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 The Joyful Musician Blog

A French horn player in her 30s performing with a major orchestra, delivering over 200 concerts a year. But even from that place of achievement, something vital had gone quiet: She no longer enjoyed music. Despite her outward success, she felt disconnected from the very thing that had once lit her up. And she was preparing for two important auditions: One for a prestigious commercial TV orchestra, and another for an even larger city’s top ensemble.

A classically trained opera singer with both a BA and MA in vocal performance, they had been performing professionally for over a decade. Their voice had a shimmering coloratura and an expressive depth that made it easy to imagine them on any of the great opera stages. They were already performing regularly in a beloved opera choir. But they hadn’t trained for years just to stay in the chorus — they wanted to sing arias under the lights, solo, centre stage.

This amazing client was a seasoned singer and singing teacher in his 50s — deeply experienced, full of musical wisdom, and running a very full studio. Between teaching and performing, he’d still managed to carve out time to create something deeply personal: His debut album. After months of work, the release concert was on the horizon. But instead of excitement, he was feeling uneasy. He came to me for a single coaching session not to improve his singing, but to figure out how

A gifted flautist in her early 30s had built a dream career: First chair in a major orchestra, well-respected by her peers, and known for her dedication and precision. On paper, everything looked perfect. But under the surface, she was carrying a weight that made performing feel like a burden rather than a joy. Years earlier, a careless, cutting comment from a conductor during a recording session had planted seeds of self-doubt.

I finally saw An Inspector Calls the other night. The production was stunning — but it was a single line that stayed with me: “If we don’t learn… we’ll suffer.” I couldn’t help thinking about music schools. The denial. The silence. The damage that’s still being ignored. But there’s something quietly powerful happening now — and if you’re part of it, I want you to know: it matters.

You've been visualizing your performances all wrong. Lying in bed imagining the perfect show — nailing every note, crowd applauding. It's the advice everyone gives. But then you step on stage and panic. Your hands shake. The fantasy crumbles. Here's what no one tells you: the problem isn't that you're visualizing success. It's that you're visualizing the wrong thing entirely. What if there was a different approach that actually reduces anxiety instead of fueling it?

Feeling lost after music school? Your worth isn’t tied to grades or applause. You’re more than your music — it’s time to believe it.

For as long as I can remember, people have been saying that perfecting your technique is the secret to acing auditions. It’s like this...

Repeating positive affirmations is one of the most common pieces of advice on social media. But this approach can do more harm than good.