January 28, 2025 • 12 mins
We've all been there, and sometimes this time of year can feel like a drag. So here are some resources to get your practice flowing!
Need that encouragement? Join the Standing Ovation Series! (Click here to sign up)
Here's the link to practice with me in real time: patreon.com/Eleanoroboe
Here is my conversation with Maestro Jacob Joyce. Click here to listen!
Ready for practice organisation? Get your Notabl_ practice journal here, and use code ELEANOR15 for 15% off your order!
This episode is available as a blog post. Click here to read!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing
Podcast.
My name is Eleanor and I am aBritish American oboist studying
at the Royal Conservatoire ofScotland Literally my dream
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.
(00:24):
I want you to have theconfidence to work hard in
achieving your goals.
So come with me as we go onthis journey together.
So sit down, pull up a chair,take a seat or, if you're on the
go, welcome to the ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
Hello, welcome to the ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
(00:45):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
This is a cozy corner of theinternet where we discuss all
things to do with music, andtoday we are going to be talking
about beginning of the year,practice motivation.
I assume, because you clickedon this, you want to be
motivated for the new year.
Oh my gosh, I mean we all doseriously.
(01:15):
So this little cozy shortepisode will be kind of talking
about different things that youcan do and you can use to get
motivated as a musician.
So I have four things that willhelp you kind of become more
motivated and hopefully give youa little more excitement for
practicing in the new year.
Because, let's be honest, wejust kind of I know it was like
(01:37):
maybe a few weeks ago, but wefinished the holidays and just
hanging out with our families.
However, you celebrated theholidays and now it's time to
kind of get back to things andwe might be kind of feeling like
, oh, just a little okay, youknow, get back into the swing of
it.
Or maybe we're feeling reallygood about it and we're like you
(01:59):
know what, I'm feeling good,but I still want a little more
motivation.
This episode is all aboutmotivation and things that can
help you be motivated.
So I hope that you can take onething from this episode and do
it or use it or listen to it,whatever it is, and kind of have
(02:22):
more motivation when youpractice.
So that's my challenge for youTake like one thing, one thing
that you think would help youbecome more motivated or just
kind of inspire you.
So let's get right into it.
The first thing is a standingovation series.
I have been doing the standingovation series for almost a year
now and I kind of launch it anddo it in kind of groups a few
(02:48):
times a year, but you canactually join it whenever you
want.
So this is a three day serieswhere every day you get an email
from me celebrating yourpractice, literally like a
standing ovation.
So you get an email from me andI, number one, celebrate your
practice and number two, kind ofgive you something to think
about for the next day.
(03:09):
It can be so, so, so helpful.
Like I've literally gottenpeople coming back to me after
they do the series and sayingamazing stuff Like, for instance
, your standing ovation seriesdid the trick.
It gave me added encouragementto challenge and surprise myself
.
That is from Nicholas.
(03:30):
Or I got back to my oboe andsounded quite okay after a long
time of no practice.
That is from Kaylin.
And I'm gonna be honest withyou literally when I get
messages like that, my my heartexpands like twice the size,
full of absolute joy that thethings that I am doing are
(03:51):
helping other musicians, becausethat's literally what I am
about helping other musiciansand that is what the Standing
Ovation series is about as well.
So if that sounds likesomething that you think could
be helpful, please do sign up.
The link is in the show notes.
Literally all you have to do issign up and then you'll get
(04:13):
three days of just encouragementand inspiration, and those
three days can really act aslike a boost to get you into the
swing of things.
So if that sounds likesomething that you want to do,
then please, please, please, dosign up.
All right.
So the next thing is actuallyreally exciting.
It is practice with me in realtime videos.
(04:36):
I think that this is a veryinteresting idea because you
know, like when people study,you know those like study videos
where it's like study with meand you just put the person up
on your phone and then you studywith them and it's supposed to
kind of help you be more focusedand like there's someone else
in the room.
I have been doing that withpracticing and you might be like
(04:59):
, oh no, how does that work?
Because practicing is soundbased, but you can turn me down
and put me in the corner andpractice with me, and I think
that that can be so helpful tokind of keep us accountable for
each other.
