I was told to not play oboe for a week -- here's what I learned

Just the idea of this was shocking to me. But I did it, and learned some really valuable things from it. Thinking about resting? Let's chat.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I stopped and I remember thinking, okay, that's
it for a week, whoa, let's go.
And it was so good.
I mean, the week off was soextremely good.
Hello and welcome to theConfident Musicianing Podcast.
My name is Eleanor and I am aBritish American oboist studying
at the Royal Conservatoire ofScotland Literally my dream

(00:22):
school and it took me a long wayto get there.
I applied and auditioned for 12schools in three different
countries.
It was a lot of hard work but,oh my gosh, so worth it.
I want you to have theconfidence to work hard in
achieving your goals.
So come with me as we go onthis journey together.

(00:43):
So sit down, pull up a chair,take seat or, if you're on the
go, welcome to the ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
Hello and welcome back toanother episode.
Oh, my gosh.
If you're listening to this,let me just tell, tell you I am

(01:05):
in a nice warm jumper.
I have my tea with me.
It is a lovely, lovely, lovelysunny day, which does not happen
a lot in Scotland, but it'shappening today and I'm so
grateful for it.
And you know what it's crazybecause?
Know what it's crazy?

(01:30):
Because when the sun is up thistime of year, it is usually um,
yellow and golden.
The sunlight is golden and Ithink it's because the sun
doesn't really rise that much inthe sky, so it's good.
It's kind of like a sunset atall times, almost in terms of
the light, and it's just alwaysso golden.
And then the buildings are likea lot of them are shades of
brown, but like really nicereddish browns, and it just it

(01:52):
makes everything look so amazing.
So that is how I am coming intothis episode today with
coziness, with gratitude forbeauty around me and also with a
cup of tea.
So let's dive into this episode.
This is quite an interestingepisode to do and a thing to

(02:13):
talk about, because I didn'trealize I would be doing this,
but at about I don't know.
In early December, my teacherand I were talking about
Christmas break, about winterbreak, and he said you should
take the whole week of Christmasoff of the OVO.

(02:34):
And I almost just stopped likewhat?
Like I was so shocked.
I was so shocked and surprised.
I was like how, what?
Like that's crazy.
I've never done that.
Um, and he was like, yeah, no,totally go for it.
He was like if you took thewhole break off, you know school

(02:55):
cause the break, um, for me wasabout three weeks.
He was like that would be toolong, but just take the week off
.
And he was like you know, itwould be good for you to do that
, I think.
I think it'll help you.
And so I was like you know whatthat sounds so crazy to me, but
maybe I do need this break.
And I did it.

(03:19):
I did it and I was super nervousbeforehand, literally like I
okay, so the week that I tookwas from Monday to Sunday, and
so the Sunday before that Mondaythat I was practicing, I was
practicing so much, like I hadthis week off that was ahead of

(03:40):
me, and I was like, oh my gosh,I felt like I needed to make up
for that practice.
So I was just, I reallypracticed a lot.
And I remember being in my flatand it was like 8pm and I
realized it was 8pm and Ithought I should stop practicing
because my neighbors will likethat, like it's getting late.
Um then, I don't think myneighbors will like this very

(04:04):
much, so I stopped and Iremember thinking, okay, that's
it for a week, whoa, let's go.
And it was so good I mean, theweek off was so extremely good.
And it was interesting becausewhen my teacher said this, I
immediately in my mind was likethis is a podcast episode Like
this.
I want to talk about this onthe podcast.

