Performing Difficulties

[NetherMagic]

Hey all you crazy musical beasts here I have a very frustrating problem that needs a lotta help

Okay, I love performing, but it's just that everytime I'm about to perform I get stagefright, which include symptoms such as mimic heart attacks, very very sweaty hands, and worst of all weak fingers.  I also have a tendency of lacking concentration on the playing while performing and instead I keep on thinking of what the audience is thinking about my performance and many other weird things like if I'm sitting straight or do I look weird that sort of stuff...

I'm thinking it might be because I don't perform out in the public alot, so I'm trying to join as many recitals and performances as possible nowadays (I'm going to be playing as background music at a restaurant on Canada Day hehe) but I'm just wondering if there's an alternate solution other than experience that can fix this frustrating and rather embarrassing problem.  Also I often have cold hands and I often have to dip my hands in really really warm water before I even practice.  So for performances I'm in deep trouble if theres no washroom that has warm water nearby.

Does anyone have these problems and got rid of them permanently or just enough so that there won't be any big screwups during performance?

Also another problem that relates to my playing ability is that you know the lump of fat/muscle below your thumb that's right above your wrist?  It's fine for my LH, but for RH it hurts when I poke a finger into it, it might be a pulled tendon or something.  I also notice I can't reach my right thumb underneath my fingers during scales as far as my left thumb can, so it's really torturing my playing.  

Just a side note, I've heard of a thing called betablockers that would calm you down, but it's just that I don't want to be dependent on that because you never know if you just have to perform for a friend or two all of a sudden and totally screw up without your betablockers!

Any advice/comments/suggestions/solutions are all very welcome!  Thx so much everyone!

[JTownley]

Okay, I'm going to take a stab at this, Nether, because I suffered from this myself in my performing days. First off, it definitely DOES get better with a. every performance you do and b. (and this is probably the most important) CONFIDENCE! Really, you have to have so much faith in your abilities as a pianist that you know you're going to give 'em a smash-bang knockout performance even before walking out on that stage. That partly comes from having a solid technique and partly from knowing the music so well that you could play it in your sleep (figuratively, of course) Lots of this stuff is psychological, naturally, so it means psyching yourself out w/ a little meditating, deep breaths, repeating to yourself how well you're going to do, etc. Later, it just gets to be second nature. Re the betablockers: don't count them out as a crutch. I know lots - I mean LOTS of musicians who use them. If they work for you, GREAT! Use 'em. But test them out first. Their pharmacological action is to keep the heart from beating fast. They don't directly stop hands from shaking but the theory is that if the heart rate is slow, the body calms down and if the body calms down then the hands stop shaking. Simple enough. Some respond wonderfully to them. For others, they just don't work. You should consult an MD about your nerves as he'd want to know about any medical problems (heart troubles, HBP and the like) you might have that'd cause the medication (most likely he'll prescribe Inderal) to produce any adverse effects on you. Good luck on your performance.
Joe T.

[NetherMagic]

thanks for the help Joe, I used to have great confidence in my playing until that one fateful recital when I arrived late with extremely icy cold hands (it was winter) and since everyone was finished I had to play immediately.  Cold stony fingers, mixed along with unreadiness of the mind, I did my worst performance of the lifetime.  I remember I was doing one of Debussy's work, going for RCM level 10 at that time, and at one part I blanked out and had to repeat the section 3 TIMES to get past it with many mistakes, and from that time on I just somehow lost my cool with every performance after that.

And Joe I noticed that your forefinger is injured
just wonderin how you can still perform those Chopin etudes so well, mind telling me wut technical practices you do routinely such as scales or bach inventions etc?

I'm finding myself often developing bad habits so I'm figuring it might be that when I was a novice I didn't really concentrate that much with the basics (hey I bet everyone thought piano was boring at the start, well almost everyone)

again thx for help Joe, really appreciate it  

[JTownley]

Nether, you should not let one bad performance knock the wind out of your sails. Every pianist has had to cope w/ multiple bad performances. The fact your hands were frozen only adds to the likelihood the performance was doomed from the start. Try to avoid conditions like that, even to the point of refusing to play if necessary. Re my finger I nearly broke it as a teen during a practice session. I have stiffness in it now, but fortunately I can still bend it 90% and most of the nerve spasms that haunted me in the beginning are largely gone. The rest is just sheer willpower and .......PRACTICE! I always start each session w/ 20 min. of scales. Slowly at first and then gradually up to speed....w/o fail. When I get the cam going I intend to demonstrate some of my practice habits, maybe even do an entire practice session if enough people are interested. Ciao!

[NetherMagic]

aight that'd be great if you could

i'm always wondering how great pianists (like yundi li the newest first place international chopin winner) could develop such skills

they must have some deep deep secret they're hiding from the rest of the world

or it might be jsut me hehe  

[Kel]

something that my music teacher said to me might help u!!

before the performance lay down and visualise u looking in seeing everyone your performing for (thats enough to get u nervous!!) then picture yourself walking in , sitting down at the piano and playing yoiur piece perfectly
you'll find that you'll get nervous just thinking about it and on the night of performance

ive found that this method really helped me
do it a few times coming up to performing you'll find that it will take some of the nerves off

[NetherMagic]

yay thx for the great help Joe and Kel!!!  

Today I just went to a mall and performed there (there was a recital thingy held by a music centre, its Canada Day over here) and well I tried to follow your tips to the best and it worked!  And the organizer even put me into the last one to play as the finale (yup thats a LOTTA pressure) newayz it wasn't those professional performances so most songs were'nt that good but newayz I had to go to the washroom to wash my hands with warm water 5 times before my turn! but I did a great job!  Thx you 2!

oh and btw i played Mozart's Alla Turca and Chopin's famous Fantaisie-Impromptu