The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 072 Joyful Practice with Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

Everything you need to infuse your practice with more mindfulness, joy, and efficiency! Challenge prompts and transcript: www.mindoverfinger.com/resources   And for the best practicing summer of your life:   Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier invites you to join : THE MUSIC MASTERY EXPERIENCE A TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY TO LOVING THE PRACTICE ROOM, ROCKING THE STAGE, WINNING THE JOB, AND TAKING YOUR CAREER TO NEW HEIGHTS A 3-month experience for all musicians, starting June 1st, 2020 BOOK A CALL AND LET'S SEE HOW WE CAN GET YOU RESULTS!   And don't forget to join the Mind Over Finger Tribe for additional resources on practice and performing!   THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme!  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly!   MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/  

You're listening to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 72. Welcome to The Mind Over Finger Podcast. Discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice, and building a purposeful career. And now your host, Dr. Rene Paul Gaultier. hi everyone i hope this episode finds you doing well today i wanted to share with you something that really helped me reconnect with my love of playing and brought so much mindfulness in my practice as we enter the covid19 craziness but before i jump in the content of the episode i'm really excited to share with you that I've decided to open 10 more spots in my brand new program the music mastery experience a transformational journey to loving the practice room rocking the

stage winning the job and taking your career to new heights so if you're looking to completely transform how you practice and perform this summer and you want to get incredible results and hit the ground running this fall this is the program for you I'll have more details at the end so stay tuned so as we're still very much living in uncertainty with most of us sheltering in place I wanted to continue in the same vein as last week and by the way thank you to those of you who reached out to tell me that the episode about motivation was helpful it really means everything to me so I wanted to share with you the joyful practice challenge which is a challenge that I came up with within the very first few days of the sheltering in place. And something that really

helped me set the tone for my mindset throughout this crisis. So to set the stage, in early March here in Chicago, we learned that the ring was canceled at the Lyric Opera. And that was really devastating for me. And all around me, I was seeing people dealing with similar loss. And we've seen so much of that since canceled graduations, postponed weddings, small businesses struggling all around us. I think everyone has experienced a very significant loss during this crisis. And of course, that's not even mentioning the precious lives lost and the incredible pressure on our healthcare workers. But in the beginning, with everything getting even more unsettling around us, I really felt the need to reclaim my creative power and use this time to do something meaningful

with other people. And that's how the Joyful Practice Challenge was born. And that support and inspiration we provided each other with was really a great source of positive energy in the middle of the chaos. The goal of the challenge was to focus back on what's at the core of music making that we so often forget, right? The fact that we love it. And with everything canceled, what is left, but the music itself, and why we love it and what it brings to us. And the truth is, when we really make joy a part of our practice, when we make an effort to figure out ways to stay engaged, that's when we truly are interested. And that's when progress happen. so focusing on joy in practice can actually be a really powerful tool in becoming more efficient

so for 12 days I posted prompts in the tribe my Facebook group and we committed to spending 10 minutes focusing on my suggestions or on anything else that made practicing fun enjoyable or meaningful it was a lot of fun and it was so incredible to read everyone's amazing findings and realizations and it was hugely inspiring for me. So you can sit back and relax, listen to those prompts and keep them in mind as you practice in the next few days. You can also try to recreate the challenge for the next 12 days if you'd like. If you want to try it, here are some really simple and flexible guidelines. For the next 12 days, commit to spend 10 minutes of your practice focusing on one of the prompts or as I said above on anything that makes it fun enjoyable and or

meaningful to you. I think the prompts are a great place to start but don't feel in any way limited by them. They're merely suggestions. The important thing is for you to explore what brings joy and meaning in your practice. I strongly recommend that you write down some notes every day and keep track of your experience, the questions that come up and your findings. Also think of enlisting an accountability slash inspiration partner to go through the challenge with you. And of course, please share your experience with me and keep me posted. I'm mindoverfinger on Instagram. So share those posts and tag me. I would love to share this journey with you. Now that we're all set, Here we go. So day one, we're easing into joy. Pick up your instrument and play anything you want.

