The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 102 Callum Smart: Tribe Q&A Session

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast, episode number 102. This is a live Mind Over Finger Tribe Q&A session. Welcome to the Mind Over Finger podcast, discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice and building a purposeful career. And now, your host, violinist, teacher, and high-performance coach, Dr. Renée-Paul Gaultier. Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing amazingly well as you tune into this episode. This summer on the Mind Over Finger podcast, I'm having a fantastic time with wonderful guests. Every month, I'm having a live Q&A session with amazing musicians in my Facebook group,

Starting point is 00:00:55 the Mind Over Finger Tribe, and as to be expected, much wisdom is being shared. We started in April with pianist Konstantin Sukovitsky. We continue in May with violinist Callum Smart. In June, you'll hear from trumpet player Christopher Still from Honesty Pill. July will bring violinist Esther Abrami and we'll spend some time with guitarist Brandon Jack Acker in August I hope you can join us live for the upcoming sessions all of the details are in the Mind Over Finger Tribe

Starting point is 00:01:27 at facebook.com slash groups slash Mind Over Finger Tribe if you're enjoying today's content take a screenshot as you're listening share on social and tag me and my guests so we can thank you for tuning in And without further ado, let's go to the show. Hi everyone, I am so excited to be here once again for a Q&A live here in the Tribe. And our guest today is so amazing, Callum Smart. I'm so happy to have you here.

Starting point is 00:02:10 my pleasure so excited and thank you for having me oh Callum it's just I've been following you for such a long time it's it's as I was telling you it feels kind of funny to have you sitting here answering back at me after watching so many of your incredible videos online and we're going to get to that in a second before we hop in our conversation I want to give a little reminder to everyone that the Music Mastery Experience is now open for enrollment. If this is a transformational journey that you're looking for, this is what I have for you. This is a journey to loving the practice room, rocking the stage, winning the job of your dreams, and taking your career to new heights. All the information about the program can be found at mindoverfinger.com. And if you're

Starting point is 00:03:02 new to my work and you've never heard of it, the Music Mastery Experience is my highly personalized group coaching experience. It goes for three months and we start at June 1st. We start June 1st and I'm going to have you ready to rock by September. So if you're looking to gain more mastery on your instrument, you want to feel empowered in the practice room, you want to feel confident in performance, you want to start seeing amazing results in your musical life, I have what you need. And I want to give you the tools to feel empowered, to go from stuck to free or shaky to confident. And you're going to know how to practice, prepare for performance, be rid of doubts. You're going to get maximal results and you're going to feel like you're

Starting point is 00:03:50 achieving your full potential. And you're going to get the guidance to get powerful results. And These are the tools that help me win jobs, win competitions and perform optimally in my career. So whether you're a student looking to maximize everything you're doing and get real momentum to get your career started, or you're a young professional looking for better work opportunities, maybe you're a seasoned professional wanting more fulfillment and consistent peak performance, less stress, this program is for you. It's going to help you save time. If you feel like you're constantly so busy, there's never enough time to practice, how I feel at times, and you still need to perform at the highest level. You want more results and a higher quality of life. We cover all of these things in the program. You're going to progress faster, feel like you're performing at your best and feel confident.

Starting point is 00:04:48 So if that sounds good to you, feeling empowered, confident, less stress, fulfilled, and you wants to reconnect with your love of music let's talk and of course the information is amazing but it's also about the community in MME you get a powerful high performance toolkit but my favorite thing about the program is the amazing group of supportive musicians that are embarking on this journey with you they're going to give you this motivation the accountability inspiration that's going to carry you even higher over the next three months. So if you know this is something that you need, that you want, if you're looking to take things to the next level

Starting point is 00:05:34 and have optimal performance time after time and enjoy the journey, it's possible to enjoy the journey, go to mindoverfinger.com slash MME, check out the details, book your free conversation with me, and let's make it happen. So there's everything you need to walk on stage or in the audition room, fully confident, play your best and create incredible things in your life. And, you know, I think if you're a teacher, imagine having the ability to give all of these tools to your students. So, like I said, it's a high performance toolkit. If it sounds good to you, go to mindoverfinger.com slash MME, book your free call and together let's see if it's a good fit for you.

