The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Want to get better at your music auditions? You CAN transform the way you audition and The Confident Musicianing Podcast guides you through it.
I’m Eleanor, and together we dive into concrete strategies for the before, during, and after of your audition process so that you can be better prepared and crush that performance! If you’re a music student ready to revolutionize your auditioning, let’s jump in. Tune in every Tuesday for another insight-filled episode; see you there!
The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Navigating Juilliard, Working in a Professional Orchestra, and Performing in the Tchaikovsky Competition with Max Blair
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Today we are chatting with Max Blair, the Associate Principal Oboist for the Pittsburgh Symphony. We chat all about:
- Auditioning for Julliard
- Playing in the Pittsburgh Symphony
- Surprising differences between youth symphony and professional orchestra
- Competing in the Tchaikovsky Competition (and loosing your reed equipment on the flight!)
- Effective practicing techniques
- What us younger musicians should be doing right now
This conversation is available as a blog post. Click here to read!
For more about Max Blair, click here!
And as Max said, you can contact him through his email here: mblair@pittsburghsymphony.org
Intro - Max Blair
Max BlairThe very next time I did it I kind of like you know I knew that I was going to feel things like that , but kind of was emotionally prepared for it and it was much better . It was like at least 50% better .
Your host, EleanorToday we have a very , very , very special guest . We are speaking with Max Blair . Max Blair is the Associate Principal Oboist for the Pittsburgh Symphony . He has performed as Guest Principal Oboist with the Cleveland Orchestra , the San Francisco , Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies and the Buffalo Philharmonic . He spent two seasons with the New World Symphony and in 2019 , max Blair was the only woodwind player from the United States selected to compete in the Tchaikovsky competition , which is held once every four years in St Petersburg , Russia .
Your host, EleanorHe has a master's and a bachelor from the Juilliard School and is a former adjunct professor of Oboe at Duquesne University and maintains a private studio . Hi Max , welcome to the show . Thanks for having me on . Yeah ,
Auditioning for Julliard
Your host, Eleanorlet's . Let's start right in . So let's start by talking a little bit about Juilliard . I think a lot of our listeners , when they hear that you've gone to Juilliard especially the ones who also want to go to Juilliard will be like oh my gosh , you know this is so exciting . So let's talk about your audition experience . So what was your audition experience like when you first auditioned and since , now that you're a professional and many years later , looking back on your Juilliard audition . What would you have changed ? Or maybe what are some things that were good to keep the same Like ? What are your reflections on that ?
Max BlairSure , yeah . Well , you know , auditioning for colleges is always a very intense process and it feels like a life or death thing that's happening . I started preparing you know , auditions are usually in February and March and I started preparing the previous June with the exact repertoire I was going to play . So I was pretty comfortable with everything I was playing . I performed it all several times in competitions beforehand so I felt confident .
Max BlairThere's always unexpected things that happen at auditions , so in my case they were running way , way behind , so I was sitting out of the hallway waiting for like two hours after after my time was supposed to happen waiting to play and actually ended up being kind of cool because there were , you know , several other people also waiting and we kind of formed a sense of camaraderie while we were just talking about where we came from and our hopes and expectations and things like that . The audition itself went really well . I left , I walked out of the room feeling like I'd done the absolute best I could have and like it was the best performance in my life up to that time . Wow . So in terms of things I would do differently , not much . It just went pretty well .
Your host, EleanorYeah , definitely . I love how you mentioned doing competitions beforehand . Especially when something goes well , I at least love to reflect and be like , okay , why did it go well and how can we repeat that ? And I think you know , doing competitions , having that repertoire like under your belt but like in a way that you've been like okay , I have performed this multiple times , doing mock auditions , doing recitals , all of that stuff can be so , so , so important .
Your host, EleanorSo it's great that you mentioned that and I think that that's something that maybe our listeners can take from and I mean I definitely took from when I was auditioning for music school just doing like recitals and competitions and mock auditions and as many as you possibly can , so that you can be as prepared as possible . Now many
What younger musicians can do to prepare for auditions
Your host, Eleanorof our listeners are preparing for auditions and some for university and conservatory or conservatoire auditions , maybe not necessarily just talking about your Juilliard audition , because that was something that went really well , but if you just go back and talk to your younger auditioning self , what are some things that you would want to let younger Max know ? Or what are some pieces of advice , maybe like three pieces of advice for students starting out auditioning for music school , not necessarily just in respect to your Juilliard audition , but maybe the other auditions that you did as well .
