Mental Practice: How to Practice Without Your Instrument

Mental practice has been so helpful for me in honing my mind in the practice room. Here's 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! 😊

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Confident Musitioning

(00:02):
Podcast.
My name is Eleanor and I am aBritish American oboist studying
at the Royal Conservatory ofScotland.
Literally my dream school.
And it took me a long way to getthere.
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 on thisjourney together.
So sit down, pull up a chair,take a seat, or if you're on the
go, welcome to the ConfidentMusitioning Podcast.
Wouldn't it be great if therewas a way to practice without

(00:49):
your instrument using your mindto solidify the music more in
your brain and help you learn itmore internally and
intentionally?
It would be great.
And I have some good news foryou.
There is a way to do that.
And that's what we're gonna talkabout today.
Honestly, I think it's sounderrated.

(01:13):
I think it's so underrated, it'sso important.
I use it all the time.
It is called mental practice,and it's probably on the title
of this episode.
Um, so that's probably why youclicked.
So, yes, it's called mentalpractice, and for me it has been
a life changer, seriously, formy practice.

(01:34):
I cannot imagine just practicingwith my instrument and with
without, you know, at least somesome mental practice.
And I think you know, I'vetalked to a lot of people about
mental practice and just asked,you know, I I go to the Royal
Conservatory of Scotland, so I'msurrounded by musicians, and I
often just mention it and say,Do you do it?

(01:54):
Um, and a lot of people don't.
A lot of people don't reallyunderstand what it is, and also
like I've pulled um my Instagramfollowing, um, and just ask,
asking, you know, are you didyou do it?
And so many of you don't do it.
And I'm like, okay, so this hasto be talked about more.

(02:17):
This really does.
I think it's so important.
So that is what we're gonna dotoday.
You know, I I wonder why peopledon't do it.
I think it's probably because itit's not fully like understood,
it's not fully um talked aboutor or shown or like shared, and
I'm not saying that I am theexpert because um I don't know

(02:39):
everything there is to knowabout mental practice, but I do
know the parts that I use, um,and I know that they've helped
me.
So I want to share this withyou.
So whether you know about mentalpractice and are just wondering
how I do it, or maybe you're alittle timid, maybe you've done
it a little bit, but you're notreally sure what the hype is,

(03:01):
um, or you have absolutely noidea what I'm talking about,
let's dive into this and reallykind of discuss mental practice.
So let's start with the basics.
What is mental practice?
So, mental practice is basicallythe practice of practicing your
instruments without using yourinstrument.

(03:24):
Because if we think aboutpractice, if we think about
playing, um it's you that doesthe playing, it's not your
instrument.
If I put my oboe on the floor,um it's not gonna make any
noises, or at least any, youknow, oboe noises.
Um and it reminds me actually ofa story.

(03:46):
So when I was about 11 yearsold, I was in a maths class, and
the teacher was really annoyedat us because we kept using
calculators to do everything,and he was like, You need to
know how to do the math problembefore you, you know,
incorporate the calculator.
And to address this, he took atextbook full of math problems

(04:09):
and he put a calculator on topthe textbook and he said, Okay,
it's gonna do it, it's gonna dothe math.
And we sat there and waited, andhe was like, just hang on, it's
figuring it out.
And then he was like, It's notgonna figure it out because it's
a machine, it's a thing, it's atool, right?
But you are the person whoactually decides, you know, what

(04:30):
you know, we should multiplythis before we add this, or we
should follow, you know, whatwhatever it is.
You as a person initiate that,and I think that that that is
the same with music.
If I put my ogo on the floor,it's not gonna make any ogo
noises because it's the the toolthat I put my musicality

(04:51):
through, just like a cello or abassoon or you know, timpany or
a voice, you know, like oh, Isuppose a voice is different
because it is in you, but likein terms of an instrument, um,
you know, it's not gonna do themagic on its own.
You have to initiate that, andthe musicality comes from you.

