The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 260 The Journey to Winning — How Marie-Michel Beauparlant Reclaimed Her Confidence and Her Career

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

If you've ever stood in the wings before a performance and wondered how you got there — not in a good way — this episode is for you. Marie-Michel Beauparlant is an accomplished cellist, a mom of twins, and one of the most honest guests we've had on the show. She talks about the years she spent hiding behind section playing because solo performing felt impossible, the guilt of chasing an audition with six-month-old twins at home, and what it actually took to go from dreading the spotlight to being, as she puts it herself, a little addicted to it. This is a real conversation about the inner life of a working musician — and it will stay with you. In this episode you will discover: Why perfectionism and stage fright so often go hand in hand and what Marie-Michel did to start untangling them How she went from barely advancing in auditions to winning two orchestra positions and making finals consistently The mindset shift that led her to remove the word failure from her vocabulary entirely How finding a community of musicians facing similar challenges made her feel less alone and normalized the struggles she had been carrying quietly for years The simple question she asks herself before every practice session that keeps her grounded and motivated What winning really looks like when you stop making it only about the outcome   Want to experience this kind of transformation in your own musical life? The doors to the Music Mastery Experience open June 1st. Visit mindoverfinger.com/mme to learn more and book your free call today. Spots are limited.   Book your FREE Music Mastery Experience Clarity Call with Renée HERE Download the transcript from this episode HERE       Mind Over Finger Click www.mindoverfinger.com/coaching to book your free consultation with me. Visit MindOverFinger.com for my online courses as well as free resources on peak performance. Grab my free workshops and PDF downloads by going to www.mindoverfinger.com/resources. Connect: https://www.youtube.com/@MindOverFinger https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfinger https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/     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.    

You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast. This is episode 260. Welcome to the Mind Over Finger podcast, 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. Ranipo Gautier. Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing beautifully, wherever you're tuning in from. And oh my goodness, do I have something special for you today. I'm really excited about this conversation because my guest today is one of my amazing clients inside the Music Mastery experience. And I have to tell you, watching her grow, watching the things she's accomplished,

watching her show up the way she does inside the program, witnessing her powerful inner and outer journey has been so awesome. Today, I'm talking with Marie-Michelle Beauparlant. Marie-Michelle is the assistant principal cello of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Québec. She's a member of the Orchestre Classique de Montréal, and she performs across North America and Europe with some of the most incredible ensembles out there, Les Violons du Roi, Tafel Music, the Orchestre Métropolitain, just to name a few. She studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, Rice University, and Stony Brook University, and she's been a finalist at the Prix d'Europe twice in the Canadian music competition. She is the real deal. But here's what this conversation is really about. This is

a personal, emotional episode, and Marie-Michelle really goes there. She talks about severe stage fright that followed her through her doctorate. She talks about perfectionism and what it actually costs you. She talks about being a new mom of twins during the pandemic and deciding she still wanted to go after an audition and the guilt that came with that and the self-doubt and what it took to show up anyway. And then she talks about what happened on the other side of all that because Marie-Michel is at her core a fighter. And that fighter spirit, that refusal to give up even when everything felt impossible

is exactly what carried her through. This is also a story of winning, of walking into an audition calm, confident, and genuinely excited to be there, of going from dreading the spotlight to being as she says herself a little addicted to it of winning not one but two orchestra positions and maybe my favorite thing of reclaiming the joy that brought her to the cello in the first place so many of you listening to this know exactly what she's talking about you felt it maybe

Maybe you're feeling it right now. And I think this conversation is going to land for you in a really deep way, both the struggle and the breakthrough. And before we dive in, I want you to know that the doors to the Music Master Experience, my group coaching program, are opening June 1st. And right after my conversation with Marie-Michelle, I have an invitation for you. So stay tuned for that. You can also find all the details right now at mindoverfinger.com slash amami.