Max BlairSure . Well , yeah , just going back for a minute to the hot student competitions ahead of time . You know , I grew up in Oregon and we had solo and ensemble competitions every year , which I know that they don't have here in Pennsylvania . Um , so I started over my freshman year of high school and did those competitions every year of high school and did those competitions every year starting from when I was a freshman , so every year , for , you know , three times a year .
Max BlairI was playing a concerto from memory in a high six situation so already , by the time I had auditioned for colleges , I've had , you know , at minimum 12 experiences of playing under pressure and one thing that I kind of that I learned and regretted about my students here in Pittsburgh is that there isn't that kind of structured um competition schedule through the school system . So , like especially my first batch of students , um , you know , when they were auditioning for conservatories , it was like the first time they were ever even preparing a piece with piano oh wow so .
Max BlairSo I just wanted to stress that it wasn't only the specific repertoire I was playing that year but it was just developing performance experience in general throughout my time playing oboe .
Max BlairSo for people who are you know they're maybe a freshman or sophomore and they're thinking about wanting to go to music school , don't wait until you're a senior to start doing recitals . You know you have to like make performance opportunities for yourself if there aren't those kind of structured opportunities wherever you are . So even if that's just doing a recital just for some friends and family in your house or whatever a couple times a year , the more you can get comfortable with that , um , the better yeah , um , yeah , yeah , um , no 100 .
Your host, EleanorI think I think that that is so important . I remember um going back to when I was doing um auditions . I had a recital with a friend and we just did like our audition repertoire . But I do remember thinking like , oh , it would have been great if I was able to do more , more recitals before then . So I think you know wherever our listeners are coming from . You know , however old you are , it's never never too early or never too late to like kind of just just start performing for anyone and everyone who wants to listen , yes , especially early on .
Max BlairThe learning curve of performing is steep early on . So your first performance , you might . I started on saxophone and I remember my first ever public performance and I was just absolutely terrified mouth totally dry , shaking cold , like just . It was awful . It's actually kind of a miracle that I even continued to do music because it was such an uncomfortable experience yeah then the very next time I did it I kind of , like you know , I knew that I was going to feel things like that , but kind of was emotionally prepared for it and it was much better .
Max BlairIt was like at least 50% better . So your first , you know , four to ten , five to ten performances each one is going to get way , way better just from doing it . So you just don't want those first ones to be your college auditions .
Your host, EleanorYes , yeah , make sure you get the ones where you have the big learning curve out of the way before before yeah it really , really counts .
Max BlairYeah , and also because like I remember the first piece that I played um for those competitions I mentioned in high school was the handle g minor sonata and I remember trying to put it together with the piano like we had like eight rehearsals and it was just like I remember thinking that was so hard to put it together you know , because you're just not used to it yeah but then you know , like at Juilliard for example , you're assigned a pianist to play with you in your audition and you have like one half hour rehearsal so if you're not used to doing that .
Max BlairThat could be a very stressful thing to deal with yeah , there's just so many , so many like skills you need to develop kind of like get comfortable with in order to be successful , yeah yeah , 100 , 100 .
Max BlairUm yeah , especially with the , with the piano , because I feel like the piano is something that you might not necessarily realize will be hard , but it can be very , very , very difficult .
Max BlairYeah , it's just something that you're not . It's just a new skill . You're used to hearing the rhythm as it exists in your own internal world but , having to line that up with another person can be a little jarring for the first time . Yeah , same thing with pitch . You know a lot for a lot of young players . Um , they tend to play quite sharp . So , if you're not used to like matching the pitch of a piano , it can feel very jarring to like have to aim all the notes in like a totally different direction yes um , so just , there's just so many little things to to get good at , you know yeah , no , 100 percent .
Your host, EleanorUm , yeah , I mean that's . I think that's . It's extremely insightful for for anyone who is about to go through auditions , because by by the time this episode comes out , it will be time to start thinking about auditions for the people who will be auditioning this school year . So , yeah , very , very much . So that's very insightful . Let's talk about your time in the Pittsburgh Symphony . Many of our listeners might be considering pursuing playing in an orchestra when they finish
Surprising differences between youth and professional orchestra
Your host, Eleanoruniversity . So if we kind of envision your 18 year old self again , you were in youth orchestra . What are a few things about being in a professional orchestra that are different from being in a youth orchestra that maybe you hadn't realized or maybe came as a surprise to you or maybe would have been a surprise to you when you were in youth orchestra ?
