Music Mind Lab Episode 2: The Technique of Confidence: Sydney Li-Jenkins

About the Episode:

What goes behind a good performance? According to many musicians, confidence is a major factor. Yet for young students surrounded by constant comparison and feedback, true confidence seems impossible to obtain.

In this episode, violinist Sydney Li-Jenkins shares her tips for performing with confidence, practicing pieces effectively, and balancing her musical studies with her academics. Listen along to learn from her rich summer program, competition, and chamber music experiences!

About the Artist:

Sydney is a 15 year-old violinist from Sausalito and studies with Elbert Tsai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As a soloist, Sydney has performed with multiple orchestras including the Mill Valley Philharmonic, the Sonoma County Philharmonic, and the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra. Sydney has garnered numerous awards and accolades. She is a 2026 YoungArts award winner, the 2025-2026 MTNA California state winner in the Senior Strings category, one of nine national semi-finalists in the prestigious 28th Sphinx Competition, and first prize winner in Pacific Music Society, International Youth Music Competition, and Korea-American Music Supporters Competition. She is the 4-time recipient of the Marin Music Chest and was awarded the Alma Tomlinson Award for Outstanding Performance in 2025.

Sydney is an avid chamber musician and a founding member of the Onde Trio. Her passion for learning and performing chamber music was recognized by Yellow Barn, the internationally renowned chamber music program, with an invitation to participate in a collaborative performance at the 2025 summer music festival. Sydney is a current member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (Second Violin Co-Principal 2024-2025) and a past member of the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra (Co-Concertmaster 2022-2024). In past summers, Sydney has attended Music@Menlo (2024), Center Stage Strings at the University of Michigan (2025, 2024, 2023), and the Sphinx Performance Academy at Juilliard (2022) and Cleveland Institute of Music (2023).  Outside of music, Sydney is a fan of poke, crocheting, and F1 racing.

Intro/outro music: Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 , performed by Sydney Li-Jenkins

This interview has been edited for clarity.

CAILEEN WAN, HOST: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the second episode of the Music Mind Lab. Today, I'm joined by Sydney Li-Jenkins. Sydney is an absolutely incredible violinist, and one of my best friends, and I'm so happy to have her here today. Thank you so much Sydney for being here. To start off, Sydney, how about you introduce yourself a bit to us. What instrument do you play, and when did you start?

SYDNEY LI-JENKINS, GUEST: So, I play the violin and I started when I was three and a half years old. 

CAILEEN: Back then, when you were starting, did you already know that, oh, I really want to practice this seriously, or was it more of a fun hobby back then? 

SYDNEY: I feel like it was more a fun hobby, but when I started, my mom was the one who put me into lessons, and she was the one who was like, oh, I really want to hear beautiful violin music playing throughout the house, so it was definitely more of her — I want you to play violin; I want you to start violin. But as I started playing, I was like, oh, this is actually really fun, so I just wanted to continue. 

CAILEEN: Was there ever a moment in your journey since when you started up until now when you felt, oh, maybe I don't want to learn the violin … this isn't what I want? Did you ever feel that way, or was it always kind of a positive journey? 

SYDNEY: There have definitely been moments. I feel like when I started and until I was 11 or 12, I liked playing the violin, but I was kind of like, okay, practicing is really boring. I hate practicing. If I have to practice, I don't want to play the violin, so it was kind of a love-hate relationship. But I feel like now I've settled more into it, I think. 

CAILEEN: Do you think there was a specific cause, or maybe a few causes for your change, for … liking the violin more? 

SYDNEY: I don't know if this will make sense, but before the past few years, I was really focused on technique, and playing everything super in tune and doing all the technique, right? And playing with straight bows and all that stuff, that was my obsession. And then, I went to festivals, and I met other musicians, and I got to hear them play. And I was like, … there's actual music, and there are actual messages and stories that they're conveying. It's actually really pretty to listen to. From the performer's perspective, it's really nice to put something together and express your emotions and a story to your audience, and I think that was what changed for me.

CAILEEN: I know your teacher, Professor Elbert Tsai, is really big on technique, and you were also mentioning how you were really focused on your technique in your earlier playing. Do you think it was more so the product of [the mindset] “I really want to work with my technique,” or do you think your teacher had any influence on that?

SYDNEY: I think definitely. Obviously Elbert’s very straightforward. He was nice for the first couple of years because I started with him when I was really young. But definitely when I was seven or eight, he started being like, okay, 20 percent of that was out of tune, or your bow is so crooked. 

