservatory of Scotland has a ballet program, and you can always tell the dancers, partially because they walk very elegantly. I feel like you can always tell a ballet dancer or a ballerina from how they walk. Um, but also their hair is in a bun. You see bobby pins, you see hairspray, you see, you know, I feel like ballet dancers and ballerinas have specific like sweats that they wear. I don't know, it's i I can, I don't know, maybe maybe it's just me, but I can tell when someone is a ballet dancer. Um, but you know, they they have specific outfits and and things like that. Um, and you can tell, you know, they are signaling a message. I I am going to dance class or whatever. Um, and so clothes send a message in everyday life. You know, if you see someone in a construction outfit, you know that they're probably a construction person, you know. If you like if you see someone in a in a work uniform, then you know, like anyway, the the gist is the clothes send a message. And clothes also send a message when it comes to auditioning and performing. If you want to be taken seriously in a in an audition, dress seriously. I remember when I was auditioning for um music school, I had to send in a lot of like um audition tapes, like that was like the first round audition tapes, and my um the collaborative pianist that I was working with, she was talking about clothes, and she was like, you know, I've done auditions where someone might rock up in jeans, and she was like, It's that's not appropriate for a really professional audition, or even a musical audition, which is also a professional audition, like like it you have to look professional. Um, and you know, it is really important. So if you want to be taken seriously in an audition or in a performance, then you know, wear wear professional-looking clothes, wear that concert black, you know, even if you like uh maybe other people aren't, send a message with your clothes. How do you want to be perceived? Dress how you want to be perceived, right? I remember um like I did a a recital once and it was a Halloween recital. I was asked to perform in it, and because it was a Halloween recital, I showed up in a pirate outfit um and performed the Mozart Oboe concerto in a pirate outfit. I would never wear that outfit for like a you know concert that's not to do with Halloween or a um uh you know like an audition, but that's the context. So context is really important. Um, and you know, if you want to be taken seriously, dress seriously. It is sending a message, um even if you might not think it is, it is so so there's that, right? Clothing sends a message, you you know, dress the way you want to be perceived. Um, but clothes can also help in an audition, and this is something that I find really fascinating. Um so in the moment of an audition, if I dress professionally, if I dress with concert black, I'm gonna take myself more seriously, and it helps with my confidence. It's really strange. But I mean, in like the opera incident where I, you know, was dressing for the opera and put on concert black, and all of a sudden my brain was like, what audition are we doing? And I couldn't focus on having, you know, just like relaxing because my brain was focusing on something. Um, that also ties in with this, because I had attached a mindset and a feeling to those clothes. And so I think kind of how to do this is pick out an outfit or pick out, you know, a wardrobe of whatever you want, um, of like serious clothes. So for me, that's concert black. Um, and only wear those clothes for an audition or for a performance. And you can, I mean, for me, like I I wear them like on either auditions or performances. I don't have specific audition clothes and specific performance clothes, um, but I have you know audition slash performance clothes, and I do not wear those clothes just casually, right? I d do not. Um, I I wear those clothes for auditions for performances. And for me, that's really important because my brain from that has kind of put connotations around those clothes, right? When I see those clothes, I think audition or performance. When I wear those clothes, my brain immediately just kind of goes into a mode of like, okay, let's do this. And it's not a fear, it's not like oh my gosh, we have an audition. It's like a confidence, it's like a this is my outfit for you know sharing my oboe with people, and that's really important. And I did not realize how important that was until I put those clothes on to go to the opera, and my brain was like, what audition do we have? And really focused it focused on that. I think it's interesting because I think musicians are a lot like athletes. Um, we have a very physical task to do. It might not look physical to someone who's not a musician, you know. For me, I play the oboe and it might just look like I'm, you know, blowing through a through a thing of wood um and making noise. But oboe is a really physical thing, right? There's breath control, there's stamina, all of this stuff. Singing, very physical, you know, stringed instruments, very physical, you know, percussion, physical, like it's it is all a physical thing, and it is a stamina thing, isn't it? And it's like, can I