i just somewhat botched playing in front of a "jury"

[mattm]

And, despite playing a few wrong notes, it was a learning experience probably more so than I would have had if I had played my repertoire perfectly.  The jury wasn't anything major I was only playing in front of my teacher, and 2 other Russian ladies.  I've only been playing for a year now.  Basically, I figured out how to deal with jitters and that botching a few notes is really insignificant.  While I didn't perform how I knew I could, it was good to botch up a 'performance' and know that it is not the worst that can happen.  I just basically play for fun, and the root of my mistakes was simply thinking I had my pieces down too well and not focusing and relying on 'auto pilot'.  My main point is that botched performances (some people's worst nightmare) can still be a learning experience in that you learn what not to do.  It seems that my mistakes have motivated me as well to practice more effectively etc.  Piano and music as a whole is a beautiful thing and shouldn't be clouded with performance fears and the like. 


Anyone else have any stories of how they didn't perform up to the standard they knew they could?

[rc]

That's the winning attitude!

It's absolutely foolproof:
- When things go well, great, it's rewarding.
- When things don't go so well, great, learning experience.
No matter what happens = motivation = improvement.

With the right perspective, a bad experience can be turned into fearlessness, when you realize your worst fear really isn't bad at all.

Anyone else have any stories of how they didn't perform up to the standard they knew they could?

Nope. You're the only one.

...Actually, it's pretty rare I go through a performance without chewing up something or other. But the nerves that cause screwups also gives an energy to the notes that come out right, the music comes out more alive than it usually does in practice.

[shasta]

Hey mattm, rc is absolutely right (great post)!  We all make mistakes in every aspect of our lives, and if we look at them the right way, we can learn and grow from them. 

I once botched a jury performance that WASN'T MINE.  I've studied piano for 25 years.  In college I was accompanying a tenor for his jury performance.  He was singing an exquisite D'Indy piece, and everything was going so beautifully and then the piano takes over to softly close out the piece.... and I missed the final chord of the piece.  I mean, completely botched it.  Not even close.  The jury cringed and said "eeerrrrrggghhh."

The tenor got rid of me as his accompanist.

So you laugh maniacally, grab some beers with your fellow pianists afterwards, say a toast of "to hell with D'Indy anyway!!" and then hit the practice rooms the next day.   

[danyal]

Anyone else have any stories of how they didn't perform up to the standard they knew they could?

Yes. Far too many. None of which I am going to mention because they are more than just embarrasments to me. Disappointments. And by talking about them implies that I accept them, which makes them okay, which they are not. It happens to everybody, yes, but I dont accept anything but the best of myself.

[Kassaa]

Playing for a jury sucks arse . You know that they will everything in your playing, each wrong note, each not-finished legato, and when you're finished with your piece, there is.............silence , which automatically makes you feel that you played poorly . I always play worse than I can in front of a jury, in front of an audience it's the opposite though, I really love that .

Edit: My story:

At an exam: stopped at the wrong part of a Mozart sonata.

At the same exam: The examiners said: Play your chopin nocturne please, I thought they said: play your Chopin Etude please, so i played the first measures of the 25/2, and they stopped me: We asked for your Nocturne, not the Etude. Then i said: No, you didn't. You asked for my Etude! My whole face was red when I finally started the Nocturne

[mattm]

LOL Shasta.  Those were my sentiments afterwards almost exactly.  It turns out I got a B for the class so  . 

Hey mattm, rc is absolutely right (great post)!  We all make mistakes in every aspect of our lives, and if we look at them the right way, we can learn and grow from them. 

I once botched a jury performance that WASN'T MINE.  I've studied piano for 25 years.  In college I was accompanying a tenor for his jury performance.  He was singing an exquisite D'Indy piece, and everything was going so beautifully and then the piano takes over to softly close out the piece.... and I missed the final chord of the piece.  I mean, completely botched it.  Not even close.  The jury cringed and said "eeerrrrrggghhh."

The tenor got rid of me as his accompanist.

So you laugh maniacally, grab some beers with your fellow pianists afterwards, say a toast of "to hell with D'Indy anyway!!" and then hit the practice rooms the next day.   

[quantum]

My university piano teacher always liked having practice performances just infornt of the piano student crowd before we presented our pieces in a recital or jury.  My teacher said she would feel much more comfortable if our botches came out in our practice performance.   It usually turns out that we find those places which are not so secure and work on them.  Becuase we have tested our pieces infornt of an audience the final performances turn out much more solid.