Literally, when I film thosesessions for the practice with
me's in real time, I get so muchbetter at practice sessions, I
(05:24):
get so much more done, I'm somuch more focused.
So that's kind of what this isNow get so much more done.
I'm so much more focused.
So that's kind of what this is.
Now you have two options.
The first option is you canwatch these on YouTube and they
are kind of split and likethere's, it's like a section of
it.
Or, if you want to watch thewhole thing, you can watch that
(05:45):
over on Patreon.
I do have a Patreon.
It's kind of a new thing.
I'm really really reallyexcited about it and you can get
not only practice videos butalso more behind the scenes
stuff from me.
I do live streams, there arehow-to videos All of these
things are over on Patreon, aswell as full practice with me in
(06:06):
real time videos, where you canliterally just put me up on a
shelf or maybe even on yourmusic stand or maybe like to the
side and practice with me, andthat is something that we can do
together and it can really helpwith staying focused.
Staying focused and having alittle practice buddy, because
let's just be practice buddies,it's gonna be good.
(06:27):
So that is something that seemslike it could be helpful for
you in getting more motivationand getting into the swing of
things with practice.
Please, please, please, do godo that.
I will link the the links forthat down below and if you you
want full length practice withme videos as well as a bunch of
(06:48):
other fun stuff, please do checkout Patreon.
That's something that it's likethe new thing that I'm doing
and I'm so excited about it andI hope you are too.
Okay, the third thing is apodcast episode that came out
last April, but I still listento it sometimes because it was
(07:12):
such an insightful conversation.
This podcast episode is thefirst episode that I ever did
with a guest, and the guest isMaestro Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony, and this
episode, like Maestro, justabsolutely poured so much
knowledge into 45 minutes inthis episode.
(07:35):
It is so incredibly helpful andI listen to it when I'm feeling
unmotivated or when I feel like, oh my gosh, I'm kind of don't
feel enough, or, you know, am Idoing enough, or whatever, or
maybe I'm nervous for auditions,like literally, it is so, so
helpful and I remember justsitting there when we were
filming the episode or, likerecording the episode, just kind
of being in awe of the amountof knowledge that he was able to
(08:00):
, to kind of just bring out andand talk about, and I learned so
much and so this episode is onthis episode for that, because
if that's something that soundslike you would help you, please
do go listen to it.
It is such a good episode, justfull of so much knowledge's.
(08:26):
It's like maestro is so full ofknowledge and it's such a
helpful episode.
I I'm still listening to itbecause maestro has so many
amazing things to say.
We talk about networking, thepower of networking, making a
change in your music career,because maestro went from violin
to conducting um, managing bothstudying music and another
(08:47):
degree at the same time, topthings that young musicians can
focus on in their career, andhow Maestro Joyce prepares for
important auditions, and so muchmore.
Like it is so motivating, somotivating, so that will be in
the show notes.
Please do check that out.
And the last thing is planningyour practice.
(09:12):
If you are not motivated topractice, that's okay.
We all have been through that.
But one of the things that Ihave found so helpful to kind of
get me motivated when I'm notmotivated is having a plan,
because if you're not motivated,then you're kind of just like
oh, I don't know what to do, Idon't want to do it.
But if you have literally apiece of paper saying for 15
(09:36):
minutes you are going to do thisand then for 10 minutes after
that you will do this.
It's so much easier to actuallyget it done.
So I challenge you to plan yourpractice, and, of course, we
have something to do that with.
So I recently started usingNotables practice journals to
(09:57):
plan my practice and itabsolutely changed how I plan my
practice and how this kind ofworks.
Seriously, it was so, so cool.
Not only do I know when I needto practice, but I also know
when I need to stop, and I thinkthat that is something that is
so helpful as well, becauseSometimes you know, your brain
(10:19):
is like, oh my gosh, I haven'tpracticed enough.
I haven't practiced enough, Ihave to keep going.
But if you have a piece ofpaper that says, actually, you
have practiced enough becauseyou worked on this, that and the
other, and the page is completefor the day and it's time to
move on to other things, thatcan be really helpful To kind of
calm your mind down when it'slike, oh my gosh, I haven't
(10:39):
practiced enough.
