My One Trick To Transform Performance Prep

What is that one thing that I do to transform my prep? Visualisation. Here is how I do it.

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Episode Transcript

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 comewith 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 ConfidentMusicianing Podcast.
What if I told you that there isa way to see how you are going

(00:47):
to perform in a performancebefore you are actually
performing in that performance?
You'd probably say, eleanor,that's a bit weird and strange,
and how do I do it?
Well, there is actually a wayNow.
It's not necessarily a way toknow how you are going to do for
sure, but there is a way tomake it easier for your brain to

(01:10):
see that you are able to dowell in your performance or your
audition.
And I mean, that's somethingthat I have been doing for a
while, even when I didn'trealize I was doing it and it
has really, really helped me.
So today we are going to diveright into what exactly that is
and how I do it.
Now, the reason why we arediving into this and we're

(01:35):
bringing this up is that Irecently did my final recital at
my conservatoire for my firstyear of my undergraduate degree
in oboe performance, and thisstrategy, this tactic, really,
really helped me in beingconfident and working through
performance anxiety in myrecital, and I put a poll on my

(02:00):
Instagram before my recitalshowing kind of me doing this
technique, and I asked you guysif you also do it, and there was
a definitely a varied response,but there were a lot of you
that said no, I don't, I don'tdo this.
Tell me more about it.
And that is my answer to you weare going to talk more about it
.
So, basically, what is it?

(02:23):
You might be asking what?
What are you talking about?
Tell me how I can, um, make iteasier for my brain to see that
I can actually do well inwhatever I am doing.
That is called visualization.
So the technique is calledvisualization, um, and it's
something that I use all thetime.

(02:43):
I think, not like literally,not just in my practice or my
performing, not just in my musicand oboe life, but also just
like generally, and it can bereally, really, really helpful.
So today we're going to diveinto what does it mean to do
visualization, what isvisualization and also, how do I
do visualization when it comesto my performances and my

(03:06):
auditions, and hopefully thiscan be helpful to you in your
performances and your auditions.
So let's dive right into it.
What does it mean?
What is visualization?
Visualization is a kind ofmeditation where you basically
imagine a situation and imagineit going however you want it to
go and imagine how you are goingto feel in the situation.

(03:30):
Now, just a disclaimer I'm nota therapist, I'm not a
neuroscientist.
I'm just a musician who usesthis and that's kind of yeah,
that's like what I understand itto be.
So this is kind of myunderstanding of it, how I use
it.
It is not a like therapist'sperspective or a

(03:52):
neuroscientist's perspective,but the thing is, our brains can
have the capacity to believesomething has happened, even if
we are just imagining it.
So if we are just imaginingsomething, our brains can see
that thing and understand thatit is something that is
happening to us, which is why itis so easy to kind of spiral

(04:14):
into a negative loop if we arevery stressed about a
performance or an audition,because our brain, you know, I
mean, if we are thinking aboutdoing something badly, our brain
can see that, if we areimagining it, and then you have
all of these feelings of oh mygosh, what happens if I do
something badly?
Because your brain is kind ofalready seeing it?
But what if we just turn thetables on that one and do the

(04:36):
exact opposite?
That is visualization.
So if we want something to gowell, that feels miles away.
I mean, we all know the feelingof like thinking, oh my gosh, I
have to do something well, butit feels like so far away to
actually do that thing.
Well, then we can sit down andimagine it going well and that
shows our brains that it can gowell.

(04:58):
Okay, and this is this is athis definitely a a very
mentally interesting episode andthing.
This has nothing to do with usactually playing our instrument.
It has everything to do with uskind of picturing doing well in
whatever we need to do.
Well, to show our brains thatwe can do well, and then it

(05:21):
doesn't feel as hard to actuallydo well.
So that's what it is.
How do I use it?
So this is how I usevisualization in my performance
before my performance, a fewdays before I start doing the
visualization this is after Ihave done all my practice for
weeks or however long months,you know a few days before

(05:44):
actually doing the performance,I start to visualize and this is
what I do.
So I sit down and I focus on mybreath to really get into that
calming meditative state.
If you have never meditatedbefore, like it is so helpful
and so valuable.
And you know I feel like a lotof people when they think of
meditation, they think of likesomeone doing something

(06:06):
perfectly.
It's literally about makingmistakes and and struggling with
it.
Honestly, meditation is notperfect, but I sit there and I
focus on my breath to kind ofcalm down and then I imagine
doing the thing.
So I imagine walking into theroom that I am performing in.