(05:14):
That is why if I play, you know,an oboe, and then I give my obo
to say a really amazing oboist,they're gonna make my oboe sound
better, and then say if I givemy oboe to someone who has just
started, maybe they are gonnasound different from me, um, who
will sound different from theyou know world-class

(05:36):
professional.
Do you know what I mean?
But it's the same oboe, so thedifference is you, and so that
is what mental practice reallygets at because the catalyst is
you, it's your brain, it's yourbrain connections, it's what you
do with the music, and you know,your instrument is just the
tool, and sometimes when youpractice, the instrument gets in
the way a little bit, like itjust gets in the way and it

(05:58):
makes it hard, like sometimes itjust makes it hard.
Um, especially if we're tryingto get a tricky passage.
So that's what mental practiceis for.
It's also really, really handyum because you can use it
whenever.
So you can use it absolutelywhenever, you can use it in the
practice room, you can do apractice session where part of

(06:21):
it is with the instrument,another part is mentally.
Um, you can do it when you needto be quiet.
So, you know, if I for instance,I live in a flat, I have
neighbors, I do not play my oboeafter a certain you know time of
the day in my flat.
Um, but if I have to getsomething kind of practiced, if

(06:41):
it's after that time, you know,and I can't really make noise, I
can mentally practice it, andthat can still really help.
Unless it's like tonguing, thenmaybe not.
But do you know what I mean?
Like mentally practicing is isreally helpful.
Um it's also really helpful whenlet's say you've gotten to the
end of the day and you'vepracticed enough on your

(07:02):
instruments, you know, asmusicians, injuries they are
oft, they they happen often, youknow, and for me I have um a
genetic disorder that causes alot of pain.
Um, and it's not an injury, it'sjust how my body functions, and
but that affects my oval playingas well, and so sometimes I I

(07:24):
need to take breaks in my in mypracticing, or I need to maybe
not play oboe for a for a day orso because of the pain.
Um, or on other days I can playoboe for a really long time, so
it's kind of it just depends,but mental practice is really
helpful if you maybe shouldn'tbe playing your instrument
physically, but you still needto get the mental side of it,

(07:46):
hence the word mental practice.
So, with that being said, thatknowledge about what it is, I
think a lot of people when I'vetalked to them don't really know
what it is, you know, and Ididn't know what it is until
like I started, I really gotinto it when I started
auditioning for universities andconservatoires, which was about

(08:08):
three years ago.
Um, but before then I just Iwould just you know play the
oboe, you know what I mean?
Um, and this was really reallyhelpful.
So now that we know what it is,let's talk a little bit about
how do I do it.
Now everybody mentally practicesdifferently, um, and everyone

(08:28):
has kind of strengths andweaknesses with mental practice.
So I am going to tell you how Itend to do it.
So the thing that I do the most,I have different strategies.
The first one is I put my handskind of like together.
Um, if you're listening to this,you might not be able to kind of

(08:48):
see what I'm doing, so I'm gonnatalk through it.
So I kind of put my palmstogether and then I let my
fingers kind of interlace witheach other.
So my hands are like claspingone another.
So after that, I visualize themusic and put pressure on the
fingers that are that have to dowith the fingerings involved.

(09:11):
So like a B flat, I put pressureon the fingers that will make a
B flat and say maybe the nextnote is a D, I change it to D, E
flat, etc.
Um, and I I go through passageslike that, and I really focus on
feeling the sensation of myfingers putting like pressure on

(09:32):
my hands, just a little bit, nottoo much.
We're not like you know, it'snot it's not crazy, um, but just
a little bit of pressure, and II kind of really focus on that,
and that helps my brain to kindof correlate with my fingers,
and then when I put an oboe inthe mix, it it's kind of for me,

(09:53):
it's easier to to to play thatbecause my brain knows more
innately what my fingers need todo.
So this is a very slow thing.
I would never do this at tempo.
You're not, you know, I'm notdoing like something that you
know really fast with mentalpractice.
It is a slow thing, um, and it'sreally to get through and

(10:19):
understand this.
So I would really slowly justput pressure on the the fingers
that have to do with thefingerings and really think
about it.
Okay, now that's that, and nowwe move to the next note, and
now we move to the next note,and we're really feeling that.
Other people, I've seen otheroboys do it on their knees, so