Max BlairYeah , I mean , well , the biggest thing is just the amount of concerts that there are . You know we have two or three concerts every weekend , different repertoire every week . So compared to a youth orchestra where you rehearse one program for like three months and then do one concert of it , that's a huge change . And even when you're at conservatory you know you're only going to play like two maybe three orchestra cycles per semester . So that's the biggest transition . I was very happy to have had my time at New World because it does operate on basically a professional schedule .
Max BlairYou have concerts every week and at different record bars all the time , and that was a good experience as a transition for me and for Obelisk , or the biggest part of that , is keeping up with the reads I mean there's a big difference from going from . You know you have to have a read for your lesson once a week and for one or first of all a week , yeah , and you have . You're like expected to sound good every day and consistent , and that's so for oboe players especially that's .
Max BlairThe biggest difference is just having your day-to-day read be at a professional level or I remember , you know , I started playing on my old reads from the end of my junior year of high school , but it was I was not in a position to have , you know , a good enough read every weekend . I remember thinking every time that you had a concert , like you know , I was like saving a read for a couple weeks and it was like my miracle read of the month and like that was my one that I was saving . Now you just can't do that .
Your host, EleanorI mean you have to be able to sound the way you're going to sound in the concert in every rehearsal and there's two or three concerts every orchestra and kind of keeping up with that . You know , actually that's something that I didn't think about , I mean . So that's really really insightful , especially from an oboist point of view , because reeds can be either our best friends or our worst enemies and there's no way of telling which way it's going to go .
Max BlairYeah , the other thing is that you know when you're in a professional orchestra you have a particular position , like I'm associated with . So I play principal oboe . Sometimes I play third oboe if it's easy . For that , majority of the time I'm playing principal , the person who's second oboe or second flute or whatever . They only play second oboe or second flute and so I think people get into more . Like you , refine that particular skill set . Like to me , having to play second oboe on something would be really terrifying because it's just a totally different set of skills . You have to make the reeds differently . It's a totally different mindset . So I think , compared to youth orchestra where there's a lot of rotation and and maybe that you know , maybe the situation is that you have to play a second oboe on the first piece and then the second piece is something with a huge oboe solo and you have to just switch and be ready to go on that .
Max BlairYou know , that at least doesn't happen in professional orchestra , because you kind of get a little more specialized .
Your host, EleanorYeah , for sure , for sure . No , that's , I guess , probably a relief to you , especially when you're making your own reads , um . But yeah , I think I mean personally , I feel like having that those switching around in youth orchestra can be so helpful and so good because , you know , everyone gets . I mean , it's about experience , so everyone gets the experience that they want , um . But then , when it comes to professional , it's a bit more focused and it's a bit more like okay , you're doing this and that's kind of what you're doing . Um , yeah , which can , which can be definitely a relief in terms of oboists and making reads .
Your host, EleanorUm , when I was doing research
Max's Tchaikovsky Competition Experience
Your host, Eleanorfor this episode , I saw that you competed in the Tchaikovsky competition in 2019 . That is a really prestigious competition and a very impressive achievement . I watched the video because there's a video online of the performance , and I watched it and it was mind-blowing . I was like very excited . I'm very inspired after it and we can also , if anyone wants , to go check that out . We will be putting that in the show notes as well , so make sure you go check that out . But that I mean it was very cool . So what was your preparation for that competition when you were nearing it ? So maybe not when you were first getting familiar with the pieces , but maybe two or three weeks before the competition .
Max BlairSure , yeah , that was so . The C competition traditionally has been just strings and piano , so that year was actually the first year they had woodwinds and because of that I think it was possibly that was the reason that it was quite disorganized . So like we only found out who was invited to come play in the live rounds like a month beforehand , oh , wow .
Max BlairSo I only started learning the music literally like four weeks before . So it was a bit crammed , I would say , but I enjoy that . I think I tend to thrive under those kind of situations . As associate , I also have to step in if the principal has something come up , and sometimes I have to play things at the last minute , and I always really enjoy those kind of sort of high stakes situations . So maybe it was well suited to me . But yeah , I mean I kind of knocked out the initial preparation , learning the music and deciding my interpretations and all that kind of , in the first week I guess , and then the next few weeks , couple weeks . It was more about just doing a lot of run-throughs . I had memorized most of the repertoire for it , just making sure I could comfortably do it from memory . Endurance is a big issue for oboe in a recital setting .