Starting point is 00:06:21 and now without further ado I'm really really happy to turn things over to Callum Smart. Callum thanks again for being here now please tell us a little bit about you your career how you got to where you are today. Yeah thanks so much and first of all your course sounds incredible definitely sign me up. You're in you're in. Anyways yeah so my name is Callum Smart I'm a violinist based in Manchester I'm soloist based in Manchester and I also teach at the Royal Northern College and yeah my journey started at six years old got handed a violin just in the classroom of the local school I went to and really it was kind of just that instant impact and connection with the instrument I just absolutely loved everything about the physicality of the instrument and also

Starting point is 00:07:13 just performing to people and sharing the love of music and I think that kind of carries me right the way through now I really just spent hours practicing and hours playing to different people and when I was younger I did a couple competitions after I did good preparation for those and those were kind of my first chances to realize okay I could do this professionally there's kind of an opportunity for this to develop professionally and from there I signed with an agent I was lucky to have incredible teachers and performance opportunities started coming in and I had the chance to kind of hone my craft and that's kind of taken me all the way to where I am now education in Indiana University with an amazing teacher Mauricio Fuchs and I've been

Starting point is 00:08:10 back and forth between America and the UK the last kind of four or five years performing and teaching and Callum has the most amazing Instagram account so full of valuable information mostly targeting you know violinists and violists but I think that a lot of the information you give could be valuable for all instrumentalists so I suggest that you check it out when this goes out as a podcast episode and it's also going to be on YouTube I'll have all the links to find Callum anywhere in the show notes and in the comments so please look at his Instagram account and his website for upcoming concert dates concerts are coming back finally coming back very excited yes Callum we already have some really great questions I'm going to pull them up

Starting point is 00:09:05 right now let's oops okay can't minimize my window when I'm live apparently so here we go okay Anna wants to know what does it mean to play with expression and how do you develop the ability such a great question that is it's an amazing question I think how to play expressively how to develop it I think that it really firstly comes down to having the desire to show and express everything that you're feeling on the inside I think first it starts by kind of getting in contact with exactly what you're trying to communicate to people because expression is communication it's communicating our characters our emotions our thoughts our feelings so I think first in terms of how to put that into practical use i don't even touch the violin just close my

Starting point is 00:10:09 eyes sing a passage or look at the music and really think about what do i want to say here once i have that it's so much easier to then put that into practice and then find the technical solutions to kind of communicate exactly that i think that you know to really feel our internal voice before we externalize it is incredibly important we so often get caught up with expressing ourselves with our instrument that we forget that it has to come from our gut it has to come from another place first and yeah that's that's really kind of I think the the truest form of expression when we're communicating exactly what we feel and what we want and I find through singing is probably the best way to get in contact with that so in terms of practical

Starting point is 00:10:57 advice I would sing as many passages as possible I sing and play at the same time I record myself singing a passage play the same passage then record both of them and see how similar they are that's another interesting technique to do a lot of people will be shocked at what happens when you do that because when we sing something we think oh that sounded very natural and then when we play something sometimes we think oh that was very natural too but actually it's only when kind of looking at both do we realize how different they can be sometimes um and that that to me is one of the best things you can do to develop your expression to to compare those two versions and see how close they are together because if they're very different then you're not expressing

Starting point is 00:11:40 yourself like my inner geek just lit up right there because I like to think I'm full of tips but I have never thought about recording myself singing and comparing with the playing I I'm gonna have to try this today this is great it's a lot of fun but it's uh yeah I have to say full disclaimer alert at first it is pretty horrifying because nobody likes hearing the sound of their own voice especially not me because I'm not a good singer but once you get past that initial hurdle it is one of the best things you can do with your practice I think wow I love that and you know I think because what you just said makes me think of a video that you posted that I was watching recently is that how we connect what we hear in our head to our instruments and this is

