Today I played a concert of Viennese music. It felt absolutely great to play with people who all felt the same way and had the same feeling for the music, without discussion or questioning! During the concert I was thinking how wonderful it would be to experience the same lightness and naturalness with everything– with every note and every piece that we play.
A student of mine was too shy to admit that she could no longer afford to take lessons from me. So not only did she not schedule any lessons, but she didn´t practice either. Recently however, she told me about her financial situation. Sharing the information with me was such a relief for her! And because I now understand what is going on with my student, I´ve been able to help her begin resolving her problems. For example, we switched to only two online lessons a month, which she can afford. And, because I continue to stay in constant contact with her via email and am providing her with ongoing advice regarding her practicing plan, my student does not feel like she is alone and is more motivated to pursue her music.
I also began helping my student improve her financial situation. As a Financial Recovery counselor who works with financially- troubled musicians, I´ve been trained to help them understand the root causes of their money problems — so they can stop living in a fog about their finances — and then begin building more stabile lives for themselves.
As a musician, when you gain clarity about your money, you become more secure and confident in your life, and you become better able to earn the money you need. In addition, feeling more secure and confident in yourself and being less distracted by worries about money, frees you up to become more creative with your music. Of course, achieving these results takes time, but the important first steps are to acknowledge that you have problems with money and to get help. My student has done that and so now we can begin working together to help her build a solid, long term foundation for her life — for her practicing, her playing and her finances.
If you are like most musicians, auditioning for a job is akin to climbing up Mount Everest without oxygen. And, if the audition does not turn out the way you hoped, you probably feel emotionally let down, vulnerable and insecure about your musical abilities. You may even feel like a victim and that you were judged to be “not good enough”. These sort of feelings, although normal and common in musicians, are not helpful to us.
Building your confidence as a musician is key to not allowing your self image to be defined by someone else. One of the most important ways to do that is through regular and productive practicing. So, take out your timer and start practicing! When you do, you will almost certainly find a problem in your playing that need to work on and once you understand the problem and begin working on it your confidence will begin to build and and you´ll start wanting to practice more. Over time, with each problem that you overcome, your playing will improve and your self confidence will build.
I am not saying that this process will eliminate all of your anxieties about auditioning nor will it mean that you won´t feel disappointed if you don´t get a job that you´ve auditioned for. However, as your confidence builds, you´ll find that missing out on a job is not as emotionally difficult as it used to be and that you are able to bounce back from your loss more quickly and begin preparing for your next audition.
Today, I was reviewing a student’s practicing, plan which she had sent me to correct it. I was so pleased to note that she had written in the plan “When you love a sound, you’ll get access to it.”When I read those words, I felt successful as her teacher. That’s a wonderful feeling!
I have just added a page of testimonials from some of my students to my website http://www.miriamrossacademy.com/Testimonials.html . I am proud of what my students have to say about the difference my in-studio and virtual music lessons have made in their musical lives. I am also happy to note that those students who have taken both in-person and virtual music lessons from me have found that both types of lessons deliver the same quality of teaching. And, I am interested to learn that most of them have found that they are able to focus more during an online lesson compared to an in-studio lesson.
The work I do with the students who attend my virtual music academy shows that the students who combine regular lessons with a practicing plan are more apt to be successful as musicians. Not only are they more likely to win auditions, but also they are more likely to remain motivated and focused, which helps puts them on an uplifting learning spiral.Interested in experiencing what a virtual music lesson is like for FREE? Sign up for a 20 minute lesson with me via Skype @
As part of my efforts to help my students achieve their goals, I stay in regular contact with them, via web cam, e-mail and/or phone. I also make sure that they know that if they need to reach out to me for some reason, I am always available. I want to be aware of where they are at the moment with their playing and practicing, whether or not they are having problems sticking with their practicing plans, whether their plans need tweaking, whether they need help with a technical issue, how they are doing emotionally, and so on. Staying in constant contact with my students is very important. For example, a student of mine who is preparing for an audition that will take place in a few weeks has been resisting using her practicing plan and has been finding all sorts of excuses to postpone her practice sessions. So, I’ve given her some advice that you may find useful if you are having problems sticking with a practicing plan: Take a few minutes to observe the thoughts that come to mind when you think about practicing and write down those thoughts. For example, you may think,”I don’t want to practice” or “I have too much else to do so” and so on. (Sometimes, the simple act of acknowledging how you are feeling about practicing takes away the power of those thoughts and makes it easier to focus on practicing again.) Then try to practice for a small amount of time without judging yourself, putting pressure on yourself to practice for a particular amount of time or without carrying on a negative inner dialogue with yourself. Once you begin practicing, you will probably feel better about it and so practice again later in the same day or the next day for a short period of time as well. No pressure! Eventually, you will begin to experience the benefits of practicing again and you’ll want to practice more often and longer.
A student of mine was going through an emotionally rough time in her personal life, which was affecting her practicing and playing. To help her, I created a structured plan for her practicing. The plan spelled out what she would practice during a series of 15-minute increments. It also required that my student give me daily feedback about how her practicing was going. As needed, I gave her suggestions and encouragement.
The plan helped my student reduce the pressure she was experiencing related to her practicing and allowed her to focus more on her music rather than on her personal problems. As a result, she is enjoying practicing, the amount of time she is spending on it is growing without any effort on her part, and her improved practicing is helping make her feel better about her life in general.
I think all musicians can take two lessons away from my student´s experience. First, it´s possible to practice and play even when you are going through tough times in your personal life. Second, you can actually use practicing to overcome challenges. Practicing can you connect with yourself; increase your focus; and give you the energy you need to work through your problems and towards your musical goals.
My friend Mindi Rayner is a PR specialist who works with singers. She lives in New York and we keep in touch via Skype. During our conversations we talk a lot about music services and about the way the music industry has developed. A few days ago she sent me a copy of her new homepage. On the page, she asks her future clients about where they see themselves in five years and in ten years.
That question made me do a lot of thinking about myself, what I will be doing in five and ten years, and what will and won’t have developed for me. It also occurred to me that because we spend so much time on our day by day duties, most of us don’t spend nearly enough time daydreaming and creating future visions for ourselves. So, make time to relax and just daydream about your future as a musician. Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?
I took the day off recently to enjoy the countryside with my family and to visit a beautiful church. We had lunch in the sunshine near the church and close by was a primary school. The windows of one of the school classrooms were open and so I could hear some students having a flute lesson. What I heard was not beautiful. The notes they were playing sounded out of tune and there was no melody. The students just seemed to be playing note after note. I assume they were all trying to play the right notes with the same pitch or maybe they were simply trying to hear their sound.
After a while, I stopped paying attention to the flute lessons and focused again on talking and being in the sun with my family. Then suddenly. I heard all of the flutes playing a fast tempo song with a melody and they were all perfectly in tune!
When I looked back I realize that not only did I enjoy a good meal and good conversation that day, but I also got a brilliant and totally unexpected lesson about practicing. The lesson? Simplify your practicing and listen to the sounds you are making without judging them. Don´t worry about the tempo you are playing at, don’t worry about doing something wrong, and don’t think about how you are interpreting the music. Just play, note by note, like the children playing the flutes did during their lesson.
