It's show time - wish me luck

[Teddybear]

Hi everyone,

Today's my last performance this year. I'm wondering what one should do before a concert (on that same day). Usually, I'm very busy and have work or other things during the day, but now I've arranged so that I have absolutely nothing before the evening. I thought maybe a good night's sleep, peace and unhurried meals would prepare me in the right way.

The problem is that my mind is very similar to what m1469 wrote in her post on "How do YOU conquer nerves??". It just won't shut up. When I'm busy I have less time to listen to all that gibbering. (By the way, m1469, I found your post very interesting and plan on trying your strategy.) I woke up at 7 o'clock this morning and immediately started hearing all the difficult arpeggios in my head. Fortunately, I fell asleep again.

I'm going to play Bach's Pastorale in c minor and the first movement of Schumann concerto (my teacher plays with me). I've only played for about four years now and have not succeeded very well in finding time or place for practising. I've learned to play well in little time, but my playing is not very reliable yet ie. the pieces suffer extremely much from the stress of a performance situation. Nevertheless, my teacher gives me the hardest pieces I can play.

The pastorale is short and easy, though Bach is never easy for me. I even play it with the scores. But should I hysterically go through a big piece like the Schumann (in my mind or on the keyboard) before I perform it? I was going to go to the conservatory this morning to get some practice, but I changed my mind. Somehow I felt it would do more harm at this point. Either I know the piece already or I don't. Well, I know it, but it's not stable. I have terrible nerves. My hands get stiff and shaky, I get cold, I can't breathe... I haven't actually given a single performance without hitting wrong keys or forgetting something. (It not always bad. A little over a year ago I performed Khachaturian's Toccata and recorded it. I thought it had gone straight to hell, but it wasn't so bad when I listened to it. Of course, the wrong notes were disturbing, but the audience didn't know the piece, they were enthusiastic.  ) Having very little experience with the piano and performing I assume it's not going to change in the near future.

Well, I started rambling now. I gave a performance two weeks ago, I played some Scarlatti sonatas. I noticed that it's best for me to wait for my turn outside. I might try the banana thing today (someone mentioned that eating a banana 45 minutes before you're up helps).

Oh man, I'm so nervous now.

T

[aspiramente]

The Bannanas work because of the Potassium in them, so you could eat anything with potassium, like potatoes for example.

Good luck.

I try to sit on my own for a while before any performance. Just close your eyes and play your peices in your head. This works for me.


You say you have only been playing for four years?  you are doing very well if you are 'performing' infront of people semi regularly and playing things like the schumman concerto.

Most people after four years still don't know all their scales! Congratulations. You must work very hard.

[Teddybear]

Good luck.

Thanks, I'll need that! Five more hours to go, and breathing is difficult already.

I try to sit on my own for a while before any performance. Just close your eyes and play your peices in your head. This works for me.

I'll try that. Last time I walked to and fro outside the hall, tried to keep myself warm.

You say you have only been playing for four years?  you are doing very well if you are 'performing' infront of people semi regularly and playing things like the schumman concerto.

Most people after four years still don't know all their scales! Congratulations. You must work very hard.

Thank you, that's very kind of you. I've done a lot of hard work, it's been really difficult. The circumstances have prevented me from practising every day, and as I am an adult I pay more attention to my mistakes than learning, which is a pity. This is a tough gig for me because the Schumann is such a long piece. I lose my concentration, my mind starts talking to me (bad things, mainly). Last year I played the first movement of Mozart concerto no. 23. At the rehearsal everything went wonderfully, at the concert I totally screwed up. Heh.

[whynot]

Wishing you the best!  Have a wonderful time playing.  If you're having trouble breathing--which I completely understand--try holding one nostril closed and take several LONG, SLOW breaths, all the way to full, with the open side.  This should take a few minutes, really stretch it out.  Then switch  sides.  This is calming because it helps you to take in more air, thus more oxygen, which you will want a lot of today.  You can also think about all the nice people who are coming to hear you play, people who are looking for beauty and a little escape.  You can give them that, which is a privilege.  Also, don't be too afraid about being afraid, if you know what I mean.  You can be scared and still play very well... so if you start feeling a little wild, don't think that it will ruin your playing, because it won't at all.  As far as playing on concert days, I like to play through my pieces once early in the day, very slowly on fast pieces, and calmly, like each one is a long lullaby.  It lets me think through my pieces and their structures in a calm way, and it dissipates some excess energy from my fingers without being tiring.  I don't play big, or play at tempo, or play too close to the concert--all those things are too stimulating for me.  I do a 3-minute octave and scale warmup a half-hour before the concert, and that's all the real (energized) playing I do the whole day.  I also like to see a movie, but only if it's trite and funny, nothing scary or too sad.       

Let us know how it goes!

