The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 124 The Three-Note Exercise – Try it at Home with Dr. Gauthier

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast, episode number 124. This is a Try It At Home short. 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 for musicians, Dr. Rene Paul Gaultier. Hi, everyone. Welcome to this episode of the Try It At Home series. In this series, I offer suggestions on how you can take the actionable tip from the latest interview of the Mind Over Finger podcast, Try It At Home, and Make It Your Own. We unpack my

Starting point is 00:00:50 guests' awesome wisdom together and apply it in our lives. Today, we revisit Joe Alessi's actionable tip from episode 123. And if you haven't had a chance yet, make sure to catch our conversation because it's packed with tons of great information and amazing insight. First, let's listen to what Joe recommends we try at home this week. I mean, there's the old one where the faster you practice, the slower your progress is, and the slower you practice, the faster your progress is. Yeah. Quoting Itzhak Perlman, that's very true. I would just say, do simple things very well on the instrument, okay? Take the simplest thing you could practice, or you can just do three-note. Make up a three-note exercise, or you're going to play an

Starting point is 00:01:40 exercise, and you're going to mix up the notes in any order you want, in any rhythm that you want, okay, in any style that you want, and you're going to practice and make it sound great in a slow way, Okay, so you can do it very slowly so that your mind is working and you're creating a way of doing things just on the spot, but also you're working on your technique at the same time and your sound at the same time. So it can be just a three-note exercise, and if you don't want to have it be random, okay, just say, hey, I'm going to go just up and down these three notes at a slow speed, and I'm going to work on my legato and sound. I absolutely love this tip, like all of my guest tips, I guess. But what really attracts me about this is its simplicity. I've said this before on the podcast, and my clients hear me say this often, the most simple things are often the most powerful. And I know this is not the first time you hear it as well. But because of their simplicity, we have a tendency to dismiss them.

Starting point is 00:02:55 It's almost as if we don't trust that something simple could have much impact. Also, simple does not mean easy, which is another reason why we don't always stick to what is simple and powerful, because they often are not as easy to accomplish as first appear and then we give up. I hope we can change that this week. So for the previous episodes of the series, I've added some suggestions of things you could try. But for this one, I'm not going to add anything to it myself, but rather I'll encourage you to simply go with what Joe recommends. And you can see me, but I did use air quotes for the word simply. I've created a free companion guide for you that has a transcription of Joe's insight, as well as some prompts for you to try and have fun with in space to reflect

Starting point is 00:03:46 on your findings. Download it to follow along and to continue the reflection after the episode. You can find the link in the show notes or at mindoverfinger.com slash resources. So try this at home this week as Joe recommends. Maybe you're practicing a passage that's difficult. Give yourself two or three minutes to explore it deeply with a simple exercise. Step one, identify what's challenging for you in that passage. Maybe there's some tricky transition notes or an articulation that you want to refine or bow distribution or airflow that can be stronger. Just identify what is tricky. Step two, make up a three-note exercise that targets that technical or interpretational element. Step three, practice it with multiple variations. And I'm not going to

Starting point is 00:04:42 give you too many suggestions here because I really want you to get as creative as you can and know that you have the freedom to make up any kind of exercise you want. You can mix up the notes in any order you want or any rhythm or style that you want. Change the dynamics, the articulation, anything you can think of. Then step four, practice it slowly and make it sound great working on your technique and your sound at the same time and as joe says you want to do it very slowly so that your mind is working as i often tell my students i find that sometimes they practice slowly but they relax so much they forget to think so you want to play slowly but think fast so you're absorbing all the information that's coming to you that's why we practice slowly so

Starting point is 00:05:35 that there's more time to observe. So again, slow playing, fast thinking. And when you do it this way, that's when you get better results. And as Joe concluded with, you can make it even simpler. If you don't want it to have it be random, pick three notes and set a really simple goal. Give yourself a couple of minutes of mindful work. And his example is perfect to just say to yourself, I'm going to go up and down these three notes at slow speed, working on my legato and sound. So I hope you have a great time exploring this tip. Once again, simple does not mean easy, and simple does not mean not powerful. Really give it everything you've got.

Starting point is 00:06:24 And let me know how that went by either emailing me at mindoverfinger at gmail.com or by reaching out on social media. I'm mindoverfinger on both Instagram and Facebook. I love hearing how everyone takes in the insight and plays with it and adapt it. And this collective wisdom is so inspiring. So let me know. And if you enjoy tips like this one, and you're looking for ways to deepen your practice and take your performance to the next level, maybe you're wanting to win that next audition and

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Starting point is 00:07:46 seeing results for the endless amount of work, of time, and energy you put in the practice room, go to mindoverfinger.com right now to book your free conversation with me and get your transformation started today. No more indecision, band-aids, and short-term solutions. The Music Mastery Experience is unlike any other program out there because we go beyond the strategies and methods. And don't worry, you're going to get plenty of those. Actually, an entire foolproof system to performing at your best. But we don't stop there. We get to the root cause of issues, we unlock everything that's keeping you stuck, and you'll start experiencing amazing results. Not only on stage, but at every level of your music making experience and your life.

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Starting point is 00:09:27 big plans, and you're ready for more in your musical life, book a call today at mindoverfinger.com and let's make it happen. So that's what I have for you today. As always, you can find all the information related to this episode in the show notes or at mindoverfinger.com slash resources. And that's including the PDF companion to this episode and the link to sign up for the Music Mastery Experience. Be well, my friends. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you.

The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 124 The Three-Note Exercise – Try it at Home with Dr. Gauthier

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