I really appreciated his constructive criticism, even though definitely at times I was like, okay maybe it's a little harsh. Sometimes I didn't feel the best about my playing, but it definitely opened my eyes, and I was like, okay well, I need to work on my intonation more, and I need to do better vibrato and stuff. So definitely a lot of his influence. 

My mom … was coming to my lessons, and then she would hear that I'm 20 out of tune, and then she would make me go and work on intonation a lot at home, and I think that I got used to this whole work ethic that she was imposing on me back when we used to practice together when I was really young, 

CAILEEN: When did you start practicing alone? Do you remember around what age you were?

SYDNEY: I think it was around when I started going to summer festivals by myself, and I was showing my mom — okay, I can practice on my own, you know — when I was like 10 or 11.

CAILEEN: What was the first festival you went to? 

SYDNEY: I think it was Interlochen in 2019. 

CAILEEN: And since then, I know you've been to CSS obviously, and also Yellow Barn. But what were some of the other ones you went to, and do you have any highlights or specific stories or experiences from those camps that were really impactful to you?

SYDNEY: I did the Sphinx Performance Academy for a couple years. I did a bunch of their various summer programs, because they had them at different universities. And this isn't like a specific story, but I just really appreciate that festival and the organization in general, just because all the camps would be at Juilliard, CIM, and all these really prominent music schools across the country. The tuition was free, and you were staying in the dorms, and you were learning from these really cool faculty. It's a really small camp, so it was like getting to create a really, really close, personal connection with everybody — and especially because I went to that camp when I was like 11 or 12, I was on the younger side of the participants, so I was definitely feeling really awkward and insecure about my playing ability. The people that I met there were really nice, and I'm actually still friends with a lot of them today. So it's really nice, and it's like a whole network.

CAILEEN: I definitely felt that a lot as well at CSS — something that you mentioned specifically feeling insecure about you're playing for other people — I definitely resonate a lot with it as well. And I was wondering: do you have any specific strategies to get over that experience? Because I know it's very common [for] a lot of musicians. How did you move past those anxieties or insecurities?

SYDNEY: I don't know. I try to think of “fake it till you make it.” I know, at the beginning it can seem really daunting to fake it till you make it. But honestly, I think that's the best way. If you have to fake that you're confident in your playing and you're confident in your abilities, then you just have to feel satisfied in the work that you've done leading up to performances or competitions. Even when you arrive at a festival and you have music that you've prepared, you have to feel confident in the work that you've done to prepare. 

My teacher says this a lot: if you're going to play, at least play confidently, because if you don't play confidently, then it's still gonna sound the same. It's just you're not going to be as confident. So I think that's similar, just be confident in your abilities. Even if you're not actually confident, just act, pretend you're confident. 

CAILEEN: I was also wondering [about] applying this confidence to competitions and performances. You are an amazing player, and you've showcased that at some amazing competitions. So, could you talk a bit about your experiences there? And did you learn anything else regarding how to stay confident on stage, and how to ease anxiety, maybe stage nerves? 

SYDNEY: I do a lot of local competitions, and I try to enter as many competitions as possible and audition for literally whatever is going on just so that I have more performance experience and more time getting myself to build up this stage presence and this confidence, because I think it's really important.

And especially I think walking on stage enthusiastically and then smiling — it's so underrated. I find it really, really helpful for my playing, and I find that I play a lot better. When I do that, it's not even related to my playing. 

And I think something that I've learned from competitions is that you really can't take any of the results to heart, regardless of if they're good or bad. Obviously celebrate if you win. Especially if you don't get the result that you wanted in a competition, it literally has nothing to do with your worth as a person, or especially even your playing skills, or how you played, because obviously there's just so many factors that go into judging. It literally could be down to what piece you chose to play. 

I just feel like there have been times when I've done a competition I was like, oh wow, I'm really sad [that] I didn't win. If I participate in a competition, and I don't win, instead of getting bogged down — which is totally normal; I still definitely do this at any competition that I don't do very well at — definitely keeping the mindset that it's really not about me, [and that] it doesn't even have to do with my playing. It's like separating the competition from me, and it keeps me in a healthy mind space.

CAILEEN: Also another really important thing to a lot of musicians in terms of mental health,  like what you were saying just now, is balancing music with the other parts of their life. And I was wondering for you — being the incredible amazing academic weapon you are — how do you manage your time and balance practicing music and participating in so many competitions with the other parts of your life? 