[gruffalo]

its good that you have taken the day off work, but you still need to occupy yourself with something, but not tire yourself out. but you shouldnt just laze around. go for a small run or some long walks, work your mind on other thinks but not work.

in terms of practice, i dont usually practice on the day, i will just have one or two run throughs but if it doesnt feel right or i am making mistakes during the run throughs, i stop straight away. however i dont want to give you the wrong advice so i would stick to the known peoples' suggestions.

[Teddybear]

Well, I guess I ought to be satisfied. Bach went well, having the scores helped a lot. My friend told me that I trembled but you couldn't hear that I was nervous. Great!

I'm getting worried about my memory. I know my pieces by heart, but when I'm on stage I forget simple things (yet I can handle pretty tricky parts, I'm not afraid of cadenzas, for example). I forgot how the opening chords in Schumann go, so that was rather an embarrassing start. I made mistakes and forgot one place but continued in 1-2 seconds. Otherwise I could handle pretty much everything. What was good was that this time I didn't feel I was about to die, which is usually the case. I did eat a banana, but I don't know if it helped me. Maybe I should eat two next time?

I saw some pictures from me. I had very tense shoulders, looks really stupid.

Hey, I even got flowers. Well, it was actually a cactus.  My boyfriend's father had bought it for me. I freaked out when I first saw him, I didn't know he was coming. He's a professional musician (pianist, conductor, lots of other things), and I'm sort of afraid of him even though he's a sweet man. Another piano teacher came, too (she keeps inviting me to play with her pupils when they have a concert). I'm surprised that I could actually play. I guess I was honoured that they show interest in me.

Wishing you the best!  Have a wonderful time playing.  If you're having trouble breathing--which I completely understand--try holding one nostril closed and take several LONG, SLOW breaths, all the way to full, with the open side.  This should take a few minutes, really stretch it out.  Then switch  sides.  This is calming because it helps you to take in more air, thus more oxygen, which you will want a lot of today.

Isn't that some kind of a yoga exercise? Have you done yoga? I will try this, I only read your post after the concert. Breathing was difficult, I need to work on that.

You can also think about all the nice people who are coming to hear you play, people who are looking for beauty and a little escape.  You can give them that, which is a privilege.  Also, don't be too afraid about being afraid, if you know what I mean.  You can be scared and still play very well... so if you start feeling a little wild, don't think that it will ruin your playing, because it won't at all.

That's such a lovely thing to say! Luckily, I had my friend and boyfriend there to support me. They were the only ones brave enough to sit in the front row. (The piano was very close to the audience, it was a small chamber music hall; yeah, poor listeners... a concerto in a room like that.) My friend always wants to see the hands. She's also very straightforward. If I need to know if I did something funny during the playing, she'll tell me.

As far as playing on concert days, I like to play through my pieces once early in the day, very slowly on fast pieces, and calmly, like each one is a long lullaby.  It lets me think through my pieces and their structures in a calm way, and it dissipates some excess energy from my fingers without being tiring.  I don't play big, or play at tempo, or play too close to the concert--all those things are too stimulating for me.  I do a 3-minute octave and scale warmup a half-hour before the concert, and that's all the real (energized) playing I do the whole day.  I also like to see a movie, but only if it's trite and funny, nothing scary or too sad.

I think it's a very good idea to play slowly. I did so, but then I saw my boyfriend's father and rushed into a classroom to practise in tempo. It was a bad move. I think it was part of the reason I blew the opening chords.

[Teddybear]

its good that you have taken the day off work, but you still need to occupy yourself with something, but not tire yourself out. but you shouldnt just laze around. go for a small run or some long walks, work your mind on other thinks but not work.

I felt like doing gymnastics, but maybe that's too tiring. :/

[whynot]

Well, sounds like it went well overall.  Congratulations!  I don't know anything about yoga, but someone showed me that breathing thing once, and I found it helpful.  Anyway, glad your show went well.

[RealPianist]

Congratulations for you Teddybear!

[gruffalo]

congrats 

[Teddybear]

Thank you!

There's a lot of work to be done on concentrating on stage, but I must have made some progress, because on the following day I saw my teacher and she was really glad with what I'd done. Usually, she's sad because I can't be successful on stage. Too many mistakes, blackouts...

Thanks for all the tips, too. It's sad how poorly guided music students are in performing (in my country, at least). It feels like not many teachers know what to do.

I'm thinking about posting my Khachaturian recording. Does anyone know how to cut a wav file into pieces (there's other music in the same file) and convert it into mp3?

[jamie_liszt]

Everything you said in this topic I can relate to. I also start forgetting the most stupidist things before I perform. I think to myself, what was that note again. I found out thinking about it makes it worse. I also found (for me I am not sure if everyone will agree) that the day before or the actual day of the performance, your right you should know the piece well by then, if you dont there is no use practising on the day before the performance. I used to
get nervous and practise non-stop, but I found its better if you just dont go near the piano the day before or on the day of the performance, maybe a little practise but nothing like 3 hours on the song, it doesn't help.

Congrats though!