Max BlairWhat I usually do when I'm playing a recital is make sure I can play each piece back to back three times so I'll play whatever piece and then play it again , and then play it again and I feel like if I can get through it the third time , then I feel confident that I'll be able to get through it in a pressured situation . So a lot , of , a lot of run-throughs , a lot of running through in different acoustics , but I'd run through it at home at the hall , in different rehearsal rooms at the hall , and also with different reads , sometimes with good reads , sometimes with bad reads , just trying to feel like whatever ends up happening at the competition . I'll be kind of prepared for it . And actually it was a little bit crazy because like we had a PSO concert like on Sunday , like Sunday matinee .
Your host, EleanorYeah .
Max BlairAnd then I had to like fly to Russia immediately after . So the concert ended and I took an Uber from the hall to the airport Wow and went directly to Russia . And anyway the flight . It was like Chicago , Pittsburgh to Chicago , Chicago to Warsaw and then Warsaw to St Petersburg , and one of the legs was delayed and my bag ended up not arriving in St Petersburg , and that is important because they had my read equipment in there and my .
Max BlairMy usual strategy when I travel is that I bring like almost finished reads and then finish them there , just to make sure that they're not going to change based on the elevation or whatever .
Max BlairSo I had all these unfinished reads and no read equipment to be able to finish them so like on the first day I got there I told the organized organizers about that and they were like shuttling me all over St Petersburg to like the various professional football players , like seeing if they had equipment I could use . And I was so jet-lagged I hadn't slept like 30 hours and I was like I'm going to sleep and it was just a nightmare . And then they were trying to take me sightseeing and stuff and I was like I really just want to go back to the Belvedere . Yeah , that was crazy . And then we drew numbers for the order and I thought , okay , it was like 48 people , 12 for each woodwind instrument . So I thought if I draw a late number then I'll have enough days to get my bag and then finish my reads before I have to play .
Max BlairBut of course I drew number three so I was supposed to play on the first day , like the very next day , and the organizers were very gracious and after some discussion they did move me , so I played . Actually I was the very last person to play okay um . So anyway it was .
Your host, EleanorIt was a very strange situation yeah , yeah , I feel I mean your adrenaline must have been like a really high at that point um , it was more like dread .
Max BlairIt was like there's just no way at this point , this is gonna go well yeah you're just so thrown off and um , but anyway it was , it was fun anyway . I mean , I've always kind of um preferred like solo playing , like in a recital setting um compared to everything else I do for chamber music and orchestra , so I try to just enjoy it and take it for what it was .
Your host, EleanorYeah , no 100% . That is definitely an experience and I think that it goes to show that , like I mean , I watched your program and it was very , very impressive .
Showing confidence when performing
Your host, EleanorSo I think that goes to show that kind of even if in the background things might be going crazy , um people like we can still um play well or as best we can in the moment yeah , and make it work .
Max BlairYeah , it's also a responsibility as performers not to show that stuff to the audience , like even if you're feeling feeling terrible about how you're playing or you're whatever any other thing like you have to present to the audience like everything's fine and and like you are enjoying yourself and you love this music , because that's a big part of you know .
Max Blairit's a communicative art , so the audience will pick up on those kind of things and it will inhibit their ability to access what you're trying to say with the music . Yeah , so that's a big thing too .
Your host, EleanorYeah , that's , that's really important . I think I feel like a lot of times , I mean in my experience , when I do auditions , I've actually I've gotten a lot of comments from people saying you , you seem very confident , like , why ? Like lot of comments from people saying you , you seem very confident , like , why ? Like I , I remember like I don't know and it's I find it strange , but people will come up to me and be like you seem so chill , like you seem so confident . How are you so confident ?
Your host, EleanorAnd I mean other than the I , I have like a a small temptation to be like well , here's a podcast about it , but um , but I , I think it's because you know I've worked on kind of putting , I mean inside I might be very stressed , but kind of focusing on like presenting . I feel like you know when you , when you get there , even if you're not playing , you're still in performance mode . Like , you're still like even waiting outside um , or talking to . You know , if you're talking to , especially like one of the judges or one of the people who put it together , um , you are very much in performance mode and and it's not just about the playing , um , because you know people , it's it's an awful thing , but people make judgments about you even before they hear . You know your first note , so yeah , that I mean that's that's really important to to touch on , because , because , the whole thing is performance yeah , it also affects your own mindset .