All right, let's go to the show. Marie-Michelle Beauparlant, welcome to the show. Hi, everyone. It's so great to have you here, Marie-Michelle. You're one of my favorite people in the world, and we've known each other for a while. and also you're one of my clients inside of the Music Mastery experience and it's just been such an amazing thing

to watch your journey unfold and I'm so happy that I got to be there with you and I've been able to witness all of the fantastic things that you've accomplished and all of the insight that you've shared with us inside of the group So I feel very privileged and I'm just so happy that we get to sit down and have this conversation today. Yeah, well, I'm honored to be here today and hopefully this message can reach out to someone.

Marie-Michelle, tell us, we're going to start where I start with every guest. So tell us about you and your musical journey and how that unfolded so that the listeners can get to know you a little bit more. Great. Well, I come from a musical family. Before us, us being me and my siblings, there were fiddlers. For as far as we reached, there are fiddlers. The first violin that came to the house was from my great-grandfather. He didn't make it, but basically pieced it together and glued it with the wrong glue and all kinds of things like that. I thought my big brother, his first fiddle tune, and my mom played the piano by ear.

And so that's the background I come from. And with my sibling, we all started music lessons fairly early. With my two sisters, we went to the Montreal Conservatory at, you know, normal age, not super young, but just as an early teenager. um they all played violin and somehow I really didn't like the sound just it's really on my nerve um and then one day I heard a cello I didn't play the violin I you know use the piano for a little bit and could read notes and sing um I heard a cello and just oh my god I just fell in love with the low, low sound. That was my thing. I was seven when I started lessons. I was 11 or 12 when I got to the conservatory. Then I was very dedicated and just all into it. I realized about at that age

that that's something you could do for a living um so I was like wow this is amazing I could just play the cello for a living so I started being really conscious of my practice I have no idea what I was doing before that I don't really remember I know I played with my mom and my siblings um but not much more um and so I just went through my my studies with a very I was already very purposeful in my practicing then um oftentimes my mom mentioned she had to come in the room and say that's enough go outside like enough playing for today I was I was really into it I later on fell in love with orchestral playing when I was a little older and I got into orchestra mostly in summer camp I went to Chautauqua institution and I went later on to

Tanglewood while I was also a student at Rice where I did my master's and I really just fell in love and I was like this is this is what I want to do like just this big group this energy this vibration. I was really, really excited by all that. Um, and so for my studies, that's what I did. So the conservatory for a very long time, like nine years, and then I went to Rice for master's and I completed a doctorate at Stony Brook University in 2014. Um, and that's when, some things started to shift a little bit from the really excited, really playful player. I probably from my nature being a perfectionist and a mix of also some family traumas, a teacher that maybe was a little hard on me with the events that were occurring at the

time and also I came from a very humble family in like financially and schooling so I didn't have a very good instrument and even all the way till fairly recently if you think about it I had this instrument till 2017 so I even after my study kept it it was not very good it was very difficult to play, but my expectations were very high. So without reaching the things I was looking for with the instrument and with the outside pressure, I started developing a quite severe stage fright throughout my studies. At the end of my doctorate, so we're talking like 2012 2014 it was really difficult for me to perform and it was always the solo stuff like the recitals the exams the auditioning was difficult whenever I was in a group and I felt

like oh fine I can hide and then but then I would that's what basically kept me going I could still find the fun in it but then I realized well if I want to get the job I need to get through this and that that didn't add up at that point but also I'm perfectionist but I'm also quite a fighter in a way so I was although there was a part of me that was like, well, maybe you should just give up. This is getting really hard. There was another part. I was like, it wasn't always like that. So what happened? What can we do? And so I wasn't quite ready to give up. I did tone down on, on all the putting myself in the spotlight. I did finish my doctorate, of course, with good results because, again, my expectations

are very high. So I felt it was difficult, but, you know, I still did very good. And I came back to Montreal and I started making a living teaching because that was really easy. I had started teaching, I was quite young, and it was always a side job for me. So I came back and right away sent resumes and started teaching to a point where it was difficult to play. But it was kind. I love teaching. I stay close to the cello and I know I'm good at it. Somehow this, I feel good. So that was easy to do. but then a few auditions came and I just had not enough time to prepare and then I was like okay this doesn't make sense you still you know teaching is great but that's not quite what