Starting point is 00:12:26 why teachers are so annoying with do your long tones practice your bow exercises and you know or practice your vibrato is because when you start to really master or control these elements then you can go straight from this intention that you were talking about and execute executing it on the instrument um so you know another great reason to go to your instagram absolutely yeah no absolutely that's that's so true and i think that really knowing what you're trying to express before you worry about the technique is always the best way to go because if you first focus let's say on your vibrato but vibrato kind of alone is a bit of a vacuum there's you know it's a very mechanical thing I mean yes that you can do some vibrato exercises and that will be helpful

Starting point is 00:13:22 up to a certain point but really if you're not connected with what you're trying to express then your vibrato has no outlet for creativity yes that's so great Anna is here and she says she loves that answer and that this is something that she can do great that's what we like to hear yes the second question we had is from joe who says what is your go-to warm-up routine and does it change with the type of repertoire you are working on i think that it does definitely change with the repertoire that i'm working on and it also differs week to week depending on how i'm feeling you know sometimes you wake up and your right shoulder's feeling tight the way you slept on it you know you've got to kind of be very in touch with your body on a kind of hourly basis when you're

Starting point is 00:14:13 practicing i think that you know i always focus on where i feel the most tight and on any given day that will be where i first go to in my warm-up um i think that when you just do a collection of things to do them whether it's practicing your Paganini Caprices or practicing your studies or playing scales first because everyone says you should do scales to warm up I think that when you just do things to do them that's normally where you aren't the most productive or the most in touch with actually what you need so I would say in terms of my warm-ups it almost doesn't make sense for me to tell you my warm-ups because the point I'm trying to make is it's about what you need you be in touch with your own body and your own kind of bad habits with the instrument

Starting point is 00:15:02 you know if you notice that your left hand is really tight when you vibrate or something then you know my warm-up might look something that revolves around kind of relaxing that so I think everybody's different and to really be in touch with what you need before you start playing the instrument is the the most important thing I could say to that I love this answer so much because it's what you said here you saw me taking some notes you focus on what's tight it's such a great way to get in touch with yourself and oftentimes we're so eager to jump into the work we just kind of start without a real plan uh interestingly enough it's a little bit like trying to play a piece without having the intention of what we're trying to say if i tie it back to the first

Starting point is 00:15:48 question right um so such a great way to bring our attention to the present moment seeing what's tight and how we can address it with the more I'm up and I have my own question about something that you said earlier you were talking about competitions and I always love to hear from musicians who did competitions as kids what it brought to them and we know there are good and bad things about competitions I did a lot of competitions as a kid and I know that it was extremely formative for me so I always like to hear about people's experience with competitions yeah I think that my personal experience with competitions are positive I think that they're excellent tools for preparation I don't think you kind of work as hard as when you're kind of

Starting point is 00:16:40 preparing for something like a competition or an audition just because that the stakes are a little bit higher so you really spend the time to put in the work whereas maybe in another scenario you might kind of do a lot of good work and then kind of say oh it's probably good enough you know um not that that is the only form of motivation but I find it can be a very good form of motivation to to really get something to the highest point of preparation possible having said that I think there are also flip sides things that are maybe not as positive with competitions but personally I think I was lucky enough not to have felt those things um perhaps because I was young and didn't think about them as much I think when you do competitions as adults maybe you're more aware of

Starting point is 00:17:25 the different kind of pressures and stresses of the competition but when you're a kid you just kind of go in there and have fun and do it which I think um I would say I try to bring that mentality to how I am now as well and I think that that can be a really helpful form of mental preparation too yeah i agree with you it's all about your attitude towards it i remember growing up in canada we have the canadian music competition that a lot of people partake in and it has three finals so local provincial and national and local had usually something like a maybe a solo piece you know type thing and a little piece and then provincial had different type of repertoire and the final had a concerto usually so it's the whole year you're working on all of these pieces

Starting point is 00:18:16 and then it's for me as a kid it was a great motivator to have this goal of not necessarily winning but learn the repertoire and do well and go there and meet all of these people to this day there's so many faces that I've seen since I was you know a kid in those competitions and to this day now we're colleagues as professionals but we've known each other since we were you know 10 years old and it's such a great place to meet people and have this shared experience of music making I really love that yeah and I think sometimes competitions can feel like maybe there's a lot to lose by doing a competition but I think you know one mental approach that really has helped me and I think people can take a lot away from is that you are