Max BlairI had a really interesting experience around this . The first summer I went to Verbier , which is the summer festival in Switzerland . I went for the first time when I was 20 , and the average age there is like 26 , maybe . So , I was like one of the younger people and just a lot of other stuff happened leading up to it .
Max BlairI missed my flight to Europe . There was a lot of other stuff happened leading up to it . I missed my flight to Europe . There was a lot of external things . Anyway , I got there and I was just not feeling good about the situation and that kind of endured for the first few weeks of the festival .
Max BlairI was kind of struggling and then eventually I was playing principal on the first act of Beveled Jurassic with Ghergiev conducting , and there was in that first act there's a lot of touchy woodwind moments where there's intonation things and soft attacks and oboe solos and I don't know he said Ghergiev said in addressing those passages it wasn't specifically directed at me , but it was really important for me to hear at that time .
Max BlairIt was , like you know , the first thing you need to do is just play Like , just play out and play confidently , even if you don't feel like it .
Max BlairAnd if it's too loud or if it's out of tune or whatever , we'll address that . And it doesn't have to be , you know , a personal slight against you as a person . It's just , we'll just work on it . And so I just pick from that , like exactly what we're talking about , where , even if you don't feel you have to play confidently and then pick whatever issues may come up , but you're first offering me to be one of , you know , sort of extroverted confidence and just forthright playing and then deal with the details later . And that was really a turning point for me as an orchestral player , like when I got back to school the following year , you know , my playing in orchestra was like much better and totally different .
Your host, EleanorJust , um , yeah , more , whatever that is yeah a bit more confident yeah yeah , 100% , I think yeah , if you can kind of trick your mind into feeling confident through just doing the motions and then your brain follows that , that can definitely be a hack for feeling confident 100% .
Max Blair's effective practice sessions
Your host, EleanorMax Blair , what does an effective practice session look like to you ?
Max BlairThat's a good question . So a lot of my practicing these days takes place while I'm making a read . So I'll make a read , I'll be working on a read and that is close to something I would play in orchestra . So I'll take 15 or 20 minutes and play stuff on it to practice . It's rare that I have a sit down and practice session these days . Mostly only I do that if I have a recital or something coming up . So I have different kinds of practice sessions . So if I'm learning a new solo piece , I have the kind of practice session where I'm making my interpretation of the piece I go through and .
Max BlairI mark in my breath , I change articulations or decide articulations if that's appropriate for the piece , decide dynamics , figure out phrasing , all that kind of stuff . And I really enjoy that kind of practice session where you're really making your decisions . And then another kind is more like I was talking about before , which is kind of a run-through . So once you've made your decisions about the piece then it's run-through a lot in different kind of situations , sometimes back-to-back or whatever , about the piece . Then I just run through it a lot in different kind of situations , sometimes back to back or whatever . And then for orchestra , you know , I have a lot of depending on again what the piece is . If it's something I haven't played before , like for example , we just did the Tchaikovsky Manfred's symphony , which I had never played or and didn't know at all . So sometimes I'll do some like listening to the recording and following along with my part or the score , and I consider that a kind of practice session . If it's something awkward to put together , like rhythmically , sometimes I'll play along with the recording .
Max BlairThat helps me like get a feel for what it's going to be like in the orchestra and who to listen to stuff like that get a feel for what it's going to be like in the orchestra and who to listen to , stuff like that .
Your host, EleanorYeah , I think that that's very interesting . I think , um , what we can kind of gather from that is that there are multiple different types of practice sessions and it's okay to have different types of practice sessions . I feel like I mean , at least in my experience if , if I , you know , have a practice session where it's not exactly like all of the other ones in terms of like it's this , you know , like it's an hour , or it is this and I do this , that and the other just like I did yesterday , I kind of feel like it's not good . But I think in that situation we need to kind of realize , okay , there are different types of practice sessions . If you have a practice session where you're just focusing on playing , then that's great . If you have one where you sit down for 15 minutes because a read needs to be adjusted , that's fine too . I think , kind of just , I guess , giving ourselves grace in terms of being like okay yeah , things will look different from day to day a little bit .
Max BlairYeah , um , it's a fine line , I will say . When I was still a student , especially at Juilliard , I was very structured about my practicing . So what I would usually do would be have three practice sessions in the day . The first one would be , you know , early morning , like right after I wake up , and it'd be an hour of just fundamentals exercises scales , long tones , work with a tuner work on double timing or vibrato , things like that .