Some long tones, an etude, a piece you like, an exercise you're curious about, or maybe you feel like improvising. Anything goes. Pick something you really want to play. Enjoy it. Make it feel delicious. And as the 10 minutes comes to a close, start thinking about a specific project you'd like to pick for this challenge. Is there a piece you'd like to learn or a technical skill you'd like to work on? Or you just want to keep this completely open and have a free play every day. Once again, anything goes. Day two. Day two is all about nurturing a childlike curiosity. usually when you practice are you scrutinizing everything with a severe ear and the judgmental heart is your quest for perfection causing grief and frustration so the way you approach practicing

can really slow down your progress let's try a different approach nurture a childlike curiosity in your practice today for 10 minutes experience playing with complete open-mindedness no judgment only curiosity, exploration, and objective observations. Ask yourself, what am I curious about today? What do I want to play? How do I feel right now? What does it sound like? Am I noticing anything new in the score?

What would happen if I tried it like this instead? Ask yourself those questions and notice your thoughts. What other questions popped in your mind? What did you notice? How did it feel to approach things this way? How did it affect your playing? Day three is all about breathful practice. Before we even begin to practice, our heads are often so full of thoughts, goals, expectations, concerns, and anxiety.

The best mood and mindset regulator is actually the easiest thing for us to do, breathing. So try this today. Begin your practice session by closing your eyes and taking several deep breaths or by doing a breath exercise of your choice. Play something slowly for five minutes and bring extreme awareness to what is happening to your breath. Don't try to control your breathing. Simply notice how you're breathing. What do you notice? How does it feel? What happens to your playing when you focus on your breathing. What happens to your body? Then on day four, pick one teeny tiny thing. Today you bring your focus to one teeny tiny thing you'd like to improve and you explore it.

So pick a really small element in something you're playing. Transition between two notes, an articulation, one shift, a bow change, the shape of one note. Explore what is happening gently and with patience ask questions and consider solutions using positive language don't try to fix it just explore different options for fun and notice what happens to the passage when you're simply exploring without judgment and with pure childlike curiosity then on day five try a body scan today before you launch into serious practicing use your 10 minutes of joyful practice to do a body scan so pick an exercise or a piece that you enjoy it can play rather mindlessly maybe some long tones or slow scales or a piece you know really well by memory

or you can also improvise and as you play bring your awareness to your breath not controlling it just noticing it. Then move this awareness slowly through all the different parts of your body and notice what happens. Notice where the tension is. Pay attention to your feelings as well. So maybe bringing your attention to one specific area will awaken a feeling, either good or bad. What do you feel? Why do you think you're getting this specific feeling sensation associated to this body part. You can also try that exercise throughout your practice whenever you feel tension or frustration rising, or when you're working on a particularly difficult passage and feel stuck. Try playing the passage while focusing on your breath and moving the awareness

slowly throughout the body and observe what happens. For day six, we explore the power of the gaze. In general, our focus is heavily influenced by what we look at. And those of you who practice yoga will know how drishti or the gaze is a big element in improving concentration, bringing precision to the movements and in directing the energy. So we're going to have some fun with it. In your joyful practice segment today, play letting your eyes go anywhere they want. Notice where they go. Notice what you see and if it influences what you're playing. Then bring your gaze to specific areas of your body. Use a mirror if necessary and notice what happens. For example, what happens if you look intently at your left index finger? What are you thinking?