you want to do I still had this dream of orchestra job and so I started researching I found coaches different therapists. I tried different things, worked with some people for a while. I read countless books on the subject. I did have one approach that was really good, was a neuro-linguistic programming coach that I had for a while. I'm just starting to change basically the word i was i would use um whenever i had these big emotions or these big uh traumas or fear accompanying auditioning or spotlight or performing and um so between 2012 and 2018 i still took five to seven audition i'm not quite sure i still took some but they were like experiments i was testing the things i was trying um two of them i advanced so to me that was

good i felt well you know i i i'm working and it's not complete no all the time so and i was i just felt like i was going somewhere with it um feeling better and also i started teaching a little less got more work uh playing around started meeting people around town having better better gigs um freelancing around the city um and then in 2017 between 2017 and 2019 I acquired another instrument, another bow. That was life-changing. Sorry, I'm going to get emotional just for a little bit because on that day I cried

because this cello was suddenly making the sound I wanted. And so I was like, oh my God, Because at some point I thought, maybe I just can't do that sound. So that was really a big step. And of course, through my coaches and coachings and, you know, and meeting people, I had been like, okay, I need to change the instrument. Like, it's really not helpful at this level of playing. So that was a big step. And I, it really helped my confidence grow, but as I am, it was not enough.

Like I needed to go further. So that's, that's basically, I guess, very wide resume of where I got here. Thank you so much. How I got here. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing this story. And I feel like people listening are really going to resonate and many people are going to recognize their own experience through what you just shared. And again, thank you.

It's not easy to just hop on a mic and, you know, talk about our lives all the time. And I love what you said about how you became purposeful at quite a young age. I really see this working with you. That's one of my favorite things about you is how purposeful you are. a purposeful perfectionist also a fighter and I really see this and I see this as you're a fighter in all of the best ways because what does a fighter do well a fighter looks at a situation looks at what's happening and looks at what needs to happen for the outcome that that the fighter wants to happen to happen. And I really see you as someone who's not afraid to ask questions.

And I've shared this with you. So you've heard me say this to you before, but you're asking questions, which takes courage. You're looking at the answers, which also takes courage. And then you're even going a step further, which is you're trying a lot of things. And in the way where you're not afraid of the failure because I think you understand that failure is part of figuring out what works and what doesn't. It's just an experiment that yields information. And what we label as failure is basically just more data on what is not quite working. But it does take courage to look at this. And so you're someone with so much resilience and grit. and as the listener will find out that i think really paid off in in beautiful ways um but i

i really want to thank you for sharing this because again talking about this transition between finding this whole world of music getting really excited about it dreaming of making a living out of it and then things transition because now it it takes on another another meaning it gets more quote-unquote serious the stakes feel different right and then yes at times we are put in situations where we encounter uh people who you know like teachers mentors um even sometimes heroes of ours and create a lot of damage and that's that's a topic for another podcast episode. As you know, I have a lot of thoughts on this.

But thank you for sharing this because so many people have experienced things that are similar to what you shared and I think can map their experience onto what you're sharing. And it's important to have these conversations about these real life situations because I feel like people,

I feel like it's easy to think that a trajectory should look a specific way to be the good trajectory and it's important to remember that they're all human trajectories and they're all different so so again thank you thank you for sharing this and um well now we like i want to hear a little bit more about what what was going on around the time that you joined music mastery experience and yeah tell us a little bit more yeah so um in after the coaching they they were not uh all there were none of them were actually music coaches so you know therapists and coaches of different kinds um but then i was like i think i need somebody that's you know specifically related to music um and so i i