Starting point is 00:19:12 exactly the same person and player whether you do well or don't do well in a competition and I think that's so often when we go in with the mindset of I'm a worse a player if I don't do well in this competition it really puts people off from pursuing opportunities that for all logical reasons would be good opportunities for them so I would say with competitions if the reason you're not doing it is because you're not sure if you'll do well then just to remember that you'll be exactly the same player whether you enter the competition or not and probably a better one because our point is that you actually practice more and prepare better because you're doing it so if anything you'll be a better player by preparing for it not by doing the competition itself 100% I agree

Starting point is 00:19:59 yes and if you're here you're watching this live right now please don't hesitate to post your questions i hope that i get to see them in real time that i'm not missing anything doesn't look like i'm missing them i always have my phone nearby so i can double check um and i'd like to ask you one question it's a topic that i find comes back a lot which is the topic of negative emotions in practice of frustration and I would love to hear your your view on this how you um you know what are your go-to tips when you yourself experience frustration or anger in the practice room if you do yeah no I definitely do I have to say I my the way I am just in general in life I think influences how I am in the practice room which is that I really think

Starting point is 00:20:53 humor is such a good tool in practice I think if you can kind of laugh at your mistakes and not kind of take them so seriously always kind of remember the bigger picture I think it it helps take off so much pressure and kind of the burden of we have to succeed or I can't believe I missed those series of notes if you can kind of laugh at it and not only laugh at it but just not even think twice about it um kind of shrug it off um dismiss it I think that can be extremely helpful in just getting to the one thing that you need to think about I think practice can be extremely personal but sometimes it's helpful to make it not personal you know if I don't hit this series of notes or if I'm playing out tune it's not a reflection on me as a person it just means I need

Starting point is 00:21:41 to go in and fix this one specific technical thing that I'm thinking about and I think having the ability to almost detach yourself uh imagine you're a third person imagine somebody else is doing your practice for you I think that that is actually an approach I have a lot um when I'm practicing um versus getting very emotional when things aren't going away myself um things tend to get away from you so I think again just having the objective clear of what you're trying to achieve from your practice if you're truly trying to achieve the best possible practice session then really the the least you can get attached to your mistakes the better so uh but of course everyone I think has moments of frustration and I certainly have those too and I think

Starting point is 00:22:32 also just acknowledging them as totally normal and that everyone has them is important too I've met a lot of violinists and not just violinists, but people, string players, other instruments on Instagram who have messaged me who have been so frustrated with their practice. And I just kind of remind them that everyone experiences frustrations and that is part of learning and playing an instrument. Actually, if you have no frustrations, then it probably means that you're not working very hard because I don't know a single person that works really hard and doesn't have frustrations. yeah and at times frustrations are related to I mean very often to expectations of quick results and I think that with instrumental playing that yes you can get some quick results on some occasions but usually it's a process it takes time it takes patience it's like you go to the gym and you lift the weight and you start yelling at your bicep you know like bro come on

Starting point is 00:23:33 i totally agree and actually i remember having a lesson a couple years ago with a teacher that i studied with anna chimachenko a wonderful woman and musician violinist um and i remember she was talking about something to do with let me see what she was talking about she was talking about um something to do with the left hand um and she yes i remember what it was it was about doing vibrato on one finger so like a four finger vibrato exercise and she told me what the exercise was and then I said you know how much should I do this and you know what is the kind of timeline to this and she was like you're already thinking about it too much just do it every day and don't expect something to happen and actually that was one of the the wisest things that I learned from

Starting point is 00:24:28 her which is it's sometimes really important to just do things without expecting anything but even a long-term goal but just to do it because when you stop expecting anything sometimes really great things just naturally start to happen and you don't even notice they're there there's some aspects of my technique now that I think there's no way I had that last year but I'm not aware that I necessarily did exact things in different ways I just did one simple thing every day and then it just kind of manifested into other things. That's powerful one simple thing every day. Yeah and I found that to be really true with the way that I practice in general I tend to really just keep one or two streams of thought a day when I practice I know it sounds