(04:26):
I want to share this with youbecause I think it's going to be
a really interesting andvaluable, hopefully experience,
and I had planned to record thisepisode about a week ago and
when I sat down to record thisepisode last week, I thought you
know what?
I don't think that I'm ready torecord this episode.
It has been about a week since Ihad started playing oboe again

(04:50):
and I was like I feel like Ineed a little bit more time to
reflect and think about thethings that I want to talk about
, because I don't think I'vefinished learning from this
situation and this experience.
So we are here now and we'regoing to chat about it.
So I have three things that Irealized about this experience

(05:17):
and that I want to share withyou, especially if you are
considering taking a break fromyour instrument for maybe a week
or however long, or maybe youdid, maybe you did take a break
during the winter break, but forwhatever reason, let's dive
into these three points.
So the first thing is Irealized how much I needed it, I

(05:41):
really needed it, I needed it,I really needed it, I really
needed it.
I remember the first Monday ofbreak and at this point I was
still practicing, right, becauseI had three weeks off and the
middle week was the week ofChristmas.
So this was the first week andI was still practicing, but this
was the first Monday that Ididn't have some like class or

(06:01):
something in the morning, andusually on Mondays I wake up at
like half seven, maybe quarterto eight, maybe eight sometimes,
and that's when I woke up.
And this Monday, this was thefirst Monday that I didn't have
anything booked and I woke up.

(06:23):
It was like something like 11,like I slept in and I felt so
tired and so drained and theidea of literally doing anything
at all just made me reallytired.
Just like the thought of it andthat was interesting for me, I

(06:45):
thought, huh, this is, this isinteresting.
I think I'm burnt out.
I think I'm burnt out becausethe immediate like chance that I
had to be able to rest and anddo something and I had planned
things before I was like youknow, I want to do this fun
thing and I've always wanted totry this and blah, blah, blah
and I just had no energy.

(07:06):
So I thought you know what?
I think this week off of oboeis going to be really helpful,
and it was.
I felt so tired when thinkingabout my oboe and I think, as
musicians, a lot of us tend to.
If we feel that way about ourinstruments, we might not talk
about it, but in this space,this Confident Musician podcast

(07:28):
space, we can talk about thesethings.
I felt so, so tired and I justI did not want to touch my elbow
.
I was so tired and that shockedme.
That shocked me.
But there was also a part of methat was like I kind of knew

(07:49):
that that would happen.
I kind of knew that that wouldhappen.
So that's something that'sinteresting that has come about
of all of this.
Yeah, it was.
It was crazy.
I really needed it.
So if you are taking a break,or maybe you're thinking about
it, maybe bear that in mind,especially if you're like, oh, I

(08:11):
want a break but I can't, ormaybe I don't actually need it.
Maybe you do need it and youdon't realize, because I needed
it and I didn't realize.
All right, the next thing and Ithink this is probably one of
my favorite things that happenedwas I became more musical.
I became more musical Like whenI was practicing, I became more

(08:50):
experimental in my head,melodies started coming
appearing in my mind and justall of these things started to
happen.
And I started to think aboutmelodies and harmonies and and
ideas for things.
And all of a sudden I had somany ideas and I literally have

(09:11):
kind of like a list of thingsthat I was like, okay, when I
play my elbow again next week,we're gonna try this and this
and this and this.
And that's kind of whathappened that Monday.
I was slowly getting intothings and I had decided not not
to, you know, fully go rightback in, because you can.
I wanted to kind of lean intoit a bit and slowly get back,

(09:32):
you know, to where I was, and sobasically that Monday that's
what I did.
I just kind of did theexperiment stuff that I was
thinking about a week.
But I became so much moremusical, though that was the
week of Christmas.
But I became so much moremusical, though that was the
week of Christmas, I waslistening to a lot of Christmas
songs.
I also was listening to JohnBatiste's Beethoven Blues.

(09:54):
If that's something that youhave not heard of look it up.
It's like the best, it's thebest.
But it was very interesting inthe idea that I was listening to
this album, um, and I alsowasn't practicing my oboe, like
I was intentionally taking thisweek off of my oboe.
So I was listening to thisalbum and I was getting ideas

(10:16):
from it and I was like, oh mygosh, you know, it's so
interesting.
Like the basic idea of thisalbum is it's Beethoven, but
with blues in it.
So it's so interesting.
So I was listening to that andI was thinking, oh my gosh, I
was coming up with ideas from itand being inspired by it and I
was like I want to try this withdifferent things, maybe not
just Beethoven, but also likeoboe pieces as well.