So that can be so helpful aswell.
Now, when I found out that thesejournals were helping because
let's be I mean it has like theyhave everything laid out
already.
I planned my practice before,especially for university
auditions, but I did that from ablank sheet of paper and
(11:01):
sometimes it was way harder tokind of actually get going with
motivation.
But with Notables, practiceJournals, literally you have
everything set up already.
You just need to kind of fillin with what you need to do.
So that can be so helpful aswell.
So when I first realized thatthis was working, I knew that I
had to tell you about it and Iknew that I had to get you a
(11:22):
code, and that code is Eleanor15for 15% off.
That is E-L-E-A-N-O-R-1-5 for15% off your order.
And yeah, do yourself a favorand just get that journal, use
the code and start the new yearoff right, because they can be
(11:46):
so helpful.
And so, life like practicechange, practice, life changing
for your practice, um, and itcan really help with motivation
as well.
So you know me, I neverrecommend anything that I don't
love.
And it can really help withmotivation as well.
So you know me, I neverrecommend anything that I don't
love.
And so this is an affiliatecode, which means I do receive a
commission, but with no extracost to you.
All right, shall we do a recap?
(12:08):
I feel like doing a recap.
Number one is the standingovation series.
This is a three-day serieswhere every day you get an email
from me celebrating yourpractice.
The next is Practice With Mevideos.
You can get like bits of it onYouTube and you can also get
full videos on Patreon.
So if that's something thatsounds like you, then please do
(12:31):
check that out.
Number three is the episode withMeister Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony.
So much knowledge in that out.
Number three is the episodewith Meister Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony.
So much knowledge in thatepisode.
Literally, it's so, so, somotivational.
Please do go listen to it.
And the last thing is Notable'spractice journal.
This practice journal canreally help with motivation and
(12:51):
just also structuring yourpractice and making it efficient
and effective, which is sohelpful as well.
So all of these links are in theshow notes.
So please, please, please do gocheck that out.
Yeah, and I challenge you topick one of these things that
you want to do and you want tolook into and get in that
(13:13):
motivation.
All right, all right, that isabout it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
As always, all of these linkswill be in the show notes, as
well as the blog post that goeswith this episode.
I hope that this helps you findsome motivation in your
practice and I will see you inthe next episode.
All right, take care.
Bye-bye.
Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing
Podcast.
My name is Eleanor and I am aBritish American oboist studying
at the Royal Conservatoire ofScotland Literally my dream
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.
(00:24):
I want you to have theconfidence to work hard in
achieving your goals.
So come with me as we go onthis journey together.
So sit down, pull up a chair,take a seat or, if you're on the
go, welcome to the ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
Hello, welcome to the ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
(00:45):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
This is a cozy corner of theinternet where we discuss all
things to do with music, andtoday we are going to be talking
about beginning of the year,practice motivation.
I assume, because you clickedon this, you want to be
motivated for the new year.
Oh my gosh, I mean we all doseriously.
(01:15):
So this little cozy shortepisode will be kind of talking
about different things that youcan do and you can use to get
motivated as a musician.
So I have four things that willhelp you kind of become more
motivated and hopefully give youa little more excitement for
practicing in the new year.
Because, let's be honest, wejust kind of I know it was like
(01:37):
maybe a few weeks ago, but wefinished the holidays and just
hanging out with our families.
However, you celebrated theholidays and now it's time to
kind of get back to things andwe might be kind of feeling like
, oh, just a little okay, youknow, get back into the swing of
it.
Or maybe we're feeling reallygood about it and we're like you
(01:59):
know what, I'm feeling good,but I still want a little more
motivation.
This episode is all aboutmotivation and things that can
help you be motivated.
So I hope that you can take onething from this episode and do
it or use it or listen to it,whatever it is, and kind of have
(02:22):
more motivation when youpractice.
So that's my challenge for youTake like one thing, one thing
that you think would help youbecome more motivated or just
kind of inspire you.
So let's get right into it.
The first thing is a standingovation series.
I have been doing the standingovation series for almost a year
now and I kind of launch it anddo it in kind of groups a few
(02:48):
times a year, but you canactually join it whenever you
want.