So I started to look around. I had a really, really great conversation with Rob Knopper. And it brought me to seek this kind of community to go forward. And that was, I can't remember, I think it was 2019. and I was, you know, like searching actively and actually starting to reach out to play for people around town or whenever I was traveling, find a cellist in a famous symphony and wherever I was going and ask, can I play for you? And just, you know, reach, reach out like this. But then of correspondingly hit. So that took me back a little bit. And then furthermore, as you know,

but not the listener, my twins came. So yes, in 2021, I had two boys. They were eight, well, they were six months old when I met a friend on the street and said, oh, did you hear the montreal symphony has an audition this fall i didn't play the cello for 10 months at that point because the end of my pregnancy i couldn't reach and i just it was physically impossible to just reach the bow around my belly so i had stopped um much earlier than most people i know and i mean it's hard enough with one baby let alone two anyway so it had been and then the you know they were born and it was crazy and uh it was still tricky with the pandemic we weren't seeing a lot of people so we didn't have much help

um I was barely starting to work again anyway so this audition was like okay this is you know a dream job I'm out of shape I'm out of sleep but I want to do it I remember coming home and telling my boyfriend I want to do this audition he said oh my god okay what do you need it's like I was lucky he wasn't working he took the year off to be with us and take care of us and so we hired a nanny every day for six weeks three hours a day so that it was not just him so that I could you know like he took some time I still was I was nursing the kids and I was you know eating and doing my thing, but I asked for three hours a day, which is completely crazy when you think about it, but that's what I wanted. Half the time, I think I slept that time

and the other half I tried practice. I was really nervous. I was really doubting all the pressure that I was putting on the family. Why am I doing this? I felt guilt. Like, you know, they're so little, they need me. Oh my God, I'm so egoist thinking about trying to win a job and I'm not ready. So all these thoughts, that's...

I feel you completely. These are such powerful emotions at the time. Yeah, yeah, totally. And so many people, so many women, not that dads don't feel that as well, but I feel like this guilt that we experience as mothers is real, is raw. And I want to thank you for going there. Yeah. And I think that's somehow that's around the time when I, you know, I was home and I had time. I heard some of your podcast episodes and I reached out to you because, you know, I read a comment on a Facebook post from somebody we both know.

And I said, you know, this person, I like how she thinks. And I think I reached out to you and we had a few one-on-one meeting at that point to just, you know, help me through this audition. It went well. I did not advance, but that's another topic. I did a good audition considering the situation. Like, was it my best audition? Probably not. But in the situation where I was, it was good that I just showed up and I actually went and do it.

I was proud of that. And I think that's around the time when you told me about MME and you invited me to the program. and it really started to resonate with the thing I had been looking for prior pandemic. And then with my new reality, I felt like I was really in a good place to join something like that.

That was exactly like the right timing for me at that point when I joined MME. what what did audition preparation like felt for you more from the mindset perspective at the time so I had done a lot of work so you know through between 2012 to um 2000 let's say 22 that's a 10 years I was already in a much better place I think that then then when I started the journey Um, but I, I still felt like, um, I was wondering what if I was wondering a lot, what if this idea I have is wrong of me, like this idea of what I can accomplish, what I can do, what, what if it's wrong? What if I'm not good enough for this type of playing, for this level orchestra or things like that? And that was something that was difficult to overcome.

And also, I think I was having time management issues with the kids, with the new reality. I had started working gradually again. um so that I felt like it was a a lot of sacrifice a lot of work and I wasn't sure it was worth it in the end but but somehow I still wanted to do it so I had to find a way to make it work I think that's where I I I sat um at that point and what were the things that you feel started to shift for you inside of music mastery experience what was a few things that started moving the needle for you so I think I started to look for you know like instead of being like you know I'm not good enough this is not good enough like all

it's kind of negative talk right um I started looking at things with why why am I doing this why do I audition why do I practice um like in finding positive answers um and find like something a goal that's attainable so if it's not winning the job what can I do that I can feel proud of and I can accomplish and build on. So this is the kind of approach I started building, I think, through MME, through the different exercise and tools and playing for people.

I also found a lot of ways to use my time better and, you know, organize my practice between work and audition and prioritize what needs to be done, how much time I have so I you know I can name things you know like the reverse engineering getting the date the data in and see when's the audition how much time do I have what's the work in in there and how do I accomplish this week by week day by day hour by hour you know like this kind of thing was really useful for me the community to the support that I found there

I remember sometime around I don't know 2015 so in the middle there in my 10-year spam of looking for something feeling very lonely like I felt like I was ashamed to talk about this or felt like everybody that's doing audition is going through it they don't want to hear my problems they probably have their own so I'm not gonna bother anybody with this so I felt very lonely in this process um and to find a community of people that that have similar goals that go that face similar challenge and and to find out also that actually a lot of people do find do find this type of questioning and in their journeys at some point and that it's quite normal made it a lot easier, I think, for me to normalize what I was doing.