(06:26):
How do I feel walking into thatroom?
Kind of understanding, maybe,if I feel a bit stressed.
Where in my body do I feel thatstress?
And just kind of sensing thatand sitting with it and being
like, okay, I feel a bitstressed, but my brain is
imagining me walking into thisroom, and what the trick is kind
of to do is imagine walkinginto the room and how am I going

(06:50):
to walk into the room?
Right, knowing how I'm going towalk into the room.
So I'm going to walk into theroom with a big smile on my face
, I'm going to put my stuff downnext to the stand and then I'm
going to look at the audiencewith a big smile and start the
performance.
Now, if I hadn't imagined that,I might have gotten onto the
stage and oh my gosh, like thereare people there and where does

(07:11):
my stuff go?
And what do I do first?
And oh my gosh, ah.
And then, all of a sudden, it'slike just frazzled, completely
frazzled, but because I haveimagined what I'm going to do
and actually went through it inmy head, I know exactly what I'm
going to do before I actuallydo it, and that can be really
helpful.
It's kind of like learning,blocking almost, or learning how

(07:35):
, how you are going to do thesethings, and showing your brain
that this is how we're going todo it and it's going to be great
.
And then how does it feel toplay, right?
Then I start thinking about myplaying.
Maybe the room feels a tad hot,maybe it feels a tad cold.
How does that make me feel?
Also, showing that my brainlike showing my brain that if

(07:58):
the room is a bit hot, I will beokay, just kind of breathing
through that, imagining okay,the room's feeling a bit toasty
and that is okay and we're goingto keep playing.
And so when I get there, if theroom is a bit toasty, my brain,
instead of going, oh, my gosh,the room's toasty, oh, this is
going to be really bad, it'slike oh, the room's toasty, and
I know that I can be okay withthat.

(08:19):
The same thing for cold.
You know, think about who isthere.
You know, like what am Iplaying?
Kind of all of these basicquestions.
And just sitting with it andshowing your brain like, okay,
this is what we're going to doand this is how we're going to
feel.
And I think that's the mostimportant thing.
How are we going to feel?
So I take a deep breath and Ifocus on feeling excited and

(08:42):
joyous about my playing.
So really feeling like how doesit feel to play when I am just
loving playing, when I'm havingso much fun?
And then I go through my pieces.
So for me, I like to put themon and listen to them.
I literally like open my phoneand, like you know, put on the
pieces of music and listen tothem.

(09:02):
And I'm not mentally practicing.
This is a big thing.
I'm not sat there with a score,I'm not doing score study.
I am just sitting thereimagining myself playing them,
imagining myself in a room andmy breathing, sometimes like I
do the breathing that I might bedoing in the piece, sometimes I
might be like moving with thepiece.

(09:23):
I mean that makes sense, butall in all, I am very calm.
I am just imagining myself andI am imagining my playing and
also how I'm going to feel.
I am literally deciding how Iam going to feel at that time
and point, literally decidinghow I am going to feel as I am

(09:43):
playing the music.
And because of this, it makesit so easy for my brain to, or
easier for my brain to be like,oh, we're gonna play this thing
and I know how we're gonna feelbecause we've done it before.
We know how we're gonna feel.
The main goal of this wholething is focusing on feeling
contented and, okay, feelingcalm.

(10:04):
That is the goal.
This is not.
I am not practicing.
This is not mental practice.
I'm not going through the notes, I am imagining how I'm going
to feel.
I am deciding, before I evenget there how I'm going to feel,
and visualizing feeling calm inthe situation, and that can

(10:25):
make it so much easier for mybrain to just be more calm.
Now, of course, I get nervous,like of course there's nerves
still involved, but seeing in mybrain and my mind's eye, seeing
like, okay, this is how I'mgoing to do it, I know that I
can do it like this because I'vejust pictured myself doing it
and I like that makes it feellike I can do it easier.

(10:47):
That can be the differencebetween having a calm thing, a
calm performance, and then onethat I'm just completely
frazzled by and stressed outabout.
So that's how I dovisualization.
That's kind of like a briefintroduction into how I do my
visualization, and I did it formy recital and I have an exam
reset coming up and I amplanning on doing it for that.