(10:41):
they put their hands on theirknees and they do the same
thing, they put pressure.
For me, um, it makes more sensein my head for me to put my
palms together and theninterlace my fingers down
because it's in front of it's infront of me and that's where the
oboe goes.
Um, I would never play oboe onmy knees, do you know what I
mean?
So it kind of for me it makesmore sense to do it the way I do

(11:02):
it.
Um, but if you're say aviolinist or a cellist or a
violist uh or a bassist, you cando I've seen they they do it on
their um forearms, so you'lltake your hand that does does
the notes and you do the noteson your forearm.
Um that's another way to do itas well.
So there's so many ways to doit, but how I do it is I put my

(11:23):
hands together, I interlace myfingers, and I slowly and really
consciously-that's the thing,you can't do mental practice if
you're not going to be consciousabout it.
Really consciously put pressureon the fingers that have to do
with the different things.
Okay, that's one way.
Then there's more.
The second way that I do it isthrough solfege.

(11:44):
If you don't know what soulfedge is, that's completely
fine.
I think probably I first learnedabout solfeg when I was in like
a school choir.
Um, but it's do, re mi, fa solasi do, right?
Sometimes people say do, re mifa sola ti do, but I say do, re
mi fa sol la si do.
Um and that is where each ofthose syllables has to do with a

(12:08):
note.
So you can either do fixed do,so fixed do means do is always
C.
So like the letter C, right?
Like the the note C.
Um, so Ray would be D, Mi wouldbe E, you know, etc.
Um movable Do is when Do is justthe tonic of the key.

(12:30):
So if you're in G major, G isDo.
If you're in A major, A is Do.
Okay.
For me, when I do this, flatsand sharps don't change it.
So, you know, if I did fix Do,C, the letter C is Do, C sharp
is also Do.
Um, or well, C sharp might notbe in the key of C major, but

(12:53):
you get what I mean.
Um that's that's what I do.
That for me is really helpfulwhen I am really struggling with
kind of fast passages, trickyphrases, and not really
understanding um where the notesgo.
So if I can soul fedge it and ifI can say, I don't know, do me,
refa, whatever, um, and just sayit through soul fedge, then my

(13:18):
brain can really internalize itbetter and then I have a better
chance of actually playing it.
Um I've seen a lot of musicianson the internet do this and they
go really fast for me.
Um, I tend to go a little slowerto really get it in my head.
I'd love to go faster, that justI just need to do more practice
on that.
Um, but that's one way to do itas well because that really gets

(13:41):
it into your brain, and that iswithout the instruments.
I usually do it, do the soulfedge also with my hands, the
way I told you, like clasped andputting pressure on the fingers
that have to do with thosenotes.
So those things can kind ofintertwine.
The third thing is with theory.
Theory is really interesting.

(14:03):
Um yes, theory is reallyinteresting.
I I think that this is a goodway to do it because if you say
have a C of semi-quavers, a C of16th notes, and you don't really
know what they do, what theirpurpose is, it just looks like a
bunch of notes, and you're like,what is this for?

(14:24):
Using theory is really helpfulfor sectioning them off and
understanding why they're there.
Um, so you can look go and say,Oh, this is like a diminished
arpeggio.
I just thought it was randomnotes.
Oh, this is an a major arpeggio.
Oh, this is you know somethingG7 or whatever it is.

(14:44):
Now, this I suppose depends onyour level of theory.
Um, I wouldn't say I'mparticularly great at theory, I
just try my best.
Theory is a language, so themore you learn it, the more you
can use it, and then the moreyou can see what you need to
learn.
Do you know what I mean?
So theory is really helpful forme as well because then
sometimes instead of just seeinga bunch of notes and hanging on

(15:07):
to every note, you can see it asclusters and clumps and be like,
okay, well, I know how to play adiminished scale, and this
diminished scale starts on C andends on C two octaves below.
I can just do that withoutthinking, okay, what is that?
C, A, you know what I mean?
Like just to just just gostraight down and or you know,
whatever the the passage is.

(15:27):
So that's a great way to do itas well.
I did do the sorry, I do thatwith a pencil, so I just write
down, um, I just annotate mymusic with the theory behind it.
So the last thing, which kind ofgoes into theory as well, is
score study.
This I think is great,especially if you are practicing
um to play it with someone else.

