The Confident Musicianing Podcast

3 Things I Learned From Working With A Top Symphony Player

• Eleanor

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Working with a professional orchestral musician changed my oboe career... and my life. I learned so many valuable lessons. So today we are diving into 3 lessons I learned from working with Max Blair, the Associate Principal Oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

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Your host, Eleanor:

throughout my time working with him. I'm like you know what. That attitude, that situation is not serving me and I just pushed it out the door and it was gone. 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. Best musical self. Are you with me on this? Let's get started.

Your host, Eleanor:

When I started working with the Associate Principal Ovoist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, I was so excited and since working with him for a little over three years now, there are some lessons that I have picked up along the way. Today we are diving into three things that I learned from working with a symphony player, one that graduated from Juilliard and is now in the Pittsburgh Symphony, and that person is Max Blair. And if you don't know already, we have a conversation with Max Blair, already up and ready for you to listen to, so that is going to be in the show notes. It is episode 32, navigating Juilliard, working in a Professional Orchestra and Performing in the Tchaikovsky Competition with Max Blair. So if you want to listen to that, make sure you go check out those show notes. But let's dive into some things that I learned from working with a top symphony player. The first is to expect more of yourself. Now, there are two ways of going about this. The first is how I tried. Before I started working with this teacher and, let's be honest, it's a little vulnerable to talk about I tried through negative thoughts, through beating myself up, through disliking everything I did and not being satisfied with anything. Spoiler alert, that got me nowhere. But then, when I started working with Max, I started expecting the best that I can do, but from a different approach, from an inspired one, from one that didn't beat myself up in a negative way. I just knew that I could keep going and do better because I believed in myself, and that's the difference. That is a whole different way to look at it, and it made it so that I was excited to learn and get better, and I did definitely improve.

Your host, Eleanor:

Now, a quick way to get into the habit of inspiring yourself is celebrating yourself, and something that I didn't have when I was working with this symphony player, but something that I have created just for you so that you can start celebrating yourself in an easy way, is the standing ovation series. Sign up and for three days, you will get one email per day celebrating the practicing work that you put in that day and inspiring you for the next day, just like your own personal standing ovation because, let's be honest, we all want those. But there is one rule you can't open the email until you have finished your practicing for the day. So are you ready to get motivated and celebrate you? Because I certainly am. Check the link in the show notes and I'll see you there. So, just going back, expecting more of yourself, but in a calm, in a patient way, in a way that celebrates your wins but also is like okay, that was great, I'm so excited to see where we go now. Okay, that is so, so, so beneficial and such a change from how I was thinking before I worked with the symphony player. So that mindset has been everything and, to be honest, that's kind of what inspired me to start this podcast.

Your host, Eleanor:

The next thing is to find something to learn from in every situation. Last summer I didn't have as much practice time as I had hoped for and usually I would have more time, but at that moment in my life I just was pressed for time. So I worked on making my practice more efficient. More importantly, I changed my mindset from oh no, I don't have as much practice time to here is a great opportunity to learn how to be more efficient in the practice time that I have. And I remember going to Max in one of my lessons and him being like um, I was talking about the fact that I do not have as much practice time, but I put it to him in a way of like this is a chance for me to learn how to be more effective, and we both agreed that that was a great opportunity to learn in that specific moment. So that was amazing. You know that was great.

Your host, Eleanor:

So every situation in music is going to teach you something. Every failure, every success, every challenge. It is going to teach you something and what I have learned is to learn from it and find in everything an opportunity to learn and try something new. So I challenge you to see that in every situation that you go into I mean we're thinking of music. You can think of it in other aspects of your life as well. But let's say, you know, if you don't have as much practice time, that is a great opportunity to learn how to be more effective in your practice time. Or if you say, if you're an oboist or a bassoon player or whatever, and you don't have as much as many reads as you had hoped for, maybe this is a great time to learn how to get better at making reads. All of these things are ways to learn from situations that might not be the best, so I challenge you to do that.

Your host, Eleanor:

The next thing, the last thing, is to try not to be defensive. Okay, this is a little personal and something. When I was like writing this script for this podcast episode, I was like do we want to go here? But I think that this is important to go here. This is something that I'm working on, but sometimes I tend to get defensive, especially when it is about something that I have worked hard. But sometimes I tend to get defensive, especially when it is about something that I have worked hard on. I mean, you know the feeling you work on something for a whole week and you have thought you really worked on it. You've thought that it's gotten better and better and better and you're so excited to show it, only for your teacher to point out that you are not doing it enough in your lesson. And there is that temptation to get defensive and to be like but I worked so hard on it, because sometimes we just want the recognition for the work that we have put in. But one thing that I've really learned is that things will be pointed out even if you have worked on them a ton. It does not disqualify your hard work. It is just a guiding point for you to get even better at this specific thing, so that when our teacher is like, okay, that was great, we can do it like this, that and the other, you don't feel like, oh, but I worked so hard on it. You know, I want you to say that it's good. That is where we celebrate ourselves and I mean that's where the standing ovation series comes in, really. So if you want to go get that standing ovation series, make sure you check the link in the show notes. Get that standing ovation series. Make sure you check the link in the show notes.

Your host, Eleanor:

But what I realized in that moment was my defensiveness was holding me back and as soon as I realized that she was out the door let's be honest I was like, oh my gosh, my defensiveness needs to go and it left. I pushed it away. And now when I go to my lessons, yes, I work hard on something and, yes, my teacher still points it out sometimes, but that's because he can see that it can get even better than it is Right, and that is the push that we need. So when I first started working with this symphony player, I was quite defensive, I was quite nervous, but throughout my time working with him, I'm like you know what that attitude, that situation is not serving me and I just pushed out the door and it was gone. And sometimes there is still that temptation. But once we celebrate ourselves, then that temptation can start to go away because our teacher is still guiding us. Right, and that is so important.

Your host, Eleanor:

All right, let's do a bit of a recap. Right, and that is so important. All right, let's do a bit of a recap. The first thing is to expect the best of yourself, expect more of yourself, but in an encouraging and kind way rather than in a way that beats you down. We do not need that right. We want some encouraging and kindness in our practice sessions and that is where the spring roundup comes in, so make sure you go check it out in the show notes.

Your host, Eleanor:

And the next thing is to find something to learn from in every situation, even the bad situations, even the ones that aren't as convenient. There is something to learn from in every single situation. And the third one is to not be defensive. That's something that I learned specifically for me, because I would work on something so much for a week and then my teacher would still point it out and be like you're not doing it enough still, and I felt like I was like but where's the recognition for all the hard work I put in? But I realized I need to give myself that recognition so that my teacher can do his job and give me things to work on and point that stuff out.

Your host, Eleanor:

That is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. That was amazing, as always. All the things to do with this episode will be in the show notes, from the blog post that goes with this episode to the link for the standing ovation series. Do yourself a favor and look at these shows because, let's be honest, there's some good, good stuff in there, and if you want to show your love and support for the confident musicianing podcast, make sure you give it a follow and I will see you in the next episode.

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Eleanor

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