(11:09):
It is so helpful because we cancontrol our like our realities,
we can control our emotions, wecan control, kind of, how we
decide to to approach situationsand if we show our brain, I can
do this in a calm state even ifwe're feeling nervous this is
this, by the way does not negatenerves.

(11:30):
You're not gonna just be likethere's no nerves.
You're still gonna have nerves,but your brain will be able to
see easier.
Hopefully it can see kind oflike oh, you know, yes, I'm
feeling nervous, but I know thatI can do this because I've seen
myself do it right.
So, yeah, that's how we dovisualization and I think you
know it can be really, really,really helpful for me and I hope

(11:55):
it's helpful for you.
Before we do the recap, I haveto tell you about something
really exciting.
If you practice which I'mguessing you probably do,
because I'm guessing you're amusician obviously practicing is
super, duper, duper importantfor any performance or any
audition.
But how do we know that we arepracticing enough?
How do we know that we are, youknow, designing our practice in

(12:17):
a positive and beneficial way?
A great way to work on knowinghow we are practicing is
planning our practice, and forme, planning my practice is a
big, big big thing that I do.
It can really make thedifference between a, you know,
really focused practice sessionversus maybe a more distracted
practice session, and a greatjournal that I used for planning

(12:40):
my practice is a notablepractice journal.
I use this journal.
I love this journal.
It is seriously the best thingin planning my practice.
I can write down all the thingsthat I need to do for the day
in my practice, I can check themoff and there's even a
reflection section so that I canlook back and see what has
worked for me and what hasn't.
As soon as I found out thatthis journal was helping me, I

(13:04):
knew that I had to tell youabout it and I knew that I had
to give you a code.
So, for your own very ownpractice journal, use code
Eleanor15 for 15% off.
That is, e-l-e-a-n-o-r 15 for15% off.
There will be a link in thedescription, in the show notes,
so that you can get your journal.
And don't forget to use thecode for 15% off your journal

(13:28):
and get yourself a journal andstart planning those practice
sessions for more effective andfocused sessions, because isn't
that what we need when we are,when we are preparing for a
performance or an audition orwhatever it is that we are
preparing for?
You know me, I never recommendanything that I don't absolutely

(13:49):
love.
This code is an affiliate code,so I do receive a commission,
with no extra cost to you.
All right, let's do a quickrecap.
So the first thing, kind ofwhat is visualization?
Visualization is a kind ofmeditation where we literally
imagine a situation and thenimagine how we are going to feel

(14:11):
in that situation.
It can really really help justkind of stay calm and show our
brains that we can actually dothe thing that we need to do.
How do I use it?
A few days before theperformance, I start doing this.
I, you know, gather my thoughtsand I kind of like do some
breath work.

(14:31):
So I like I mean it's not likebreath work, it's not like old
fancy schmancy, it's literallyjust me focusing on my breath
and then imagining doing theaudition and asking questions
like how do I feel right now?
And you know what?
Like, let's imagine it.
If the room's a bit hot, let'simagine it.
If the room's a bit cold, let'simagine it.

(14:52):
If you know, my read is a bitdry, you know, and imagine
feeling okay and being like okay, we have a dry read, but it
will be okay, and imagining itstill being okay if my read is
dry, or imagining it.
You know there's lots ofdifferent ways.
Now, of course, there's aninfinite um, there are infinite
things that you can imaginehappening in your, in your
performance.

(15:13):
Don't go all out, just like,imagine it going well, and that
can really help our brains, umfeel, feel more calm and ready
for this session or for the, for, yeah, I absolutely love
visualization.
It has really been a gamechanger for me and my performing
, and I hope that it can helpyou as well.

(15:35):
So, thank you so much forhanging out with me with this
episode.
If you did enjoy it, please doshow the love, like, subscribe,
comment, send it to a friend,send it to all your friends who
have performances coming up.
And, yeah, thank you so muchfor hanging out.
Of course, as always, all thethings to do with this episode
will be in the description, inthe show notes, from the blog

(15:58):
post that has to do with thisepisode to the link for the
practice journal and the code aswell, and yeah.
So thank you so much forlistening in and I will see you
in the next episode.
All right, take care.
Bye-bye.