It was not just me, that we all go through it and that you can go forward with this. So the community was really good. And also all the mental conditioning and the recovery work that I found, the tools that I found in MME to build a routine that works for me. What do I need? A recovery that works for me. And all of that was through, you know, trying different things and building, I think, something that's actually working for me now. I mean, I'm not saying that's the recipe ever for anyone, because now I also have a community here of friends that audition and they

now know they can call me and come play for me because we're building a team of people that have this in common and everybody has their journey. But I think through the tools, I found a way to make it work for me. I love that you're saying that for me, like what is working for me? And that's what I've seen from you. Like I said earlier, you come in, you show up for coaching, you ask questions and you don't just ask me questions, but you also come in with a lot of reflections that you've done on your own. And which is so valuable for everyone. You talked about the community. The community is one of my favorite things about Music Mastery Experience is this, this meeting of minds who are coming to share a human experience and actually talk about

the real stuff, the real emotions that we're facing. And there's no, there's no shame. There's no judgment. It's just people really opening up and seeing that, wow, okay, this is actually something that other people are going through and nothing's wrong with me. Everything is actually quite right with me. And it's just so wonderful. But yeah, you've, you know, inside the program, there's practicing techniques that I've seen you try, the conditioning that you're talking about. They're not just concepts. They're concepts that one has to experiment with and has to try enough until they figure out how it works for them. And I've seen you do that. And I think that's the whole point is to figure out like a system is out there and then you figure out how to make it work

for you. And I think that you've done that brilliantly. Oh, thank you. Um, thank you for allowing, I mean, not allowing it to happen, but making it available for us so that we can play with it because, um, yeah, I mean, not a lot of these things I had read about, I had, you know, in one of the books and one of the coaching, but then to just find it all there and, um, being my perfectionist nature felt very overwhelmed at first, but then I started to realize like I could take one thing at a time from MME and try it. And, um, of course, quickly I started combining things and, and, oh, I like these two together. And like, um, you know, uh, recording, recording, recording. Oh my God. Like I heard this before, but then through MME,

through the community, um, I just started using it all the time. Um, I can't, I can't live without it anymore. Like, this is like, I don't have an audition and I want to record like my practice sessions. That's how crazy it is. Yeah. I love what you said that, you know, that this is a place that I've sort of created so you can come and play with it. It's like a playground. And of course, I think it's easy, you know, if you walk into a playground, then there's all of these toys or all of these structures you can play on. At first, it could be a little bit overwhelming. And then, yes, you just go one at a time, you experiment with it figure out how it works with your friends yeah it's absolutely what it

is it's kind of a playground absolutely I'm curious to see also because right you've taken some auditions recently and experienced some some successes can you tell us a little bit about like was there a moment where you you thought okay this something's changing like this is starting Nigel, was there a moment like that for you? So since that first audition that I took when the kids were eight months, I didn't actually literally count them, but vaguely in my mind, I think I'm about that 15. I know some people do that in a year or something, but considering I I work basically full time. I'm very lucky because through the work on myself, I became more confident and it really

paid off in the musical world around me. And so in my freelance, it's increased my work. So I have more work. I have these now five year old, but through that time, you know, if you think about it in four and a half year with, you know, I did about 15 audition. Um, and then I, in the last three years, um, that's when it really started to shift. I, I advanced, I started advance every single time, um, except one, um, still have to advance on that one, but all the other ones I advance i made many finals um and as you mentioned i i did win two auditions and those in those last

three years um i'm assistant in the regional orchestra and i just won this last audition i did in february um i won a position in a chamber orchestra in the city i'm very excited about because that's going to be a little bit different from all the big orchestra work I do most of the time. Um, and I think what, when it really, really started to change was in the last year. Um, I really felt like I found, like I was activated when I showed up for an audition, but i was very calm and in control throughout the process um i was in the last few auditions like i was really excited to be there in and play and see what would happen and like and and have a confidence like there's in the last year there's not one time where i thought