How do you feel? Do you notice an effect on your playing? Then play a short passage with your gaze fixed to the ceiling? What do you notice? Then try playing with your eyes closed. What do you experience? There are many other things you can try. For example, what happens if you play a passage and look intently and with hyper focus at the music, as if you're trying to imprint it forever in your mind? If you play the same passage again with your eyes closed, can you see the music? Keep experimenting and trying new things and have some fun with it. On day seven, ask how creative can you get? Do you get stuck in the rut whenever you work on a hard passage

and always resorting to the same way of working on the same stuff? So today I challenge you to come up with at least five new fun ways to work on a passage. Pick a passage that presents a challenge at the moment. Think of at least five ways to work on it that are completely different than what you've done for this type of difficulty in the past. Get really creative. Here are some possibilities. So how about playing it slower than you've ever played it, analyzing every movement, every detail. Or you could do fast practice with note grouping, playing it in a different key or a different string backwards with a different style. Or you can even arrange an etude to fit the

passage. Anything is possible. Go wild. Do anything you'd like. We're not so much focused on the results as to experimenting with new possibilities and seeing what could help. On day eight, we get a little bit more serious and we observe fear. What would a challenge be without a little bit of fear, right? In exploring fear, we get familiar with it and we diffuse some of its power. Think of a passage that's giving you grief. Now let's pause for a moment. Are you struggling with this passage solely because you lack the skill? Or is there something more at play here? Might there be some fear getting in your way? Let's explore that. Play the passage a few times and examine your feelings as you're playing it. List all the negative feelings that come to you when you play this

passage. Then keep playing and examine further. Do you have strong emotions about the whole passage? Or is it just a few specific notes in particular? Or one particular element about the passage? Why do you think you feel this way? To what degree? How strong are the emotions? Without judging it and without trying to change anything, play it a few more times and keep observing your feelings and thoughts. And keep this in mind. This is just exploration. We're not fixing anything. We're just getting acquainted with fear. And the rest is for tomorrow. Then on day nine, we work on taming fear. Now that we've allowed fear to be in the practice room and we've explored it, let's see if we can get comfortable with it. Pick a scary passage,

same or different from yesterday and play it a few times investigating your feelings similarly to what you did yesterday once you've identified your feelings and their possible origin play the passage several times and try different approaches to tame your fear here are some suggestions take a deep breath and play the passage while accepting fear fully identify where fear shows itself in your body. Where does it cause tension? Just notice where it is. Then bring your full awareness to the tension and let it diffuse. Feel your breath dissolving the tension. Engage your courage muscles and jump in. What I mean by that is as the scariest part approaches, is focus your awareness more and more on something really tangible.

For example, flowing bow arm, relaxed shoulder blades, etc. So what Dr. Don Green would call a process cue. Then as you're thinking about that, play through the passage and notice what happens. Something else you can try is bring a hand to your heart, close your eyes, breathe deeply and mentally play the passage, infusing it with joy and physical comfort. It sounds tacky, I know, but it can be really powerful. Then ask yourself, what else can you try to tame fear? Let that fear, the type of fear, the degree at which you experience it, where and how it manifests itself in you, inspire what you try. What else did you try? How did it feel? What happened to the

passage as you experience taming fear. And before we go today, then just a few words about that. The reason why it's important to figure out the origin of fear is because sometimes there are some really concrete measures you can take to tame it. If it's coming from really not feeling comfortable with a specific skill, then you can plan on working on that skill. Make the decision to get information on the technique work on it accept that it might take some time and some patience and embrace the process another reason may be simply because you don't practice playing at a tempo so you don't have the acquired skill and the courage to play at a full tempo kind of like learning to ride the bike the balance point comes only at a certain speed so if you don't

grab your courage and go for it you never get the momentum to ride the bike and if it's deeper than that there might be a need for a greater personal reflection incorporating some meditation in your life or exploring other modalities to get a better understanding of yourself and of where the fear lives and how to get comfortable with it now day 10 it's time for a treat you've worked pretty hard for the past few days and you've focused on pretty serious stuff for the past two so let's ease back into something more soothing let's sing pick your absolute favorite passage in a piece whether a piece you have to work on or any piece you'd like to play and focus on phrasing singing letting the music flow through the passage explore and have fun with different ways to phrase and here are

some more things to experiment with sing through the passage a few times what do you feel instinctually drawn to phrasing wise when you sing. Think how would it sound on a different instrument then try to emulate that. Is there a specific emotion you're trying to convey in this passage? Do you have a narrative, a story to tell in this passage? What is going on in the accompaniment? How can you use that even more? Let yourself be free and allow yourself to enjoy expressing yourself through music in this passage. Then day eleven, record yourself joyfully. Yes, that's possible. I know that the idea of recording yourself might sound as remote as possible to any feeling of joy. We can feel so exposed and it can trigger so many feelings of frustration