Starting point is 00:25:18 quite simple but I really don't I go through phases of what I focus on so you know if I'm thinking about something with my bow you know with if I'm feeling some tension in my thumb or something I'll probably think about that most of the time that I practice in the day and just kind of keep on that and I'll kind of go through the flow of in and out of that focus I'll obviously work on other things but I'll kind of channel my focus through that one thing and then just keep coming back to it and I find that to work well for me I find if I'm trying to kind of conquer too many things I normally just don't really achieve much at all yes do you find it it's that same way too with teaching is usually you notice something in the first student of the day

Starting point is 00:26:04 and you kind of keep seeing it and everybody that day like steers your focus in one direction yes it's it's so true I'm seeing a lot of things roll by here let me go back so anna says this is so wonderful i try to take frustration as a signal that i'm trying too hard and that i can change my approach i love that ashley says she was talking about uh you were talking about vibrato learning vibrato needs a light bulb moment but i never know when that moment will click for a student and anna observes again the mindset requires so much trust in the process yeah Susan also likes the idea of one thing a day is manageable 100% yeah and I think also um just to kind of expand a little bit on what I was saying about my practice method is that

Starting point is 00:26:58 if I'm thinking about one particular topic or one particular stream of thought I'll try and hit it from as many different angles as possible so instead of just doing one specific exercise for the thumb I'll do that exercise but then I'll do loads of different things that bring me back to thinking about my thumb in completely different contexts so I'm working it from lots of different angles because I find that again if you just do a kind of a set routine of exercises you tend to get tired of them relatively quickly and you tend to max out your potential for what you can do with and then it becomes mechanical so there's the mindless aspect of it yeah exactly I love all of this Callum yeah um what about performance preparation we were just talking about it

Starting point is 00:27:53 how they're coming back to concerts how exciting it is what does that look like for you when you prepare for a performance I normally have kind of it changes it depending on how far out the concert is what I'm doing kind of the week leading up to a concert is vastly different from what I'm doing months before but providing I've already learned the piece and it's just kind of preparation um it's normally looking at run throughs I normally try and run through the piece that I'm playing every day just once um I mix up when I do that sometimes it will be the first thing I do when I warm up sometimes it will be the last thing I do before I go to bed I I kind of like to mix mix it up in that regard um and then I always try if I know a piece really well

Starting point is 00:28:43 I won't practice the whole thing every day I'll just go to the bits that are the hardest and the most challenging um and that leaves me with the freedom and opportunity to pursue other repertoire even if I am preparing for concerts that are in the same week or in the week after because I find when you let's say I do have a concert I think on June 13th playing Brahms concerto now I could just do nothing but practice Brahms concerto from now to June 13th and I'm sure that I would have my hands full doing that anyway but instead what I'm much more likely to do is to spend maybe one two hours on Brahms a day just hitting the key parts doing run-throughs for memory and then leaving the other couple of hours that I have to practice my Bach to do some etudes to learn new

Starting point is 00:29:36 repertoire and for me not only will that be more fulfilling but it will be less stressful because I find when you only focus on the one thing that you're about to perform it can you can kind of psych yourself out a little bit so I like to kind of spread my practice in different in different ways and not over practice one thing even if I have kind of the biggest performance in my life mm-hmm and any kind of practice fuels whatever project you're working on so it's yeah I think that if I'm you do you mean if I'm depending on what type of concert oh no I mean that you know um Bach will help any kind of repertoire you're playing or you know any anything that you practice elevates your state you know your your skills your how in

Starting point is 00:30:27 shape you are so practicing another piece helps the Brahms but it also this variety keeps it more fun just as you were saying yeah absolutely and I think actually I've definitely gotten to the point and have been here for probably four or five years now where really the only thing that I truly care about is improving as a violinist in terms of my violinistic thinking so even if I have a concert tomorrow um I'll be more focused on how I'm playing than the piece of music itself that I'm playing so I think that that great when you have that mentality then concerts come and go things come in and out but really your goal is always there and there's something really comforting and also that gives a lot of confidence when that is your goal because you know that