SYDNEY: I feel definitely it can get really, really stressful, especially when there's a lot of assessments following up and essays due, and then it's like, oh my gosh, I have a concert, and then I have all this, other rehearsal stuff. I'm not a very organized person, so this is really hard for me, but what I've been trying to do this year is… I don't know, you inspired me with your whole organized practice schedule, so I was like, okay, that's really cool. 

So I'm trying to start organizing because I would be like in the past — I'm gonna do my homework when I get home, and then at some point I'm gonna start practicing, and then I would like [to] do homework after whatever — but it was never that cemented. So, I'm trying to have good time management and organize my day so that I have enough time to get through everything. 

And I also try to — especially for tests and essays and big performances coming up — I always try to plan that out in my calendar, so I literally just put anything that I have in advance. I just put it in, so then I'm like, okay, I have a performance in a week, let me practice this amount of this, this many minutes for this thing, and then this many [minutes for that thing]. And I try to rank it by priority and whatnot, and then also sort of like, okay, I have a really big test tomorrow, so maybe I can cut down a little bit on my practice so that I can study more for my test. So trying to have a good balance between the two is really hard. 

CAILEEN: I'm so happy to hear that I’ve inspired you. That's so sweet! And I was  also wondering if you could talk a bit more about your other practice advice because organizing your practice time, that's a big thing, but also when you're actually practicing, do you have any tips as to how do you practice efficiently, or any techniques that help you practice specific passages most effectively? 

SYDNEY: So when I practice, I usually try to start with a full run-through of everything with the tuner, and I try to do it really, really slowly. I have every note be worth the same beat, so just no regard to rhythm, just to get a preliminary intonation stuff down. And [I] obviously go back … a couple notes if it's out of tune or something, and then I try to work on rhythm after that.

And then … if there's any fast parts or tricky rhythms, I try to go and do that really slowly. And I think this is actually something Simon James talks about a lot; it's incrementalization. It's sort of like moving up the tempo really, really slowly. I think he's been using it more for over a long period of time, but obviously if you don't have much time, I just move up the speeds once I feel comfortable in that speed. And then obviously as you're speeding up, you can start adding musicality and your dynamics, and start thinking about the things that you want to express in the piece. 

CAILEEN: And as for practicing technique or skills, do you have any advice for how to practice that effectively? Like, what kind of skills do you usually practice? What does your routine look like? 

SYDNEY: I go off of the Carl Flesch scale book. And I used to have a pretty unhealthy relationship with scales, which is a whole another story, but anyways, I'm trying to get back into doing it in a healthy amount regularly. I don't actually do that much scales. But obviously, if the main thing that you're working on is intonation or some sort of technique that you're really trying to hone through your scales, obviously you should spend more time. 

I do a three octave scale and then all the arpeggios. And for those, I do his whole acceleration type stuff. So for scales, it's one, two, four, eight, six, eight, 12, 24, and then for the arpeggios, it's one, three, nine, and then he calls it fast nine. And then I always try and do — on an ideal day — I get through two things of double stops. The Carl Flesch book has these multiple lines; it's like a weird extended scale, but it's for the double stop, so I usually go on a rotation between thirds octaves, fingered octaves and tenths. Then I try to get two every day, on an ideal day. 

CAILEEN: This is jumping around in topics a little bit, but in addition to being an amazing solo violinist, you are also an incredible chamber musician! I was wondering if you could talk a bit about your experience with chamber — when that started and when you started with your trio? What things you learned from that, and what valuable lessons you've gained from that? 

SYDNEY: I'm part of this SFCM Pre-college, and so they have a chamber music program, where they basically match groups of people of similar level every single year in a group, and this is how I got started into chamber music. And then, oh my gosh… I feel like all of my awakenings have happened at festivals, but obviously the big festival for me in terms of chamber music was definitely Music at Menlo.

To be fair, this was already after I decided to stay with my trio for another year, but this was kind of like my awakening into actually truly enjoying chamber music and really having fun. But it was like — because obviously at festivals, you go and you sight read with friends and stuff, and that's really, really fun — but I feel like for Music at Menlo, it was the pieces that you're actually going to be performing for big audiences and stuff. You can have a lot of fun with that. And I just really enjoyed working in a group — because sometimes, practicing can feel really boring, because you're alone and you're just in the same environment all the time, but … [with] chamber music, it just feels like hanging out with friends, except you're doing something that you all enjoy, and you're making music together, and it's really beautiful. 