So this is a three day serieswhere every day you get an email
from me celebrating yourpractice, literally like a
standing ovation.
So you get an email from me andI, number one, celebrate your
practice and number two, kind ofgive you something to think
about for the next day.
(03:09):
It can be so, so, so helpful.
Like I've literally gottenpeople coming back to me after
they do the series and sayingamazing stuff Like, for instance
, your standing ovation seriesdid the trick.
It gave me added encouragementto challenge and surprise myself
.
That is from Nicholas.
(03:30):
Or I got back to my oboe andsounded quite okay after a long
time of no practice.
That is from Kaylin.
And I'm gonna be honest withyou literally when I get
messages like that, my my heartexpands like twice the size,
full of absolute joy that thethings that I am doing are
(03:51):
helping other musicians, becausethat's literally what I am
about helping other musiciansand that is what the Standing
Ovation series is about as well.
So if that sounds likesomething that you think could
be helpful, please do sign up.
The link is in the show notes.
Literally all you have to do issign up and then you'll get
(04:13):
three days of just encouragementand inspiration, and those
three days can really act aslike a boost to get you into the
swing of things.
So if that sounds likesomething that you want to do,
then please, please, please, dosign up.
All right.
So the next thing is actuallyreally exciting.
It is practice with me in realtime videos.
(04:36):
I think that this is a veryinteresting idea because you
know, like when people study,you know those like study videos
where it's like study with meand you just put the person up
on your phone and then you studywith them and it's supposed to
kind of help you be more focusedand like there's someone else
in the room.
I have been doing that withpracticing and you might be like
(04:59):
, oh no, how does that work?
Because practicing is soundbased, but you can turn me down
and put me in the corner andpractice with me, and I think
that that can be so helpful tokind of keep us accountable for
each other.
Literally, when I film thosesessions for the practice with
me's in real time, I get so muchbetter at practice sessions, I
(05:24):
get so much more done, I'm somuch more focused.
So that's kind of what this isNow get so much more done.
I'm so much more focused.
So that's kind of what this is.
Now you have two options.
The first option is you canwatch these on YouTube and they
are kind of split and likethere's, it's like a section of
it.
Or, if you want to watch thewhole thing, you can watch that
(05:45):
over on Patreon.
I do have a Patreon.
It's kind of a new thing.
I'm really really reallyexcited about it and you can get
not only practice videos butalso more behind the scenes
stuff from me.
I do live streams, there arehow-to videos All of these
things are over on Patreon, aswell as full practice with me in
(06:06):
real time videos, where you canliterally just put me up on a
shelf or maybe even on yourmusic stand or maybe like to the
side and practice with me, andthat is something that we can do
together and it can really helpwith staying focused.
Staying focused and having alittle practice buddy, because
let's just be practice buddies,it's gonna be good.
(06:27):
So that is something that seemslike it could be helpful for
you in getting more motivationand getting into the swing of
things with practice.
Please, please, please, do godo that.
I will link the the links forthat down below and if you you
want full length practice withme videos as well as a bunch of
(06:48):
other fun stuff, please do checkout Patreon.
That's something that it's likethe new thing that I'm doing
and I'm so excited about it andI hope you are too.
Okay, the third thing is apodcast episode that came out
last April, but I still listento it sometimes because it was
(07:12):
such an insightful conversation.
This podcast episode is thefirst episode that I ever did
with a guest, and the guest isMaestro Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony, and this
episode, like Maestro, justabsolutely poured so much
knowledge into 45 minutes inthis episode.
(07:35):
It is so incredibly helpful andI listen to it when I'm feeling
unmotivated or when I feel like, oh my gosh, I'm kind of don't
feel enough, or, you know, am Idoing enough, or whatever, or
maybe I'm nervous for auditions,like literally, it is so, so
helpful and I remember justsitting there when we were
filming the episode or, likerecording the episode, just kind
of being in awe of the amountof knowledge that he was able to
(08:00):
, to kind of just bring out andand talk about, and I learned so
much and so this episode is onthis episode for that, because
if that's something that soundslike you would help you, please
do go listen to it.
It is such a good episode, justfull of so much knowledge's.