get through the piece type idea? And for me, um, you know, it is it is quite an athletic thing, I feel like me in my training before a performance or an audition, I will purposely get my heart rate up and then play my repertoire, you know, so that when I'm nervous and my heart rate is already up, that helps me. It is physical, and so we are like athletes. And what do athletes do, right? A professional swimmer, they have a swimming outfit, professional figure skater, they have a skating outfit, professional football player, they have a football outfit, right? They have their outfits, and you you don't just see a professional swimmer, you know, going and doing their shopping in their swimming costume, you know, like you don't. Um, they have specific outfits for their sport, and we have specific outfits for ours as well. It's not that I don't perform in everyday clothes or something like that. I recently went to Edinburgh to do a um a workshop with some students and I did a small performance and I wore my clothes, my everyday clothes, um, because it was an informal event. Now my everyday clothes were all black, but to me they were my everyday clothes. Um, but it was, you know, because it was an informal event with students. Um but when I have things like auditions and you know performances that are professional, um then in that case I make sure that I um dress professionally. So, all that being said, clothing really matters. Um, it can help with auditions, it can help get you in the right mindset. A swimmer when they put their swimming costume on, what are they thinking about? They're thinking about swimming, right? Um, and a musician when they put their concert black on or whatever, whatever clothes it is, um, they're thinking about the concert, the audition, whatever that they are doing. And that really has helped me get into good, like the right mindset for things. So I highly recommend it if you haven't tried it. It is really strange, and I'd love to know like the science behind it and the reasoning behind it, but creating connotations with clothing um to help in auditions is something that I didn't realize I was doing, but it has really helped me. So I highly recommend it um uh that that you that you try it because it is weird, but it is like a fun weird. Um, yeah. Before we do our recap, I want to share with you a tool that's really helped me in my practice um to prepare for performances and auditions. It is not clothes, um, although clothes have definitely helped me, but it is planning my practice. And when I do plan my practice, it has like helped me create more effective and focused practice sessions. And so one way that I plan my practice is with a notable practice journal. Um, using a notable practice journal, I can not only plan my practice but also reflect. And reflecting, I think, is so important as well because reflection means that I can look back at my session and write the things that went well, when didn't, you know, what didn't go well, so that the next session I can look back at the reflection and make sure that that next session is based on the reflections and you know can get better and better and better. So instead of every session, I just start from like, okay, I guess I'll do this. It's like, okay, what in my last session, what did I want to focus on in the next one? What was you know, what is like the kind of arc of my my my practice and my focus? And that has really helped me. As soon as I realized that this notable practice journal was helping me, I knew that I needed to tell you about it and give you a code. So use code Eleanor15 for 15% off your journal and have more kind of effective practice sessions and yeah, plan those sessions, it can really help. 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. The code, which is Eleanor15 E-L-E-A-N-O-R 15 for 15% off, will be in the description in the show notes, as well as the link to the site where you can get your journal. Alright, let's do a wee recap. Um, basically, clothes send a message. If you want to be taken seriously in an audition or a performance, dress seriously. If it is a casual thing, then maybe dress casual. But most auditions, you know, dress seriously. Um and and dress the way you want to be perceived. Also, clothes can help in an audition or a performance. If you isolate specific clothes that you only wear for auditions or performances, then from this is from my experience, um, it can really help because then when you wear it, your brain's like, okay, what are we doing? You know, and it's kind of more focused. Uh, that has really helped me in in auditions to play better and to be more focused. So yeah, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I am really grateful and I'm really happy you did. Um, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please do like, um, follow, comment, share this episode with anyone who you think might benefit from it. Um, I do make these episodes with so much like joy and um with a genuine want to help you along your musical journey. So if you think this episode will be helpful for someone else, please do share it with them. Um, and I will see you in the next episode. All right, take care. Bye bye.