The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 231 Practicing Isn't Working? – What You're Missing and How to Fix It

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast. This is episode 231. This is the third episode of your Reset and Rise summer series, and today's focus is on alignment, how to stop pushing and start connecting so you can practice with more purpose and way better results. Welcome to the Mind Over Finger podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:26 where we dive into the world of mindful music making peak performance, and crafting a purpose-driven life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide to unlocking your full potential, Dr. René-Paul Gaultier. Hello there, and welcome back to your Reset and Rise summer series. I'm so glad you're here. This episode is part of a special 10-episode journey I created just for you this summer to help you reignite your spark, rethink your practice, and show up with more clarity, confidence, and joy. Each episode builds on the last, so if you're just joining us, feel free to hop back to episode 229 and catch up. The series

Starting point is 00:01:16 follows a clear arc. We start with reigniting your joy and connection to music. Then we move into mindset tools like alignment, patience, and self-compassion to bring more ease and clarity to your work. After that, we clear away hidden obstacles. And finally, we wrap up with powerful tools to help you manage your mind and build real momentum. And if you're ready to go even deeper, check out my course, Practicing for Peak Performance. It's your full blueprint for performance success. And when you join this summer, you're going to get my Performance Anxiety Solution course for free. All the details are at mindoverfinger.com and the link is in the show notes. All right, ready to reset and rise? Let's dive in.

Starting point is 00:02:08 Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing amazing. So this month on the Mind Over Finger podcast, we're going to talk about practice room superpowers. I'm going to share with you three mindsets that are superpowers in the practice room, and they're going to sound so simple to you, but I can guarantee that they're the ones that we tend to forget first. And for this first superpower, I thought it would be fun for us to go back to the source and talk about mind over finger. What does that even mean? And how can we apply this idea, that concept in our practice and in our life, actually? So let's back up even more for a second. at the source, what we're trying to do with music is express ourselves, create art.

Starting point is 00:03:11 The artistic message, that's the essence of what we do. But for that message to be communicated effectively, we want to be able to transmit it. We need some tools to be able to play and express what we're trying to say on our instrument or with our voice. I don't want to neglect you, my singers. I know you're listening. So we do need some technique. And that means that we do need to practice a little bit. Okay, so far, I'm still not telling you anything you don't know. Technique allows us to express the artistic message. In one of my blog posts, I say that technique allows musicians to experience freedom from the limitations imposed on them by the markings on the page and let the vision of a work take place. But as I always say, practice is a lot

Starting point is 00:04:10 more than simply walking in the room and moving our arms for a little bit. The doing does not necessarily lead to more skill and ability. To acquire this technique and to reach more mastery with our instruments. We need time. Lots of time. We need a long-term vision that's going to guide us in all the decisions we have to make every day. We need dedication and patience. And here's a spoiler. I will be coming back to patience later this month. And finally, we need to know how to make our practice efficient. My old teacher at Eastman's, V. Zeitlin, always used to say, technique is conception. He would talk about how everything about violin playing originates first in the mind. And this is a concept that those of you familiar with the teachings of Ivan Galamian

Starting point is 00:05:06 will recognize because Mr. Zeitlin studied with Mr. Galamian, so that makes sense. So as a young student, I sort of understood what he was talking about, but it took me countless hours of mindless and useless practice to fully grasp the importance of this concept. I clearly saw the difference in results between mindless physical practice and intentional practice. From a young age, we're taught to learn through repetitions, and that's what we need to do. But too often, we rely on mindless and repetitive motions when we're practicing. Mindless being the operative word here. When we don't have awareness or when we don't put our mind ahead of our fingers,

Starting point is 00:05:54 we're way too often practicing mistakes instead of accurately learning the repertoire or whatever skill we're trying to acquire. Good practicing habits is the one thing that comes back again and again when I ask teachers what they wish their students would develop. and that's what I've been on a mission to help people with for all these years. Mind over finger. Mind over finger is all about the idea of alignment within before we take physical action. And for me, that also means emotional alignment, mental alignment. And we're going to cover these things this season as well. But for today, let's focus more on that purely intellectual alignment

Starting point is 00:06:41 of knowing what we want to do and what result we're after before we just jump in mindless repetitions. The acquisition of skills like the ones we need when we play happens through a neurological mechanism called myelination. And there's so much great literature on that topic and I'll put some links in the show notes. But here's how it works in a nutshell. Every human skill is created by chains of nerve fibers that carry electrical impulses through a circuit, a little bit like an optic cable. In response to the process of practicing, the brain produces myelin, M-Y-E-L-I-N. Myelin wraps layers of insulation around the neural circuits, and that makes the signal stronger and faster by preventing the electrical impulses from leaking out, and

