Want Something to Go Well? Envision It First

I recently did a competition, and it went SO WELL. How did I do well? I envisioned the success. In every little detail -- showing my brain I can do it. That is what we dive into today.

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Click here for the episode blogpost

Click here for episode 19: Wanna Capture The Panel In An Audition? Tell Your Story

Your Audition Guidebook? Click here.

Transcript

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Envisioning Success in Music Auditions

Speaker 1 0:01

I was recently a winner of a music competition . My audition was at 9am and the night before , to be honest , I was nervous , but without realising it , I did something that completely changed the game for me and my nerves . I envisioned winning . I sat down and I imagined winning every single detail , and that is exactly what happened . Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast . I'm your host , eleanor , and , after countless practice sessions , a ton of broken reeds and seven different music school acceptances in three different countries , I have learned a thing or two about savoring your practicing , becoming your best practice companion and actively working towards your musical goals , and I want to share this with you because I want you to become your best musical self . Are you with me on this ? Let's get started . Hey there and welcome .

Speaker 1 1:04

I recently played an audition that I was absolutely blown away by . I played really well , I answered the interview questions really thoughtfully and I succeeded . One thing that I did really helped me to be more comfortable in that audition , and that is what we are going to dive into today . Now , the

We can't succeed without actually preparing

Speaker 1 1:23

first thing to think about is this can't actually happen without preparing . We , in this episode , are going to be talking all about envisioning success and making sure your brain has a pathway forward for actually doing well . But obviously we can't actually do that unless we have prepared . So for this audition , I spent months preparing for it . I planned all the answers for the interview questions , even though I didn't know the questions . I just kind of thought what do I want to talk about , which is actually something that we dive right into in episode 19, ? Want to capture the panel in that audition , share your story In that episode ? We dive into all things sharing your story and telling the panel what you want them to know .

Speaker 1 2:09

So if that sounds like a podcast episode for you , go check that out . It is in the show notes . So anyway , I practiced an absolute ton . So that is a given . We obviously need to practice . And if you want to learn all about the best ways of practicing , how to practice , but you don't want to scroll through a podcast episode after podcast episode to find the right ones for you , well , you're in luck , my friend , because there is a practice playlist just for you with the top practice episodes from the podcast . So sign up for that to get that right in your inbox so you don't have to scroll . They are ready to download right in your inbox so you can listen to them on the go . So make sure to go check that out . It is in the show notes .

Speaker 1 2:57

So

How I envisioned vivid success

Speaker 1 2:58

, after you have prepared and you are ready in that sense , the night before I sat down and I went through the audition in my head as vividly as possible . Now , this only took about 15 minutes , but it was absolute

Imagining the senses in the situation

Speaker 1 3:13

focus . Our mind is the powerhouse of all things we do and I wanted to make sure that it was on board with doing well in this audition . Luckily , I knew what the room looked like that I would be auditioning in and even if you don't know what the room looks like that you're going to be auditioning in , the feeling is the same how you want to feel , how you want to perform and how you want to share who you are and your story with the panel . So I sat down , I closed my eyes , I imagined walking in , playing , answering the questions , leaving and getting the call that I had won . I even put on the music that I would be playing and mentally went through playing it as well .

Speaker 1 3:54

In every step of this I thought of a few things how will this feel , how will this sound , smell , look like , etc . I wanted my senses to be calm , so I envisioned how I wanted to feel . For instance , how am I going to feel when I play this piece ? How am I going to feel when the judges are scribbling things down versus when they're just looking at me ? How will maybe I'll be set up , you know , with a piano or things like that ? Absolutely everything . How am I going be set up , you know , with a piano or things like that ? Absolutely everything . How am I going to set up my oboe ? How am I going to feel packing down after the audition ? Now , in my head I saw the panel . I don't know what they would look like . To be honest , I didn't know how I was going to be set up in terms of where the piano was , and it was in a different spot than I envisioned . But that's okay . The fact that I had envisioned something and my brain had a pathway forward of like , yes , we can do that , because I just saw it , I just imagined it , and so I know that we can , that is what is important .

Speaker 1 4:56

I imagined answering questions first , then playing , and then I switched it playing first , then answering questions because I didn't really know the order , but I really played around with it . This lasted about 15 minutes , but what counted was that I had seen it . I had seen my success . I had seen my audition . I had seen how I wanted to play and , even if it was imagined , my mind had seen it . That

Making success more tangible

Speaker 1 5:24

made it feel much more tangible and possible to do In the audition itself . Of course , it was a little different . The piano was in a different spot . There were , you know , I had never met the panel before , so it was a little different from how I imagined . But the feelings I had were there the feelings of confidence , the feelings of calm , the feelings of after I play my piece . I'm going to be really excited to answer the questions . All of that that I had thought of were out there . You know , as I have struggled and worked through audition seasons , I have tested out and collected strategies for all aspects of the auditioning process , including what to do right before . This is to go into a guidebook , especially for you . There's a link all about this in the show notes .

How can this apply to you

Speaker 1 6:09

Now the last thing to kind of think about is how can this apply to you ? It doesn't necessarily have to just be for auditions . It can be for a masterclass or a lesson that you want to go . Well , just sit down for maybe 15 minutes maybe even 10 , and focus on your breath and think about how you want to feel , think about how you want to do in this situation , every possible detail of that experience .

Facing failure through this

Speaker 1 6:35

Now let's be real here . You're not going to win absolutely every audition . And if you do this for absolutely every audition , you're probably still not going to win every audition , and that is absolutely okay . The fact that you are envisioning the process with your mind will help your mind feel more calm in the auditions that you do . And if you don't succeed in every audition , or you don't succeed in this audition , that is absolutely fine . You tried your best and you use tactics that will help you succeed in the auditions that are coming up ahead . So just remember that every musician has failed in an audition before every single one of them , okay .

Recap

Speaker 1 7:17

So let's do a bit of a recap . First thing , this can't happen without actually preparing . Make sure you actually practice that is kind of a given and also get your practice playlist If you want to learn about practicing . It is in the show notes , so make sure you sign up for that .

Speaker 1 7:32

The night before , I sat down and went through all of the audition in my head as vividly as possible , absolutely every detail , and it's okay that the details changed in real life . The thing that was really important was the feeling of it , the feeling of calm , the feeling of confidence , the feeling of , yes , I have seen this in my head , that I can do this , so I'm actually going to do this in real life . Then remember , how can you apply this ? It doesn't necessarily have to be for auditions . It could be for auditions , but it also could be for a masterclass or a lesson that you really want to go well , or anything . Really think about imagining it with your mind so that your mind can be like yeah , we can do this because we just saw it right . Your brain is such a powerhouse , so use it to your ability . Okay , all right

Final thoughts

Speaker 1 8:18

, that's about it for this episode . Thank you so much for listening . No-transcript .