i don't know if i if that made it like play first round and i pass and i play second round and i'm like this was great I'm really happy and you know you do advance to finals or not but at that point I'm like okay I'll seek for comments and see if it makes sense to me you know the comments and if I can grow from that but I know I did everything I could I know I accomplished what I came for I always find a goal when I'm doing an audition like what am I working on it's not just the audition. It's not just the excerpt, but I pick a goal for the next two months. I'm going to be working on my sound, on being more musical, on more pianos or I don't know, whatever comes up at the time. And I go for it. And then it's exciting because in the end I'm like, oh, I

did this amazing piano here. Or then I get comments like, wow, great sound. I'm like, yes I was just working on it for two months like um so it gets uh rewarding without having just the goal of winning in mind which is important I want to win the audition I prepare to win but when I show up that day in a way I already won like yeah I made everything work for me I show up, I'm confident, I'm happy to be there. And it's crazy because going from fearing the spotlight, I feel like I'm a little bit addicted to it right now. I'm like, ooh, when's the next one? So it's very exciting to be there because it's like, I want to do this job. I know I can do it well, but I need to go through this process. And now

the process became something I look for, that I enjoy, that I feel like I really grow through it. So this is a huge change in the, I mean, it's through all the work that I did, that we did, but that more recently I could really pinpoint things that are like major changes. There's so many things I love in what you just shared is that then the process itself is meaningful and purposeful for you. Because so oftentimes we feel that if I do an audition, for example, or a performance and doesn't go the way that I want, or I don't win the audition, then there was no point in it's a failure. And I feel like what you're talking about here is all about this is a victory in so many ways. I mean, just signing up for an audition takes a lot of courage. All of the preparation and the dedication in itself can be something that is so valuable for us. And then when we take that perspective, when we are so intentional about the way that we approach it, as you are, I think it really helps not only then start to generate momentum and success with these audition wins, but I feel like you have reclaimed that joy that you were talking about that you had before.

Oh, most definitely. Yes. And then the whole process, the life that you're living in itself is something where we feel so much more fulfillment without needing, I mean, the external validation is great. Winning the audition is great, but the daily fulfillment is also there. Yeah, absolutely. And, um, I think one thing that really changed is, you know, I had so much fear of failure and then eventually I, you know, through all this process, I realized, you know, like, I think I took the word failure out of my vocabulary. I don't think it exists. I don't want it. Like, I don't think it's useful. Like, I mean, the only way you could fail is like, okay, if an audition came up and I'd be like not signing up for it and then being disappointed that I didn't win. I mean, okay, I failed. Like I should have registered for the audition and show up, right? The only way not to win an audition is not to go. I mean, like, otherwise for me, it's just winning.

I win something every time um and learning to like in the process like there are many reasons why you don't actually win the audition and a lot of them have nothing to do with me um I think yeah and it's just human being human nature it was not the right day it maybe is not the right work for me at this moment, like, but the work, the effort that I put are winning. They're positive a hundred percent. And they just, I am a better player when I show up for my gigs after all the people I reached out to play with, they heard me and, and they, they, you know, we had a positive exchange and, you know, I have new friends and new colleagues that I reached out to and that I start to know people they know how I play they you know then refer me to for work they ask me

to work with them I mean it's only positive every single time and so that me is a huge win absolutely and and you're doing this while performing you have a very busy I know it because I hear from you all the time and I see you in the group and you have a very busy performing career with some really awesome projects you have two kids um you're in you know from what i see you're a very present mother and you your life partner and you're you know cooking all that like your life is full so here's my question for you because i feel that yeah some people feel like there is no time there's not enough time and also they feel like they might not have time for coaching because they're so busy. So what would you say to people who feel like there's not enough

