The Mind Over Finger Podcast

271 Practice Smarter, Perform Freer, Play Your Best: Katherine Siochi on audition success, managing perfectionism, and making music under pressure.

What if practicing more isn't the answer? And what if the key to a great performance isn't playing every note perfectly? In this episode, San Francisco Symphony princip

270 Play Better With Less Effort: Jolene Madewell on Body Mapping, Releasing Tension, and Finding Freedom in Your Playing

Ever finish practicing with tight shoulders, a sore neck, or the feeling that something just shouldn't be this hard? What if the answer isn't more practice, but a better

269 Chronicles of an Adventurous Violinist: Anthea Kreston on Building a Thriving Life and Music Career on Your Own Terms

What if the dream job you've worked so hard for isn't the life you actually want? In this candid, funny, and inspiring conversation, internationally acclaimed violinist A

268 The Audition Is Over. Now What? 6 Steps to Turn Every Audition into Your Next Advantage

You spent weeks, maybe months, preparing for an audition. And then, suddenly, it's over. Whether you won, advanced, or didn't get the result you wanted, there's so much m

267 Make Space for What Matters: How to pursue your musical goals while creating space for a life you love

What happens when the goals you set no longer fit the life you're actually living? In this first episode of Season 9, we're exploring how to pursue meaningful musical g

266 The Long Game of Musical Growth - Ben Ullery on Curiosity, Learning, and Performing at the Highest Level

Ben Ullery, Principal Viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joins me for a thoughtful conversation about curiosity, lifelong learning, and what it takes to keep growing

265 The Art of Pacing - Elizabeth Svoboda on Flow, Recovery, and Sustainable Excellence

What if the goal isn't to work harder, but to find the right pace? In this episode, I talk with science writer Elizabeth Svoboda, author of The Art of Pacing, about flo

264 You Don't Need More Time - How To Perform Under Pressure When Preparation Feels Impossible

What happens when the audition is closer than you expected and the preparation feels impossible? In this episode, I'm talking about how to handle high pressure performa

263 What Winning The Audition Actually Took - My 90 Days of Preparation, Performance Training, And Building Trust Under Pressure

What does it actually take to win a major orchestra audition? In this deeply personal episode, I take you behind the scenes of my winning audition for the Lyric Opera O

262 From Battling Doubt To Dancing With It -How Robert Sanders Learned To Trust Himself Under Pressure

What if confidence is not the absence of doubt? In this deeply honest conversation, violinist Robert Sanders shares what changed internally as he navigated auditions, p

261 You Can Play Better Than This - Why You Don't Sound Like Yourself Under Pressure

You know that feeling when you walk off stage thinking, "I can play so much better than this"? In this episode, I unpack three powerful patterns I saw during the Musician

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

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 accomp

259 Why Trying Harder Makes It Worse - The Hidden Cognitive Habit That's Sabotaging Your Best Work

You know that feeling when you nail a passage in rehearsal, and then the harder you try to repeat it, the faster it falls apart? In this solo episode, Dr. Renée-Paule rev

258 The Audition You've Been Capable of All Along - The Missing Piece Most Audition Prep Completely Skips

You've prepared the excerpts. You've done the mock auditions. You've done everything right — and something still slips when it matters most. In this episode, Dr. Renée-Pa

257 The Practice Room Lie: Why Pressure Hijacks Your Performance, and What to Do About It

You practiced it a thousand times. You knew it cold. And then you walked on stage and something vanished. If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Renee breaks d

256 Strong Body, Fearless Stage - Shannon Kiewitt on How Movement Builds the Confidence to Perform at Your Best

What if the thing holding back your performance had nothing to do with how many hours you practice? Gunnery Sergeant Shannon Kiewitt, clarinetist with "The President's Ow

255 Working Hard and Going Nowhere? How to break the cycle that's keeping you stuck.

You're putting in the hours. You're showing up. So why does it still feel like nothing is moving? This episode gets right to the heart of that frustration and offers a wa

254 Finding Your Way Back to Playing - Gabriel Radford on rebuilding after fear, injury, and loss of control

If you've ever felt your body work against you in a performance, if tension, fear, or a loss of control has crept into your playing and you don't know why, and if you've

253 Your Pep Talk for When Things Feel Heavy - A reminder for musicians navigating comparison, doubt, and the ups and downs of growth

You walk out of a rehearsal replaying every mistake. You sit down to practice and the voice in your head says, it should be better by now. You open Instagram and somehow

252 Learning to Trust Yourself as a Musician: Juliana Athayde on betting on yourself, leading with humanity, and performing without fear.

Concertmaster Juliana Athayde shares the mindset shifts and life choices that shaped her career, from betting on herself early on to leading an orchestra and building a f