Max BlairMy next practice session would be , um , you know , etudes or orchestral repertoire or whatever we had coming up in oboe class , those kind of things . And then my third grad possession would be like solo repertoire or more like fun things that I wanted to play and that did evolve a bit .
Max BlairI started taking professional auditions when I was a third-year undergrad at Juilliard , so once I started doing more of those then the practice sessions became more of a gear toward excerpts and things like that . But for young musicians definitely I would say my current model of practicing is not what they should do , definitely should be more structured , with a big focus on fundamentals . Learning pieces it's just really not that important . It's more about developing your fundamental skills on the instrument and we can use pieces to kind of address those things or figure out what we need to work on . And of course the ultimate goal is to play pieces , play real music , and we do want to have fun playing instruments , so you want to play pieces . We do want to have fun playing instruments , so you want to play pieces . But for people who are really serious , it's going to be mostly about just commitment to a structured routine of fundamentals and sticking with that , regardless of whether or not you feel like it , and kind of taking a more long-term approach .
Your host, EleanorYeah , definitely . I think that's really interesting , especially with the contrast between , like , maybe , a professional's practice session versus someone who is younger . So , just to kind of recap , focusing on fundamentals and by that you mean just so that we can make sure , um , we're all on the same page . You mean , like , um , scales and arpeggios and long tones and vibrato and tonguing all that right ?
Max Blairyeah , I guess like fundamentals . Yeah , those would be like the things you do to address fundamentals . Fundamentals , but what fundamentals are are home production , quality of sound , intonation , technical facility , vibrato , articulation . Those are like the fundamental abilities , and the things that you mentioned are the exercises we use to develop those skills .
Your host, EleanorYes , okay , that makes sense . Actually , that's really insightful because I feel like a lot of us , especially younger musicians , can maybe go through the motions without actually putting our head into it , and that isn't as effective . So I guess something that we can pull from this is an effective practice session . Looks like you are kind of always analyzing things and kind of doing exercises for a goal to get better .
Max BlairFor that um to to get better for that . So yeah , doing things by rote . I mean there is , I would say there's , there's , some room for doing things by rote , like skill exercises , things like that . I mean , obviously the 100 most ideal bryde session is going to be mindful , always asking yourself questions , always consciously doing it . But there is a certain amount of work , especially I think of like double tonguing , where you just kind of have to develop the muscle involved , where it is kind of just rote , like just go for the next 20 minutes and let the muscle develop . But you're right , the best type of thing is not going through the motions , it's using these exercises as exploratory tools to to figure out how to play the instrument .
Your host, EleanorBasically , yeah , 100 , yeah . So that that is that is really really helpful I know that this . This next
What younger musicians should be working on right now
Your host, Eleanorum topic is a little bit kind of similar to this one , but um kind of expanding on on this one . You have experience with coaching younger musicians from your work at duquesne university and also your private studio . In your experience , um , what is maybe other than fundamentals , because we have talked about that ? But what is ? One thing that you think younger musicians and music students should be working on more at this stage of their journeys .
Max BlairSure , the first thing I would say which is not exactly answering this question but the first thing would be making sure that this is something they would want to do . Sure that this is something they would want to do . Like you know , people maybe have different degrees of knowledge about it , but it's just unbelievably competitive to get a job in this field and for most people going to a conservatory , you're going to take out a lot of student loans and there's just absolutely no guarantee of employment afterwards so I'd say , like the first step , before even asking the question of , like , what to be working on is , do I love this so much that I'm willing to kind of
Max Blairbasically risk everything for it . There's nothing else I could possibly do and I also believe I can do it . You know like it needs to start from that conviction . I'd say yeah , um , because even people you know I have friends who were at Juilliard with me and you know they're from like the top music school in the country and they still haven't won a position in a professional orchestra , and it's it's not because they're not great players , it's because there's just so few positions and more and more the level of playing is higher and higher . So that would be step one I think that I'd want to stress to anybody . It's like really think about this and make sure it's what you want to do because , it's not easy and there's no guarantee .
Your host, EleanorYeah .
Max BlairThe next thing I would say that students don't do enough of is developing their concept of playing . So before doing anything I mean not before doing anything on the instrument , but simultaneously with developing your skills on the instrument is thinking about how you want to sound , what you want to do on the instrument . So I see a lot of people not singing enough to listening , not listening to enough ideas of players , not going to concerts and getting inspired and hearing things that they want to incorporate in their own playing .