time and there's no time for coaching? I think time is a concept. There is time. There is always time. The matter is what do you do with that time? So what do I choose to do with that time that I have. Um, I could just sit, continue to sit alone in practice in my practice room, but clearly that didn't work at some point. So for me is when something is not working the way I want, it's not give, I'm not reaching the goal that I want the way I'm working, then I need to try something else. So, um, to take time for what, I mean, if you think about it, athletes, they have coaches, they have a support group, like, and we're talking high level athletes and I consider we are high level athletes. So they have people around them. Um, and I think it's important to

build that support around us and not feel like I am alone doing this journey. Um, there's someone that's supporting me and not just my mother and my boyfriend, because they love me or just like, like people that know what it takes and people that have been through it. And, and so I think that's really important. People that can share, um, their experience and maybe show you something you didn't see or you didn't consider it's really hard to look at your own self sometimes on your own it's really hard to change something like it's really hard to change habits so if you're always you know sitting down like it's hard for me to take time to for coaching or to take time to record I feel like I should be practicing that's I have to fight that but

And through taking time to work on my mental state and through taking time on my body, physical health. And, you know, one day I said, I don't have time to work out when I have work and kids and an audition. And then I sat down one night and I said, you just spent 10 minutes on Facebook. You didn't even talk to your friends. You were just scrolling. So I said, don't tell me you don't have time. You just had 10 minutes to work out. And so that day I decided, well, okay, I'm not going to be crazy about it, but I'm going to work out five minutes. So I still have five minutes to scroll

if I want to. I like that. In the group, I'm like, what can I do? Right? Yeah. So I still have only that much time. I still need to sleep. I still need to take care of kids. I still need to plan for last minute sickness and things like that, but there is time. And sometimes it does mean I might not see my friend as often as I want, or I might see them. I say, I have half hour for coffee this week. I'll be happy to spend it with you. This is all I can offer, but this would be, you know, nice. But I, I, I really, I'm very organized. I think that helps this also in my nature, but, um, I, I just, I look at the time like a grid and I fill it with things I want to accomplish and I'm getting so much better at it. And, and then to make, um, one coaching of MME

fit in that schedule in one week. Um, and if I means I cut something else that I just, I don't off oh i think my headset might be low on battery anyway uh so that that's what i did like i look at the grid and i decide what do i put in the the little boxes and and then mme was something i wanted to try and give a try so i made it a priority um but also knowing my schedule was and being nice with myself when I need. I said, well, this week I won't have time to try anything new or listen to coaching and that's okay.

I'll catch up next week. And just being realistic also with what was around. Yeah, I love that. And there's all of the remote resources that you can use on your own time too. But what I love, I mean, I love so many things. I know what you said. One of the things I love was also you said, I have this grid and then I fill it with the things I want to do.

And that's great because that means that you have agency over where your life energy is going. That's also something that, and I know you were doing it before Music Mastery Experience, but that's a whole training also inside of Music Mastery Experience and how to organize. It was life-changing. The tools I found in MME with this, I mean, I had ideas, but for me, that was, I mean, there are some things on my iPad you wouldn't believe from MME that, you know, like grids and things I fill. Not all the time, but when I'm in a very crunchy, busy mode, then I use it and it's amazing. I'm so glad. But I love this. Speaking of time, I want to be respectful of your time because you have all of these amazing performances and babies to attend to.

But I do want to ask a couple questions from the rapid fire. Otherwise, it wouldn't be the Mind Over Finger podcast. Let me pull out my list because I should know all of them by memory by now. But believe it or not, I don't. Let me see. We've talked about that a lot. But this is going to be, if there's only time for one, that's going to be the one I ask.