(15:49):
So if you have an accompanist ormaybe you're in an orchestra,
you know, this is reallyimportant as well to see how
your part fits in.
Um, this is a great way tomentally practice if you maybe
if you've got the fast passagesdown, if you've got it down
technically but you don't wantto come in at the wrong time,
this is a great way to do thatas well.
So I usually get out the score,I listen to it as I get it out,

(16:13):
I make notes about it, then Imake notes in my music.
So if I have a solo and maybethere's a flute solo before
mine, I'll write flute solo, andthen maybe I'll write the last
few notes of the flute solo so Ican see them and then I can know
when I'm coming in.
Um, that is a great thing to doas well.
Okay, gosh, I feel like I justsaid all that in one breath.

(16:35):
I don't think I did, but I hadso many ideas that I just kept
kept going and going.
But that is the kind of fourways that I mentally practice,
and they each have their own umreasons and things that they're
helpful with, you know.
So, you know, I would never doscore study if I'm struggling
with you know the technique ofsemi quavers, for example.

(16:57):
I would, you know, do soul fedgeor do it with my hands clasped
the way I told you.
So things like that.
Do you know what I mean?
Now, after we've discussed howto do it, um, before we kind of
wrap up, I want to kind of tellyou about planning it because
mental practice is just likephysical practice as well.

(17:20):
It is so important, and it isimportant to plan, especially if
you have something and you haveto get it done quick.
So, how do I plan my practice?
This goes for regular practiceas well as mental practice, but
I find using a practicenotebook, a practice journal, is
a really good way to practiceand get you know, work on that

(17:43):
and be consistent and see mygrowth.
And when I practice, when I usea practice journal, I use a
notable practice journal.
These journals have been sohelpful for me because not only
can I plan my practice, I alsoreflect.
Um, and there is a space forreflection, and there's also a
space for like weekly reflectionas well as daily reflection

(18:04):
because reflection is the startof you know growth.
It really is, it's so helpful.
Um, so I can be mentallypracticing, and then maybe you
know, after I'm like, okay, thiswent well, this didn't, maybe
I'll do more on this, etc.
So that's what mental practiceand reflecting on mental
practice can really help with.

(18:25):
So as soon as I realized thatthis journal was helping me, I
knew I needed to tell you aboutit, 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 so that you can

(18:46):
plan these sessions and then youcan look back and see what
you've done and also just knowwhat you're going to do because
there's nothing worse thangetting into a practice room or
doing mental practice andactually having no idea what
you're doing.
Do you know what I mean?
Like there's no goals.
So planning your practice.
Honestly, it has reallytransformed my practice and my

(19:09):
ability to focus in the practiceroom.
So use code LNR15 for 15% offyour notable practice journal.
I do not recommend anything thatI don't absolutely love, and I
absolutely love this journal.
The code is an affiliate code,which means I do receive a
commission with no extra cost toyou.

(19:30):
Okay, shall we do a bit of arecap before we end this
episode?
Um, we started off with what ismental practice, talking about
kind of basically what it is.
It is the practice of practicingwithout an instrument.
Um, and it can be really helpfulwhen we need to be quiet, when

(19:51):
we need to really get somethingin our brain, or when we have
practiced enough that day, orneed a break from actually
physically practicing.
The next thing is how do Ipersonally do it?
I do it with my hands claspedand then putting pressure on the
fingers that have to do with thenotes to really get them in my
brain.
I do it with soulfegge, so dorimi fosolas si do and assigning

(20:15):
those to notes to really getthem in my brain.
I do it with theory and kind ofannotating my music so that I
can understand the theory behindit.
And then lastly, I do it withscore study.
And then I plan my mentalpractice.
This is so so important, and Iuse a notable practice journal.
The code will be in the shownotes in the description, and so

(20:36):
will the link to get yourjournal.
That will also be down below.
Alright, that is about it forthis episode.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me.
I am so grateful and I hope thatthis episode was helpful.
If it was helpful, please dolike, subscribe, comment, and
share.
Um, share with all of yourfriends, all of your musician

(20:57):
friends who maybe could use somemental practice.
I mean, every musician can usemental practice.
It is so so important.
Um, so yeah, and I will see youin the next episode.
Alright, take care.
Bye bye.