Getting into competitions

[zhovey]

2 questions.

1.  I often perform in from of many different people, afterwords they seem very sincere and impressed with my playing, usually asking "how long have you been doing this?" or "that was amazing"  BUT I feel like it was a COMPLETE disaster. i.e. totally botched a measure in a brain lapse and played what must have sounded like a measure from metallica mixed into a Chopin Nocturne.  Or I know everyone had to hear that blatant whole step off in the rolling 1-4-5 fingered 64ths of Rachmaninoff's Opus 23 No.5   Or is it just really easy to impress the general public with sloppy glissandos and a sustain pedal and a really good grand piano?

My question is do other people hear these mistakes?  Or do common non-piano people think it is part of the act??  (which is why I prefer pieces no one has ever heard of, i.e. No Piano Concerto No.1 in Bb minor)


Second question.  Are there small public piano competitions?  Where would I go to find them?  How good do you have to be to enter base level competitions??

[Wired]

To answer number 1, people don't generally care if you hit every note correctly (or know whether you did for that matter). When people come to watch a show, they don't come to critique you. They come to listen to music, relax, get away from life, and just enjoy themselves. If you hit every note incorrect, they will notice and probably won't be able to relax. But for the casual slip-up, most people will still be absorbed in this escape from reality for them that, in the end, they will still applaud and appreciate what you've done that evening.

In other words -- Don't sweat it. Don't even acknowledge that there was a slip-up. It's hard to do, but what the people don't know can't hurt them in this case

As for #2, I've been wondering that myself.

[eddie92099]

Second question.  Are there small public piano competitions?  Where would I go to find them?  How good do you have to be to enter base level competitions??

In the UK there are many local competitions but I see neither of you are from there,
Ed