Max BlairThat would be one very big thing . And the other thing is kind of especially now . This was difficult when I was a student because , you know , social media wasn't as ubiquitous and it wasn't really possible to do but keeping up with your peers , like listening to recordings of people around your age that maybe have posted online and trying to see where the general level is at and assessing , you know , am I keeping up with this level ? Am I much lower ? Am I much better ? You know , that was something when I auditioned for conservatories . I had absolutely no idea if I was going to be laughed out of the room as a joke or if I was going to be pushed to it Anywhere in the room . I had no idea . These days , I think it's much more possible to kind of figure out where you stack up .
Your host, EleanorYeah .
Max BlairAnd another good way of doing that is to apply for summer programs , for example , like UTI , boston University's Engelwood Institute . You could apply to something like that , see if you get in , that's already a good indicator , and then , when you're there , see what the level . Apply to something like that , see if you get in , that's already a good indicator , and then , when you're there , see if it's a level of lack of other players . Yeah , because those things just kind of guide some of your decisions and also like guide what you should be working on .
Max BlairSo if you realize
Using social media and festivals for inpiration and guidance
Max Blairthat everyone else can whatever articulate much faster than you then , you realize , okay , okay , articulation is a weakness of mine , but I think my sound is way better than them . So then you kind of know like the size in your practice that way ?
Your host, Eleanoryeah , that's really interesting .
Your host, EleanorI think um especially like going to festivals and I think as well like youth orchestra , kind of seeing whether , like how , you fare compared to other people .
Your host, EleanorI think , when we talk about social media , I think social media is a really really , really helpful tool for hearing what people around you and people your age are playing . I think , as someone who does post on social media and who does post , um , like you know , practice videos and performance videos , I think something that is good to kind of just remind ourselves , because I have been kind of a victim of this in terms of um , comparing ourselves too much because social media , I mean social media like we only share the good things , right , and as someone , as someone who , as someone who does share stuff on social media , like I do share sometimes mistakes , especially if they're funny , but most of the things you know , most of the like , like the you know in the practice session , struggling stuff I don't necessarily share , and I know that a lot of other people who share stuff on social media don't necessarily share either . So I think , um , looking on social media and doing that is a great idea , but I think as well just to kind of counterbalance that and be like , okay , you know these people are doing these amazing things , but you know , and maybe maybe I need to like do this or , or maybe this is , this is good or whatever it is but also understand that those same people are getting frustrated and making mistakes in the practice room , and because the people who are good tend to work on stuff that they're not so good at in the practice room . So it's not all like . You know everyone .
Max BlairEveryone just sounds great and I think that , that I mean yeah , yeah , I think I would assume that what people are posting like that's their best day this month yeah , I think , as long as you approach it with that kind of mindset , like they're not sounding like that every day , yeah yeah , and it can be healthy yeah yes , no , but I think I think I mean I have been someone who has you had to maybe take a break from looking at other people on social media because I compare myself and it's not necessarily like fair comparing right .
Your host, EleanorIt's like , okay , I'm comparing their best day with the practice session that I just had that I really struggled through .
Max BlairSo I think that you know , having that it can go both ways , Like at some point . If that keeps happening , one has to ask oneself okay , maybe I really am not keeping up with these people . Yeah . But also you have to have the perspective that , yes , this is probably this person's bad and they're posting it because they think it sounds good , you know . And then you know , listen based on like , maybe don't listen to that right after you've just had a bad practice session or something .
Your host, EleanorExactly kind of thinking of it .
Max BlairYeah , one thing that's difficult and that I wish I did better when I was younger , was really listening objectively , like I would hear people that I thought especially this happened more like once I got into college age and summer festival stuff and I'd hear people that were objectively better than me and I would get really like jealous and I would .
Max BlairI found myself like trying to convince myself that , oh , actually I'm better , but just blah , blah , blah , blah xyz . Yeah , you know , what I wish I had done was look more objectively and said , okay , they are better , what are they doing better that I want to incorporate into my playing how are they ?
Max Blairdoing that like , are there , you know ? Are they better at everything across the board , or is it just one particular skill ? But what's not helpful is to just kind of construct this illusion for yourself that , oh well , it's just their best playing and it's not a fair comparison and blah blah . I mean there is some element of that that's healthy , but it's also , you know , can become a little bit of a coping mechanism .
Max BlairSo I think what I wish I had done better was have just a more like less emotional bit , more objective , um , and a perspective when looking at my peers and their playing level 100% .