Starting point is 00:31:18 that will never change and it encompasses everything yes really well put it does encompass everything um Anna has a follow-up question to what we were talking about earlier do you have an approach for generating ideas for practicing what a great question yeah that is a great question generating ideas so I personally don't do this a lot but I do recommend it to my students because I've seen how helpful it is which is to write things down um I just my brain doesn't really think like that I'm not the best person with kind of organizing I I kind of like to do it all in my head um for whether that's bad or good sometimes is you know it can go either way but I definitely you think writing things down is really helpful for generating ideas and I think that the best

Starting point is 00:32:14 thing that you could do for generating ideas is to just listen to a lot of music you know the more music that you know the the kind of bigger your musical brain and imagination is the more ideas you'll have just naturally without even trying you don't need to sit down and kind of write them down in a lot of ways because they'll just kind of be overflowing based on all the things that you've heard and been inspired by so i i would say kind of just a broader approach is just absorb yourself in as much musical knowledge as you can and let that seep into your practice um i really like to do that you know if i'm if i'm practicing brahms maybe i'm reading a book on brahms or i'm listening to brahms piano concertos or his symphonies or i'm looking at a score and you

Starting point is 00:32:59 know lo and behold i get to my moment where i'm practicing my brahms and i'm suddenly seeing motives from other pieces or i i'm recognizing things in a general style and that's really inspiring to me and i'm like oh okay this is my path forward with generating ideas um so i would say that in a broader sense and in terms of characterization using words and adjectives to describe music is extremely helpful you know really um to paint broader pictures of what type of characters that you're wanting from the music and i think that's when it can be really helpful to write things down these are all such great suggestions i agree so much with listening to more music or broadening your knowledge of a specific composer or genre i remember when

Starting point is 00:33:47 i started to play a lot of mozart operas and learning about mozart's music from the operatic perspective it completely transformed how i play it as a violinist because you know now i had this goes back to your very first thing that you mentioned about singing is I now hear Mozart is such an operatic music the violin line is in my mind always a singer and you know I'm always approaching it from the perspective of how would that sound like if someone was singing it and so knowing more about and listening to so many Mozart operas really affected how I play it as a violinist yeah absolutely and i think personally just speaking from my end just kind of a little personal story about me is that opera is actually a huge part of my life when i was in indiana

Starting point is 00:34:38 studying actually for five years i was a vocal accompanist so actually that was how i made my money in indiana um how i was paying rent is actually um going to all the singers lessons playing in all the classes and concerts recitals so that's kind of the whole other side of my musical world is actually from the piano and accompanying singers so I think that's why I'm so connected with that that part but that's informed so much of what how I think musically when I go to play a melody on the violin it I can't help but see text and opera and that's inspiring for me and maybe it will be totally different for somebody else but that's why it's important to broaden your horizons as much as possible because you never know what you're

Starting point is 00:35:24 going to drag into what you're doing on your daily basis that's incredible that you could be so skilled on the piano and the violin you could do all of these things ashley says identify with that i have always i always have the ideas in my head but struggle to write them down and susan says this is great because everything the calendar is saying has been reinforcing all we've been talking about thank you so much yeah this is it's so great and I love your perspective and your approach on all of these topics because um I just feel your genuine enthusiasm for it it's so much fun thank you yeah I I think I'm just very passionate about music and um that's that's really at the heart of my thinking there's not really anything else

Starting point is 00:36:16 right let me look at the time here you know what I'd like to squeeze a couple of these rapid fire questions because I always like that ask those to my guests what's a habit that you have that you think has contributed to your success and you've mentioned several already but okay well I'll mention one I haven't mentioned already but I would say having a good routine I would say having a good routine is essential to being successful for me anyway you know eating well sleeping well exercising I mean they're such stereotypical things to say but they're stereotypical for a reason because they just work you know when you live a healthy life you have more energy and then you can bring so much