So I just think that, that's sort of how I got more [into] chamber music, but before that, I guess the year before I got placed with my trio and we were working together and it was so awkward. The first year, we barely knew each other. We barely talked to each other. I don't even know what it was. It was like we clicked. It was like I barely know you, but we're playing together. It was like such a bizarre experience.

But then, I was like, I actually really enjoyed working with them, even if we're not that close right now. So we actually decided to stay together. … That second year is when we started, like getting really, really close. And now, we have a very sibling-esque relationship. So, it's really nice, and they're kind of like a comfort space. And they are people I can joke around with, but also it's like we have to lock in at the same time. So I really enjoy working in that group. And this is our third year together, so it's been a little while.

And I think one of my biggest lessons from chamber music is — oh, it's actually something that I learned really, really recently and it kind of ties into my solo playing — because I was talking about how technique was a really, really big part of my life a couple years ago, and I was super obsessed with it. And especially when you get into chamber music and … you're just thinking about playing together with other people and playing the same articulations and playing the same bowings and being in tune, it's burdening a little bit. 

But something that I learned really recently -- it's from Jonathan Brown. He's the chair of music teacher at Colburn. So he basically said that the best string quartet in the world could not play more in tune than a mediocre pianist and could not play any more technically perfect than a mediocre pianist. I just thought that was really interesting, because it's kind of like, no matter how hard you try, you're not going to be like a machine. But I think that when he [says] “mediocre pianist,” he's trying to indicate that that can be just someone who's playing the right notes without any intention or story that they're trying to convey. 

And I think what's really special about chamber music — and obviously like playing with talented musicians and people who have something to say — is that you can really express your emotions and express a story. And it’s gonna bring people to tears… I think that's really magical. And I think especially in chamber music when multiple people come together to create this consensus story that we're trying to convey, I think it's really cool. 

CAILEEN: And I'm so grateful I got to be in your chamber group this summer. You are an amazing chamber musician. It was an honor. Since we're nearing the end of our time for the interview, do you have any other specific topics that you would like to talk about before we go into the closing thoughts?

SYDNEY: Because I was talking about my scales earlier, and then I was thinking about my weird obsession with scales. So, maybe, is it okay if I say that story?

CAILEEN: Of course, please do, please. 

SYDNEY: So basically, I was super obsessed with technique, but I [also] … didn't like practicing that much and whatever, so I just had a really bad scale schedule. I would barely practice my scales and stuff, or there'd be [some] weeks where I was not practicing scales. And then all of a sudden, I would get this urge to practice scales, and then I'd be like, okay, I have to do scales, and then I would only do scales. As I started doing more and more practice, I would go a little crazy with the scales. 

I think there was one time, I had to play a scale in front of an audience, which is really scary, like it was played as a punishment at a summer camp. So, then I had to play a scale in front of an audience, and then I was like, oh my gosh, I barely even practiced my scales this entire festival. And then I went, and then I literally spent nine hours playing scales. This is absolutely crazy. I've never -- just thinking back that was…It was a really... It's weird to talk about scales; it's some kind of weird addiction, but I was addicted, like I could not stop. On the days that I would practice a lot of, just scales, I was like, I can't stop playing scales, like I have to do this many hours, like I just have to do it. 

It was really detrimental to, obviously, my physical health, I think. I was pulling crazy hours to get practice throughout the day. And … I would be at summer camps and stuff, and it would be like, I have classes, and I would still try to get in six hours. I don't know how I did that looking back. And in fact, my technique did not get that much better. I just think maybe it's because I'm always used to doing scales in such a large quantity. 

But I think that even doing that 30 minutes of scales is like — sometimes it feels like I'm not doing enough for me to actually be making a big change — but I just have to keep reminding myself that it's all exponential, or every single time, every minute that I spend on scales is beneficial to my techniques. So, no matter how little time I'm spending on it, in the grand scheme of things, as long as I'm at least dedicating a little bit of my time every day to the scales, I think that's really helpful. 

CAILEEN: That's so beautiful, and I'm so glad you say that. Okay, well, I think now we can kind of transition to our closing thoughts. So, just for you, what is, I guess, the final message or piece of advice that you'd like to share to everyone who's listening to this?

SYDNEY: I feel like a final piece of advice just like: Go for it, and do everything, and be confident, and always act confident even if you're not actually confident.

CAILEEN: Perfect. Okay, thank you so much, Sydney. I had so much fun talking today, and I learned so much. I learn so much from you every time I talk to you. Thank you so much to everyone for listening to this, and please look forward to the next episode, which will be next week.