Having problem performing when needed

[chillout]

I am soon going to take grade 8 abrsm practical exam and I have practiced over a year preparing for this.I can play  with no problem at home but as soon as anybody takes any interest in listning to me I make big mistakes that I never usually make and now because I have had piano lessons around the preperation for the aural part for the last couple of months I have problem playing the pieces to my teacher.
When I make these mistakes I cant even get back into playing anywhere in the score,my mind just goes blinkered and I cant focus.

My teacher has adviced me to still go for the exam and today I gave him my cheque with loads of doubt of being able to perform to the examiner let alone ever passing it.

Well I've got about 2 months to get my act together and any advice would be well appreciated.

Regards
Daz

[nightingale11]

first of all you have to check you memory. The reason why you cannot keep going when you have made a mistake is because you are to reliable on hand memory(the auto-pilot). What I suggest you to do is to practice 4 components in memory - visual, kinesthetic, aural(sound) and photographic. You must practice these seperately. pick a passage and play it thoriugh in small bits if neccesarily and memorise the sound(you must do this in real time otherwise it will be for no use--you can use a metronome to make sure your'e on time. then do visual - memorise the sequence of the keys, then kinethetic - memorise the movements, the feeling when pressing the keys and then memorise the score --> play the passage looking at the score - then take a blanc sheet covering the score and ''see'' the score when you play. The reason why we sometimes have blackout is because some of the components are wrongly ingrained. This is hard work so don't spend more than 15 min in the beginning. This is hard so don't expect to be able to do it in one practice session but if you keep on it and do it every day you will finally be able to this easily and you will do it automatically.

the reason why performing is such a different state from playing by yourself is because the moment when others is listening you left part of you brain interferes with you right part of the brain. the left part of the brain is very nervous and will keep thinking of the consequences if you make a mistake--which will then do. You can only hold a few objects at the same time in you consious brain- when you left part of the brain interferes you will you hold unnecessarily much objects in you consious at the same time which will ruin the performance--but you can get a way with this most of the times if you pratised correctly(look at bernhard's posts).

So what you should is to fully memorise your piece(and you can check if you memorised passage by playing very slowly (each note every 1-3/s)

then perform as much as possible - the more you do it the better you get at it(you will be able to control your mind better)

then consider how you practice a piece(look at bernhard's posts)

[desordre]

 Dear Daz:
 Oh, well...the great old problem. Anyway, there are things to considere. Playing is about you, about your environment, about your instrument, about your public. When you study at home, you're in a very confortable (I hope!) place in the piano that you know by heart. The only audience you have is yourself, and thus you know what your "public" thinks of your performance. Furthermore, it's a condition that you rehearse several times. Then, it works.
 If you consider the various elements of performance, you will soon notice that you have to study them as much as you study your repertory. Even more, sometimes. Don't feel bad because the way things happened: let's talk about how to solve them.
 Environment and instrument: do you have lessons at home? If not, you have already a first step. Try to play in different places: friends sometimes have pianos, there are piano studios for rent, public places that maybe you can use, and so on. Why this? I do believe very badly in the Gestalt principles, and we're conditioned to respond not to single parts of our perception, but to it as a whole. Then, play a piece in your home is play this piece with the stool, the floor, the walls, the decoration, the temperature, the sound landscape, the everything of your own home. Playing in another place is make something very different, because your brain, when you have to play this piece, calls for anything that surrounds it. When you get acquainted with play and control different places, times, moods, pianos, noises, you walk over this a bit and things become easier;
 Public: again, play live is play live. Use anything you can as rehearsal public: friends, family, neighboors. A very efficient tool is a recorder. I like to challenge myself when recording: play absolutely flawless and with my "perfect" interpretation at once. It's ratter impossible, but it's something that helps me a lot. Sometimes playing live is much easier, because you know your public don't knows what to expect...  
  Another practical considerations may be done. In the day of performance, try to keep a light schedule, but by no means "get the day off". Nothing is more stressing than live several hours just looking forward to the recital. Two very simple and helpful things: water and glucose.  Your body needs fuel!
 There is a topic that divides opinions: how much you must play before. Some people enjoy playing all repertoire, once or twice, direct or backwards. Other like to play just the very critical points: bravura passages, polyrhytms, cadenzas. And there are some who don't play at all. I'm a bit of the later group, but recently I have find interesting to play some trickier parts as an warm up. I don't know what would be better to you: it's a matter of try.
 
 About the unfortunately probable mistakes, you must consider them the same way the rest: if you study stoping at each mistake, or loosing focus, you will repeat the procedure playing live. Due to your nervous system, it can gets even worse, especially if it leads to a blank of memory... sounds familiar?   Yes, sh!# happens. Another time, the clue to solve this is the way you study: desconsider mistakes. Simple go through them, and incorporate in your musical flow. Music is about time: after you start playing a piece, anything you do until the end is your interpretation. It includes mistakes, because the public will hear them. You can't pretend they were not there. So, simple keep playing. Always! If you're studying a couple of bars, it's different, but always when you play a complete music, play as you were recording in the old times: one take and no editing!
 
 I hope this helps you! Best!

[lenkaolenka]

I am soon going to take grade 8 abrsm practical exam and I have practiced over a year preparing for this.I can play  with no problem at home but as soon as anybody takes any interest in listning to me I make big mistakes that I never usually make and now because I have had piano lessons around the preperation for the aural part for the last couple of months I have problem playing the pieces to my teacher.
When I make these mistakes I cant even get back into playing anywhere in the score,my mind just goes blinkered and I cant focus.

My teacher has adviced me to still go for the exam and today I gave him my cheque with loads of doubt of being able to perform to the examiner let alone ever passing it.

Well I've got about 2 months to get my act together and any advice would be well appreciated.

Regards
Daz

I think nightingale is right!
In my class it really helps, when students sing Solfeggio when they learn music piece. Solfeggio involves speech memory and helps to remember and understand music better.

[chillout]

Thanks for the usefull advice.
I know I need to play in front of people more.The problem I have other than playing for my teacher on his piano is I dont know anybody who plays piano so I am limited to just myself and my surroundings.I record myself often which does not seem to be much of a problem if I make a mistake I can usually play through it

I always play following the score but I dont really see all the detail if you know what I mean.
To be able to read every detail I would have to treat it if I had never played it before by slowing down and playing hands seperatly again.
I also find that if I slow down I cant play some phrases but can play when up to speed,its like I can run but I cant walk which dont make sense to me.

[monkeyyy]

Thanks for the usefull advice.
I know I need to play in front of people more.The problem I have other than playing for my teacher on his piano is I dont know anybody who plays piano so I am limited to just myself and my surroundings.I record myself often which does not seem to be much of a problem if I make a mistake I can usually play through it

It doesn't have to be someone that plays the piano? You can play for your parents, brothers/sisters etc.. uncles, aunts, friends of course etc.. Maybe the pupil who has lessons right before you wants to stay a few minutes longer to listen to you sometimes.