Starting point is 00:37:06 more to the table and when I have days where I'm not in that way I'm just not as successful when I'm playing this ties in so well to what you were saying earlier about how um when you listen to more music that generates more ideas and it's so true for all aspects of life and how they contribute to us being better musicians all the books we read or even the food we eat the hikings that we do you know all of this really contributes to fueling our creativity I think yeah absolutely which skill do you think young musicians studying today should acquire in addition to learning to play their instruments and I'm starting to think that I should have learned to play the piano I would say piano is a great one but if you're if you're a pianist already

Starting point is 00:37:59 then I would say any form of music theory or oral oral skills I think uh even more important I would say than music theory because that can just help you out even if you don't have a lot of opportunities to play professionally if you have great oral skills you know you can you can improvise you can do so many different things just for fun so I would say um you know just music theory or transcribing things you know anything that just gets your musical brain working outside of your instrument I think is fantastic use of your time and if I go back to the first question about expressivity I feel like music theory fuels that as well once you start to understand the complexity of you know beautiful chords and dissonances and things like this and the leading tone and you know

Starting point is 00:38:51 how the third reacts in whatever key you know all of that really helps with that yeah I mean it's language it's you know if you don't understand half the sentence because it's in a different language you don't get the meaning of the phrase it's I really think that's exactly how music is if you don't understand how something is put together you're not going to understand number one how to play it and also what your emotional reaction is to it yes yes excellent point is there a performance that stayed with you throughout the years it's so hard to pick just one I think that the first time I heard Pinker Zuckerman live in England he came to Royal Festival that was a great moment for me because I think it was one of the first times I remember hearing a violinist

Starting point is 00:39:42 play I'm just thinking that person is just kind of at the peak of their artistry and it was just very very inspiring to see that just everything coming together at once oh I love that and how about a favorite tool in the practice room I would say in terms of like a mechanical tool like a machine any I'm leaving that open-ended because i love what people come up with okay i would say closing your eyes favorite practice tool close your eyes because then you'll really listen we get very distracted with you know using metronomes and you know looking at tunas and all sorts of things and they're very helpful things to do for sure but at the end of the day like your best tools are your ears so sometimes just

Starting point is 00:40:39 closing your eyes and really just getting in touch with what you're feeling and listening to is is the best tool I think great tool in mindfulness yeah yes absolutely and unless anyone has any more questions if you do please put them down now last call um or we can even go right ahead with the quick actionable tip and then if there are more questions we'll come back but how about a quick actionable tip that listeners could implement today in their practice rooms together with closing their eyes okay I would say that for this week I challenge everyone to close your eyes and sing one passage of music one line and then play it and then compare and see how close they are together and the reason that this is so helpful is because we're trying

Starting point is 00:41:35 to fuse these two voices together so get them as close together as you possibly can ah I love that I love that and you have to do it and then you have to go in Callum's Instagram account and tell him how it went and what you yes experience with that I'm going to try it as well Anna says you have amazing perspective Callum thank you so much and I'm going to echo that and just thank you so much for accepting the invitation and taking time I know you're very busy to sit with me and answer our questions this morning I truly appreciate it thank you it's been my pleasure it's wonderful to speak to you too and thank you to everyone that's turned up and listening thank you so have a great day everyone thanks again Callum thank you so much bye

Starting point is 00:42:32 Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this Tribe Q&A session. My guests and I would love to know what your favorite takeaways from today's conversation were. So get in touch with us and share your thoughts on those topics. As always, I'll have all the information related to this episode in the show notes, including everything about my guests. You can find them via your podcast app or by visiting mindoverfinger.com, where you can also find more information about mindful and efficient practice, performance preparation, and how to work with me. While you're there, sign up for my newsletter and receive your free guide to a highly productive and mindful practice using the metronome. depending on when you're listening to this episode i hope you can join us for the upcoming sessions

Starting point is 00:43:24 as i said in the intro all the information is in the tribe at facebook.com slash groups slash mind over finger tribe so send in your questions and tune in to be part of the live conversation if you enjoyed this episode consider sharing it with a friend that you think could benefit from the wisdom of my guest and also why not share on social media don't forget to tag me. I'm Mind Over Finger on both Facebook and Instagram. So that's it for today. Again, thank you and à bientôt.

The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 102 Callum Smart: Tribe Q&A Session

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