(10:39):
And I couldn't, I couldn'tpractice, like I had
intentionally set this timeaside to be rest from the oboe,
and so it just percolated in mybrain.
And it was so helpful becausethen, when I got back to the
oboe, I had these ideas, I had afeeling of freshness and also a

(11:00):
feeling of excitement and kindof genuine curiosity, almost
like a kid that doesn't knowwhat things are.
You know what I mean.
Like kids are curious, kids arenot nervous.
Kids are not like.
Kids tend to be really excitedabout things and ready to mess
up, and that's kind of how I waswith the ogre when I came back,

(11:20):
so that's something that wasinteresting I also I mean, it
was Christmas.
I was listening to a lot ofChristmas songs.
Christmas songs tend to havekind of like a general the same
melodies and rhythms and things.
You know you have basicChristmas songs and then
everyone put their own spin onit.
I love jazz, so I listened to alot of Christmas jazz and that

(11:43):
was really interesting.
And then that kind of createdmore ideas in my mind, musically
wise, and when I got back tothe oboe I was able to do that,
even though it was afterChristmas.
I was like I want to play allthe Christmas songs that have
been stuck in my head for a weekand I want to try on the oboe.
So that was really interesting.
I became much more musical.

(12:05):
I was so inspired and so kindof not stressed about that,
which is really interesting,especially, you know, right now
I have exams coming up, I ampracticing scales, I am
memorizing things.
I am, you know, practicing.
I have so many etudes andextracts and all of these things

(12:27):
that I have to do for the exam,and I am quite stressed about
that, to be honest.
But this week I was able tokind of take a step back and be
curious and almost childlikewith music, which I think was so
, so, so good.
All right, the last thing iswhen I came back, I thought I

(12:47):
had gotten worse, but whatactually happened was my ear had
gotten better.
Whoa, let's just take a stepback from that.
And this is part of the reasonwhy I didn't record this episode
last week, because last week Ihad thought that I had gotten
worse and I was really sad and Iwas really struggling and I was
like, oh my gosh, I shouldn'thave taken that break.

(13:08):
I feel like I'm worse.
I feel blah, blah, blah.
And then, after a few days, Istarted to realize, hold on, I
don't think I'm getting worse.
Because I was listening tomyself and I was, you know all
these things.
I was like I don't think I'vegotten worse.

(13:29):
I think my ear has gottenbetter, because I started to
hear things that I hadn't heardbefore and that was interesting,
and I actually I brought thisto my teacher and I you know the
teacher who told me to do this,to do the break, and I told him
I was like I thought I hadgotten worse, but actually I
think what happened was my earhad gotten better and he was
like but actually I think whathappened was my ear had gotten
better and he was like this isgreat.

(13:50):
This is great because now youcan move on to the next stages
of your musical journey.
No-transcript, there's a lot ofstuff involved with that,
including stuff like intonation,stuff like where you center the
note, how you attack the notewith your air um, airstream, air
direction are all different,all different, and having a

(14:14):
better ear is really helpful tokind of figuring out what I need
to work on and how I can workon it.
So since then, my teacher hasgiven me work on and how I can
work on it.
So since then, my teacher hasgiven me oh, we got an email,

(14:37):
sorry.
Since then, my teacher hasgiven me so many good strategies
and ideas for continuing thisnow that my ear has gotten
better.
But that was something that wasreally scary, like this time
last week.
I was really scared.
I thought I had gotten worseand, especially because I have
exams coming up in the nextmonth, I was like, oh my gosh, I
shouldn't have done this.
But actually my ear has gottenbetter and I think that that is
a great step, especially for theexams to be able to be like