but recording ourselves can be one of the absolute best ways to progress faster and that's a great source of joy. There are ways to get more comfortable with it, so let's see. Pick one phrase you'd like to work on. Take a deep breath and set your mind to having an objective view of the experience and a non-judgmental approach of assessing your playing. Record the passage, audio or video. Listen to it one or more times, as many as you'd like, and one, list three things you like about your performance. And then two, identify one thing you'd like to play differently on your next take. Then record another take, trying to execute the element you thought of above right away without practicing. Repeat this process a few times.

Keep in mind, and this is a very important thing, music mastery is a path. You will hear things you don't like when you record yourself. And beating yourself up about it is not going to help. It's not helpful. So appreciate the process, the fact that you're here, holding the instrument, curious, ready to improve. That's a big deal. That's an awesome thing. So appreciate your dedication and your discipline to sit here on the quest to better skills and greater musical expression. you should be proud of yourself you want to listen to your playing with critical but non-judgmental ears identifying aspects that can be improved without attaching a judgment to who you are as a person if you feel frustration mounting stop and move on to something else

or maybe try again tomorrow finally on day 12 we have no shoulds no shame just relentless tenderness. That's it. We made it. Last day. We've done many things in this challenge. We've played things we wanted to play, brought curiosity into the mix, gave attention to our breathing, used hyperfocus, did body scans, gazed intently, practiced creatively, faced our fears, sang our phrases, and approached recording ourselves from a joyful perspective. So that's a good list. So today, go back to where you started and just play with no should, no shame, just relentless tenderness. And just be there.

Experience it with no expectations and no judgments. Let go. There will be plenty of hours of hard, dedicated work ahead in the days and months to come. So take that 10 minutes and make it deliciously yours. listen with tenderness feel your body with tenderness and reconnect to what it is you enjoy about music making let your thoughts and your feelings rise let them come and go and simply notice notice how you feel and what's enjoyable right now and when you're done see if you can carry that peacefulness in the rest of your practice that day. And remember this, when you

let the pressure and the need to and the have to get in the way, you close your mind. I think that if you bring more of this relentless tenderness in your daily practice, I think you'll find that you're much more engaged and interested and as a result, way more open to problem solving solutions and much more efficient. So this is it for the joyful practice challenge. As I said earlier, it brought me so much inspiration, hope and joy. And it was so special to share it with a really awesome community. Love the tribe so much. I hope you try it out. And I'd love to hear back from you what you did, what you observed, how you felt, what kind of results you got, or any thought that crosses your mind about the experience so please get in touch with me and share your experience

and a few more words before i wrap this up as i've mentioned at the beginning i've opened 10 more spots for my summer program the music mastery experience this is a three month long highly personalized group coaching program where i'll show you how to implement mindful and effective practice techniques, make them habits and get results. I've spent years developing my deep practice model and putting it to the test in my own career and with my students. And I'm so proud to finally share it with you through my music mastery experience. Over the course of 12 weeks, you will learn to direct your attention and your intention and to channel them to a superior level of productivity and performance. And more than that, I've created for you an environment

that's going to provide you with tons of inspiration and motivation. So if you're looking to elevate your practice and performance this summer, I think the music mastery experience would be perfect for you. We're going to cover in detail the many aspects of a powerful practice and performance preparation regimen, including effective practicing techniques, empowering mindsets, high focus strategies, efficient productivity systems, optimal performance training, and much more. The program kicks off June 1st, and there are a limited number of spots. So let's talk now to guarantee you that spot in the program. I invite you to book a call with me. We'll talk about your goals, your dreams, and how this program can get you there. You can find more

information at mindoverfinger.com. And of course, I'll have that link for you in the show notes. so that's it for today thank you so much for listening stay in touch and à bientôt