Starting point is 00:07:36 Therefore, this improves our skills by increasing our timing and our speed and accuracy whenever it's needed. Every time we work on a skill or a passage, this myelination process happens. It insulates those neural circuits more and more, again, the same way that a well-insulated optic cable carries high-speed internet super efficiently. So whatever we repeat is what we reinforce. I'm sure you've heard this before. So when we understand that our brain is building skills this way, it's easy to see the importance of awareness and of minimizing these mindless repetitions that we all indulge in that reinforce tons of bad habits. So what that means is that we have to slow down and make sure we're engaged and aware when we practice. We learn at a much

Starting point is 00:08:35 deeper level when we take the time to really know what we're trying to do. We want to first conceptualize the passage or the skill we want to work on and put it through our mind. So for example, if you're trying to learn a passage, don't use what I call the wishful thinking method. that if you just repeat it over and over, it will magically get learned. For sure, something is going to get learned, but you might be dragging a bunch of bad habits in with the notes. So what you want to do is put it through your mind first, mind over finger. Look at it, analyze it, identify the patterns, notice stuff, basically. Then bring it up to tempo using all the beautiful, creative, and thoughtful practice methods you already know. So take in data with

Starting point is 00:09:36 your eyes, with your ears, with your body, and do the most important thing you can do in the practice room, ask yourself questions. Become a detective. What's the information on the page? What skill is required? How does it work? What is working? What's not working? How can I make it work? What else can I try? What else do I see? Right? Mind over finger. I'm telling you, if you're someone who has a habit of engaging in very active physical practice, but maybe less intentional presence, you will transform everything about your results in the practice room with just that mind over finger. It's one of the secrets to more results in the practice room. It's a superpower. One thing I often tell my clients and students is that each repetition should bring

Starting point is 00:10:35 either improvement or more insight. Two things, improvement or more insight with each repetition. So try that this week. Have a clear intention of what you're trying to do and stay engaged and aware in your practice room. Anytime you're trying to learn something or solve a problem or reinforce a skill. Pause. Sift everything through your mind before you engage in the physical practice of things. In between repetitions, assess and ask questions. Notice. Again, mind over finger. Here's an example. Let's say there's a difficult shift in the passage you're practicing. What I often see is people playing the shift over and over again, hoping it gets better. That's wishful thinking practice. When we put mind over finger, we pause. We use

Starting point is 00:11:39 two mindsets that are at the core of the deep practice model. That's the practice system I created and teach in my online course, Practicing for Peak Performance, and my group coaching program, the Music Mastery Experience, bear awareness and beginner's mind. We pay attention and we stay curious. So take a second to look at the shift. Look at the information on the page, the data. What are the notes? What positions are they in on the instrument? What's the fingering? How much am I paying attention to what I'm hearing? Do I have a clear idea in my mind's ear of the note I'm going for? What are the mechanisms involved in successfully achieving this shift?

Starting point is 00:12:27 What's the best way to practice it right now? All right, this is not quite working yet. What else can I try? So you see, this is what it looks like to practice with your mind ahead of your finger. It's to intellectually know the data, the information. It's to have a clear idea of what the physical intention is. It's to hear in your head. It's to have a strategy on how to work on it and get to your goal.

Starting point is 00:13:00 But it's important not to rush the process. And that, my friends, is another superpower that I'll talk about in the next episode. Now, this season on the podcast, I will offer you powerful questions to ponder on as you go about your week, and I'll have those written in the show notes. So here are a few things for you to consider this week. What happens and what am I thinking when I engage in mindless practicing? What does being fully present in the practice room look and feel like for me? What keeps me engaged while I practice?

Starting point is 00:13:44 Think about it and let me know what insight it brings to you. So this is what I have for you today. Remember to put mind over finger in the practice room this week. And there you have it. thank you so much for spending this time with me today if you enjoyed this episode i'd love it if you'd share with your friends and colleagues take a screenshot post it on social media and tag me i'm mind over finger everywhere i always love hearing your favorite takeaways and if you're ready to take your playing career to the next level i'd love to invite you to join the music

Starting point is 00:14:31 mastery experience. This is my signature group coaching program where we're going to dive deep into building your confidence and mastery and set you up for success and fulfillment in your life and career. You can find all the details at mindoverfinger.com. While you're there, check out the free downloads and online courses available to support your journey even further. And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss an update or a tool to help you thrive. Again, thank you for being here. Until next time, much love and à bientôt.

The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 231 Practicing Isn't Working? – What You're Missing and How to Fix It

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