(14:58):
okay, now I know what I need towork on, because I can hear it,
and that was really helpful.
So I think for you, if you arethinking about taking a break,
resting is productive.
You know, I had gotten.
I have gotten more musical, myear has gotten better, I feel
more rested, I feel more readyto dive into things, and I'm so
grateful that I took that breakbecause, as well, I am now

(15:20):
really busy, really, really,really busy.
I am currently in an ensemblethat has a concert, today
actually, but this week has beenfull of rehearsals.
After that, next week I have somany rehearsals for I'm in an
opera, which is so exciting, butthat's crazy and there's so

(15:41):
many rehearsals for that, evenmore than this ensemble that I'm
in now, and so my oboe playing.
I just I have played so muchoboe, um, in the past week or so
.
I feel like whoa and I feellike if I hadn't taken that
break, I would be so burnt outthat that would really just not
help anyone.

(16:02):
So I think the break was sogood.
So thank you for to my teacher.
I know my teacher listens tothis podcast.
My teacher listens to thispodcast, so if you're listening,
thank you so much for um forrecommending um the break and it
was so, so, so helpful.
So if you, as a listener, arethinking about taking a break, I

(16:28):
highly recommend it, especiallyif you need it.
You know it's.
It's a good, it's a good thing.
Now let's take a bit of a detourinto the idea of practicing,
because after your break, you'regonna have to practice.
Right, you're gonna have topractice.
Now.
The thing about practicing isyou don't like sometimes when

(16:52):
you're practicing, it can beextremely.
You can feel so tired about it.
You can feel so drained, sounmotivated, and one of the
things that I thought how can I,how can I help you be motivated
to practice?
And one of those things thatI've come up with to help you be
motivated to practice and feellike you are empowered and ready

(17:15):
to go is the ConfidentMusicianing Membership Community
community.
This is a membership communitywhere we have so much support
and so much encouragement foryou as a musician.
You get access to so manyamazing things, including
practice with me videos where wepractice together so we can

(17:38):
keep each other accountable, andyou also get insights into how
I practice for specific things.
You also get access to behindthe scenes videos of my journey
as a musician, as well as aweekly chatty video video.
Wow, a weekly chatty videowhere, um, where I just tell you
some things that I really wantto share with you about my

(18:00):
musical journey.
Also how-to videos for oboeplaying, for music making, all
of these things.
There are live streams, q&as,so many things, including an
amazing community of like-mindedmusicians where we lift each
other up.
So if that sounds likesomething that you are
interested in, please do clickthe link below and you can sign

(18:23):
up and I'll put the link in thedescription in the show notes
and you can join the ConfidentMusicianing membership community
now, in 2025.
All right, that is about it forthis episode.
Let's do a quick recap.
First thing is I realized howmuch I needed a break.
When I did it, I was so burntout.

(18:45):
It was so helpful.
The second thing is I becameway more musical.
I had melodies and rhythms inmy head.
I had things I wanted to try.
I also had a new foundedexcitement for oboe.
And the last thing is, when Icame back, I thought I had
gotten worse, but actuallyactually I had gotten better,
like my ear had gotten better.
So, and that was was the nextstep in me being able to get

(19:08):
better at my Omo, because now Ican hear things that I might not
have been able to hear before.
What a valuable thing.
So, yeah, that is about it forthis episode.
Um, thank you so much for beinghere.
If you are thinking abouttaking a break, I wish you the
best rest.
I wish you all the best withyour resting.
Um, and, yeah, I hope that.

(19:30):
I hope that is good.
Um, as always, all of the allof the links will be um down
below in the show notes, in thedescription.
Um, including the the um blogpost that goes with this episode
, as well as the link to theConfident Musicianing membership
community.
There we go, the ConfidentMusicianing membership community

(19:54):
.
That's it, yeah, and, as always, I will see you in the next
episode.
All right, take care.