We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Warren and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Kate, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work life balance is something that I think about often, especially while juggling a performance career and my online presence. I have very firm boundaries around when, how often, and in what capacity I want to be working (practicing horn, or making content) but it wasn’t always that way, and was a lesson that actually took me a very long time to learn.
Like most classically trained musicians I burned out hard in music school, sucked into the draining idea that every second I didn’t spend practicing was a second someone else was getting better than me. This mindset made working toward my goals an endless slog that left me terrified of taking time off and overwhelmingly unhappy with my life..
Through Covid-19 lockdowns I continued this ill-informed methodology and practiced horn more than any other period of my life. I certainly got a lot better for it, but as real life started to creep back I was struck with the reality that while all the practicing I had been doing was fine when my only responsibility was to wake up and not go to bed before 9pm, it was in no way compatible with all the “normal” things I squeezed into my pre-pandemic days.
As I began to assimilate back into my normal lifestyle I found I had to be much more mindful of how much was too much, balancing work, practice, and for the first time in my life: planned rest.
Planned rest, free time, and self care have since become cornerstones of my schedule. I now use opportunities to rest and recover as investments into the energy I want to bring to my work later, and regularly take days off of my instrument, instagram breaks, and dare I say it: work free vacations.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One of my current ventures is exploring the idea of free music education, making and disseminating musical resources that anyone can access and benefit from. The work that I’m doing right now is primarily on Instagram, through my account @katewarrenmusic. What started as practice tips and tricks has turned into a whole wealth of musical resources not only for instrumentalists, but also for teachers and any kind of musician!
Free resources were something that I relied on heavily as a kid – in fact there was one music blog, hornmatters.com, that I read nearly every post on! Blog posts, podcasts, and YouTube videos were my private teachers (I didn’t take lessons until college) and had a large influence on my early musical development that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. Because of how impactful online resources were on my own musical journey it’s important to me to try and give back as much knowledge as I can.
Through my Instagram account I share practice techniques, playing advice, the science behind why and how instruments work, ideas about performance and practice psychology, and anything else that can be lumped under the music pedagogy umbrella. While @katewarrenmusic started out as a way to work on my own practice techniques I now see it as a community of music learners looking for ideas and techniques to apply to their own musical journey!
Website: www.katewarrenmusic.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katewarrenmusic/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZAX2CniNd5JXpAl5dD_EzQ
Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katewarrenmusic?lang=en