Because inside of the program, we talk a lot about mind management and how what we're thinking has the power to change our lives. And I've experienced that in my life time and time and time again. So let me ask you, is there a thought or a belief that has changed your life or supports you right now? I think to me, I don't know exactly where, when, who said it, where, which book, I don't know, but it was that you can choose your future, basically. like when you, when you sit and think about the future, I was very good at imagining the worst thinking now I'm ready for the worst. So I can't get surprised by anything bad, right? I I've thought about the worst things that can happen. I'm ready. Um, but then I think it kind of backfire at me. Uh, so to make sure, and, and so the thing, the thing I was reading or heard was

like, you could think that the worst things, or you could think the best things, like I could win this audition like and that neither are actually true like they didn't happen right you neither fail nor win you're here today practicing um but that you can choose which one to focus on and that chances are that what you focus on you'll get much closer to that in in reality this for me was well I didn't realize I was doing that but to realize oh my god I do this all the time i i mean i fear the worst for my kids all the time and i have to stop myself like they're sleeping nothing happened like they're breathing everything's fine just go back to bed you know like um just i now i catch myself doing it and being like okay but what's the

opposite i could think about like what's the positive counterpart that i could imagine might as well right why not that's huge for me one one is helpful and the other is not not quite yeah in closing do you have an actionable tip for the listeners something they could implement in their musical lives or in their life in general i think since we're you know we're talking about you can use it in your life in general like this whole thing was much more focus on on your practice and performance but um i think one thing that's i would uh recommend and encourage you all is is you know before you start your practice or before you start doing whatever it is you want to do is you know to ask yourself why am i doing this like

you know like why do i do this what what's what am i gaining what's my purpose my goal and um and then you know once you're doing it especially in the practice room like what oh what did i like about this you know like and to start from that place of you know what what's keeping me excited and oh i really like that phrase oh i really like that sound or and and then then when you move to something more uh critical but then you know again i use these words with caution like just ask yourself is there one thing I want to improve can easily be accomplished and and then ask yourself is there one thing that that I really want to make better and that will take a little more time and to approach this in a wording that is not non-judgmental so you know

like three four questions one before why am I doing this and then after whatever session what did I like and what can I improve? And instead of just being a repeating and repeating mindlessly to stop and ask yourself questions, but nice and good questions. Nice and good questions. You know, I love that. Marie-Michelle, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us and sharing your story so honestly, so authentically. And I, again, I feel like listeners are going to identify with a lot of the things that you went through. And I hope they are as inspired by you as I am, because you, I mean, you said it, you are a fighter and that's what I've seen in you since

we started working together. So much grit, so much resilience, but also the power of the intentionality that you put behind everything, how you're showing up with courage, with vulnerability, with just an honest desire to live authentically and live fully is something that is so, so, so inspiring to me. And I think that the listeners are going to walk away so inspired. So thank you so much. Oh, thank you. And I hope it does reach out. And there you have it. I hope this conversation with Marie-Michelle inspired you as much as it inspired me. And if you're looking for the same kind of transformation, the same kind of growth, I want you to know that this is exactly what I see happening inside the Music Mastery experience? Musicians showing up, doing the real work,

and creating results that genuinely change their lives and their careers. Because here's what I want you to really hear. Marie-Michelle went from severe stage fright to winning two orchestra positions, from dreading auditions to being excited for the next one, from guilt and self-doubt to calm, confidence, and joy. That's not luck. That's the work. And that work, that's exactly what we do inside the Music Mastery Experience. And if you've been listening to this episode thinking, okay, I see myself in Marie-Michelle's story. I want that kind of shift too. Then this is for you. We start June 1st, and I would love for you to be there with us. Here's what I want you to know about the Music Mastery Experience. It's the most comprehensive, personalized coaching program for

musicians out there. And inside, we go deep. We work on your mindset, your practice, your performance preparation, your confidence, all of it. And what I love most, you don't just learn tools. You figure out how to make them work for you. Your life, your schedule, your goals. That's exactly what Marie-Michelle did. And I see it happen over and over again with the musicians I work with. It's awesome. I love it. Spots are limited. I keep the program small on purpose because I want to really show up for every single person inside. So if this is calling you, don't wait. Head over to mindoverfinger.com slash MME right now to get all the details and book your free conversation with me. On that call, we're going to talk about where you are, where you want to go,

and how the Music Mastery Experience can get you there. It's going to be so valuable. And whether or not you decide to join, you're going to walk away with clarity on your next steps. I promise you that. So go to mindoverfinger.com slash MME and book your spot today. I can't wait to speak with you. All right, this is what I have for you today. Much love going your way and à bientôt.