The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 126 Teaching Mastery – Try it at Home with Dr. Gauthier

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

This week in the Try it at Home series we unpack and apply in our lives the wisdom of world-renowned double bass player and pedagogue Paul Ellison.  Just for you, I've created a free resource that has all the steps I'm about to share.  Download it HERE to follow along and continue the reflection after the episode.  You can also find the link in mindroverfinger.com/resources. Catch Paul's conversation with me on the Mind Over Finger Podcast in episode 125 at https://mindoverfinger.libsyn.com/

You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast, episode number 126. 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. Renée-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 some of the wisdom from the latest interview of the Mind Over Finger podcast, Try It At Home, and make it your own. Let's unpack

my guests' awesome insight together and apply it in our lives. And if you're hearing this near its release date in the spring of 2022, it means that enrollment for the Music Mastery Experience is officially open. If you're ready to crack the code to start performing at your best and to experience fulfillment in your music career, then the Music Mastery Experience is for you. If you're wanting to win that job, to rock the stage, to grow your career and make more money, go to mindoverfinger.com right now to book your free conversation with me and let's get your transformation started today. Stay tuned for more details at the end of the episode. Today, we revisit world-renowned double bass player and teacher Paul Ellison's wise words on pedagogy from episode 125.

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. So first, let's listen to what Paul shared. The child of nature that shows up in front of us, regardless of your spiritual affiliation, is something that just has to be recognized. Sometimes it's almost overwhelming that there's somebody, like at a first lesson, fearful of being in there, of doing something wrong, or of not being good enough, or some issue that they brought into the room with their instrument. realizing the other person's pushing the empathy button would be the short way to talk about it you can't ask all of these people to do the same thing the same way with the same pedagogy the same technique the same equipment even everything has to be suited to the individual the challenge is that there are never two of the same people in front of you ever and in fact the

truth of that matter is the same person is not the same as they were last week and or the day before it for that matter so so much of my teaching has to do with the answers that i get but the questions always come first all of you teachers out there probably love this as much as i do it's such a great reminder to make sure we're always tuned in to the person in front of us present and ready to serve without a personal agenda it's very simple and very powerful but not always easy to implement and very easy to forget So I'm grateful for this reminder. So I think one of the best ways to embody this is with what Paul mentioned at the end

to start with questions and take in the answers. And for you, I've created a free companion guide that has the transcription of Paul's insight, as well as some prompts for you to try and have fun with. You can download it to continue the reflection after the episode by going to mindoverfinger.com slash resources. And I have that link for you in the show notes. So questions, I think questions for ourselves to get ourselves in alignment and question for this child of nature standing in front of us so we can understand them a little bit better and be able to guide them adequately. So as a human, how am I doing today?

What state of mind am I in right now? In what way do I want to show up as a teacher today? How can I put myself in a mental space that allows me to be the best guide that I can be for this person? How can I hold space in a supportive way for this person? How curious can I get? What kind of environment can I create to help this person flourish? can i identify with them how well do i know them what would be helpful for me to know about them to support them in the best way possible so those are some of the questions and of course

please feel free to experiment with anything else that comes to mind for the student it can start simply, how are you doing? What's going on today? And when they share how they feel, go there with them. Go there with patience. Get curious. Okay, you're feeling this way. Tell me more about this. Where do you think this is coming from? What's going on in your life that makes you feel this way? What are you thinking that's making you feel this way? In our conversation in episode 125, Paul shared some great questions as well. What did you bring to your lesson? What do you want to work on? What are the top three items that you would like guidance on today? What do you need help with? And through the lesson continue to guide with questions. Why do you think this is

happening? If you knew the answer what might be the solution to this issue? What are some ways you think you could work on this? My two favorite questions, the ones that I think can lead to so much insight when I repeat them to a student or client over and over and over, are the simplest questions. Why and what else? Maybe you're familiar with the technique of the five whys, where you ask why at least five times. This helps you get beyond the surface level and into the root cause of an issue. And it leads to a plan of action because it shows you where the real problem are and where you can have a massive impact on your output. And you can use what else in a similar way to continue to find creative ways to work on something and new things to experiment with. So try this with your

students, guide them through a series of why or what else, and watch their confidence grow as they realize that they have answers. They have insight. It's incredible. And why not take this principle of presence and empathy for the person in front of us beyond the teaching studio? What kind of colleague can I be at rehearsal today? How can I acknowledge the person in front of me, be present with them, understand where they're coming from better, and put myself in their shoes? If you're a student, how can you apply the same with your teacher? How can you get to know them better and understand them better? So I hope you have a great time exploring this tip 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. And 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, if you're looking for ways to deepen your practice and take your performance to the next level. Maybe as I said earlier, you want to win that next audition. You want to grow your career. You want to make more money and you want to do all of this while feeling confident and fulfilled. I have something for you. Enrollment for the Music Mastery Experience is open. The Music Mastery Experience is my highly personalized life-changing group coaching program where I take you through a massive transformation.

You're going to feel certainty in the practice room, experience joy and freedom in performance. You're going to gain the confidence you've always wanted, and you're going to know how to go about creating the career you've been dreaming of. We cover everything from practice methods that work to performance preparation strategies that have you perform with confidence consistently and powerful life coaching and mind management techniques that will remove the obstacles and self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back. So if you're done with not seeing results for the endless amount of work, of time and energy that you put in the practice room,

go to mindoverfinger.com right now, Book your free conversation with me and let's get this transformation started. No more indecision, no more band-aids, no more short-term solutions. The Music Mastery Experience is unlike any other program out there because we go way beyond the strategies and methods, although 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 in your life. You're going to see results from our very first session and you're not going to believe what you're able to accomplish within a short amount of time. And the music mastery experience is radical because once you're in, you're in for life. You heard that right. Once you join, you will have constant support month after month to keep reaching new heights and realizing new, bigger, and bolder dreams. All of this is done in a small, inclusive, in a private environment where you're going to feel supported, inspired, and motivated. But the spots are filling up, so don't hesitate.

So if you have big dreams, 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. 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 and à bientôt. Thank you.