(08:26):
It's like maestro is so full ofknowledge and it's such a
helpful episode.
I I'm still listening to itbecause maestro has so many
amazing things to say.
We talk about networking, thepower of networking, making a
change in your music career,because maestro went from violin
to conducting um, managing bothstudying music and another
(08:47):
degree at the same time, topthings that young musicians can
focus on in their career, andhow Maestro Joyce prepares for
important auditions, and so muchmore.
Like it is so motivating, somotivating, so that will be in
the show notes.
Please do check that out.
And the last thing is planningyour practice.
(09:12):
If you are not motivated topractice, that's okay.
We all have been through that.
But one of the things that Ihave found so helpful to kind of
get me motivated when I'm notmotivated is having a plan,
because if you're not motivated,then you're kind of just like
oh, I don't know what to do, Idon't want to do it.
But if you have literally apiece of paper saying for 15
(09:36):
minutes you are going to do thisand then for 10 minutes after
that you will do this.
It's so much easier to actuallyget it done.
So I challenge you to plan yourpractice, and, of course, we
have something to do that with.
So I recently started usingNotables practice journals to
(09:57):
plan my practice and itabsolutely changed how I plan my
practice and how this kind ofworks.
Seriously, it was so, so cool.
Not only do I know when I needto practice, but I also know
when I need to stop, and I thinkthat that is something that is
so helpful as well, becauseSometimes you know, your brain
(10:19):
is like, oh my gosh, I haven'tpracticed enough.
I haven't practiced enough, Ihave to keep going.
But if you have a piece ofpaper that says, actually, you
have practiced enough becauseyou worked on this, that and the
other, and the page is completefor the day and it's time to
move on to other things, thatcan be really helpful To kind of
calm your mind down when it'slike, oh my gosh, I haven't
(10:39):
practiced enough.
So that can be so helpful aswell.
Now, when I found out that thesejournals were helping because
let's be I mean it has like theyhave everything laid out
already.
I planned my practice before,especially for university
auditions, but I did that from ablank sheet of paper and
(11:01):
sometimes it was way harder tokind of actually get going with
motivation.
But with Notables, practiceJournals, literally you have
everything set up already.
You just need to kind of fillin with what you need to do.
So that can be so helpful aswell.
So when I first realized thatthis was working, I knew that I
had to tell you about it and Iknew that I had to get you a
(11:22):
code, and that code is Eleanor15for 15% off.
That is E-L-E-A-N-O-R-1-5 for15% off your order.
And yeah, do yourself a favorand just get that journal, use
the code and start the new yearoff right, because they can be
(11:46):
so helpful.
And so, life like practicechange, practice, life changing
for your practice, um, and itcan really help with motivation
as well.
So you know me, I neverrecommend anything that I don't
love.
And it can really help withmotivation as well.
So you know me, I neverrecommend anything that I don't
love.
And so this is an affiliatecode, which means I do receive a
commission, but with no extracost to you.
All right, shall we do a recap?
(12:08):
I feel like doing a recap.
Number one is the standingovation series.
This is a three-day serieswhere every day you get an email
from me celebrating yourpractice.
The next is Practice With Mevideos.
You can get like bits of it onYouTube and you can also get
full videos on Patreon.
So if that's something thatsounds like you, then please do
(12:31):
check that out.
Number three is the episode withMeister Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony.
So much knowledge in that out.
Number three is the episodewith Meister Jacob Joyce, the
associate conductor of thePittsburgh Symphony.
So much knowledge in thatepisode.
Literally, it's so, so, somotivational.
Please do go listen to it.
And the last thing is Notable'spractice journal.
This practice journal canreally help with motivation and
(12:51):
just also structuring yourpractice and making it efficient
and effective, which is sohelpful as well.
So all of these links are in theshow notes.
So please, please, please do gocheck that out.
Yeah, and I challenge you topick one of these things that
you want to do and you want tolook into and get in that
(13:13):
motivation.
All right, all right, that isabout it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
As always, all of these linkswill be in the show notes, as
well as the blog post that goeswith this episode.
I hope that this helps you findsome motivation in your
practice and I will see you inthe next episode.
All right, take care.
Bye-bye.
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