Your host, EleanorThis actually goes back to I'm pretty sure it was like either episode three or episode four um of the podcast . So , like way at the beginning I was talking about , you know , listening objectively rather than emotionally , and that's actually something that Professor Titus Underwood , who teaches at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory , told me about . And I think , you know , listening objectively rather than emotionally is so , so , so important , because then we can kind of start to get not only kind of critical about it but also a little bit inspired , and I think that can really be a good motivator of like , okay , this person sounds really good . You know , maybe their tone is great or their articulation is great . I can't wait to get into the practice session or the practice room and really , you know , start working on that . So , yeah , no , that's , that's really really um , really cool to to touch on .
Max BlairYeah , and I think that it takes a lot of maturity and a lot of um , I don't know fortitude as a person because it's easy to look at like , for example , professional players like I would go see uh , whatever performed as a metropolitan opera or cleveland orchestra and see my teachers play and I'd be blown away by their playing and I had no problem feeling inspired by that . But if I went to a juilliard orchestra concert and saw my classmate play something that sounded amazing , then the temptation not to be inspired but to be kind of like once there . So yeah , it's not an easy thing to do .
Max BlairI mean , our identities are tied up in in how , how we are level at yeah . So yeah , it's challenging , but try to find . To try to find to find that maturity and that strength and sort of resolve , I guess , to be able to acknowledge when something is good and better than yourself . That's not easy , but I think it's important .
Your host, EleanorYeah , no , 100% is very , very , very important . Yeah , I mean I'm really glad that we touched on that and we chatted about that because I think that that's really important to touch on , touched on that and we we chatted about that because I think that that's that's really important to touch on , um just kind of talking about we're we're nearing the end of this um episode
What Max is up to
Your host, Eleanor. What do you have coming up like in terms of maybe your personal um music stuff , or maybe with the Pittsburgh Symphony , what are some fun things that are coming up , music wise , for you ?
Max Blairoh Well , we've got two weeks left in our classical season of the PSL , so this week and next week , and then that's pretty much it for me , playing-wise , until our European tour at the end of August .
Your host, EleanorOoh , where are you going ?
Max BlairWe're going to Germany , austria and Italy . So , PSL tours Europe pretty much every other year , sometimes one and a half years depending , and we pretty much always go to Germany and Austria , partially because our music director is Austrian . So he likes to go there , but also , the important festivals in Europe are in those countries , so we do always go there . The important festivals in Europe are in those countries , so we do always go there , and then usually one or two other countries are tacked on to that .
Your host, EleanorYeah , that's . I mean , that's very exciting and I know that we do have listeners . I know 100% from Germany and also from Austria and from Italy . So if you , guys are in those countries and you want to go see Max perform , there will be a link in the show notes for that . That's very , very , very exciting and I hope you have a great time on that tour it sounds very cool .
Max BlairYeah they're fun , they're often stressful . It's like you know . A lot of times you get into the city at like 2 pm and then you have a concert that evening at 8 or whatever , and then you leave again the next day . So sometimes it's like bam , bam bam . There are some breaks built into the schedule here and there , but yeah , depending on what the repertoire is on any given tour , it can range from relaxing and enjoyable to unbelievably stressful .
Your host, EleanorYeah , yeah , no , 100% , that makes sense . That makes sense . Where can ? If people want to find you online or maybe like find your biography or maybe some recordings of you online , where can people go for that ?
Max BlairWell , I don't have much of an online presence . I don't use any social media , so nothing there . But on the PSO website my bio is there and I'd be happy to give out my email if anyone wants to get in touch or whatever , if that would be useful .
Your host, EleanorIf that's okay with you , we can definitely put that in the show notes . Yeah , no , 100% , all right , well , that
Final thoughts
Your host, Eleanor, unless there's anything else that you want to touch on . Is there anything else you want to touch on ?
Max BlairI don't think so . I think we covered a lot yeah , I know it was .
Your host, EleanorIt was a very , very , very good conversation . That is about it for this episode . Thank you so much for listening . As always , all of the stuff to do with this episode will be in the show notes , from the blog post that goes with this episode to all of the links that we discussed about . Do yourself a favor and check those show notes because , let's be honest , there's some good stuff in there , and if you want to show your love and support for the Confident Musicianing Podcast , make stuff in there . And if you want to show your love and support for the confident musician , podcast .
Max BlairMake sure you give it a follow max . Thank you so much for coming on . It was . It was amazing chatting with you .
