First Competition tomorrow... mental preperation?

[matt the pianist]

Hey guys,

Tomorrow afternoon I'm playing in a concerto competition with the Third Movement of the Haydn concerto in D. I'm not much of a preformer but I've played this piece movement quite a bit. Do any of you suggest any mentall preperation for the competition... before or during?


Matt

[instromp]

This is one way i prepare myslef mentally.

Dont think about the audience being there. Think as if you are playing in your bedroom, and no one else is there.

This takes away the nerves of playing in front of many people,of course they are there, but pretending your in a different setting than that can help some.

[rc]

I have the opposite approach in preparing for a performance:  While practicing in my room I pretend that I'm actually about to perform in front of everybody.  I'll walk into the room and imagine I'm on stage, well enough that I feel some stagefright.  Look down at the keys, pretending it's a piano I'm not familiar and I don't know how it will react.  Getting ready to play - remember this is a (imaginary) performance so I have to do it in one shot... and I play it through, nerves, mistakes and all.

These imaginary performances are good to simulate how to perform under real pressure.

Also, sometimes if I'm going to perform a piece that I'm not 100% comfortable with, I've found it useful to sit in a chair and imagine the music start to finish, being played perfectly.  Sometimes while doing this I'll get different ideas for interpretation, sometimes I find that my mental concept of the music is lacking in certain sections (spots I may have been brushing over, not really paying much attention to).

I find it useful to work on the imaginary ideal performance because it shows weak spots and acts as a guide in practicing and performing.

[amelialw]

after you practise in the morning, do something else, talk to a friend or anyone else to take your mind of the competition.

pretend that the audience is'nt even there.

[invictious]

This is what I do.
Don't practice the day before.
Run through it once in the morning. If you encounter any trouble, well then you are doomed.
Pretend you are practicing in your own home, and those audience are wearing cartoon pajamas.

[viking]

Well.....how did it go?

[matt the pianist]

ahh, great fun great fun. 

5 full hours listening to music... though I played for about 5 minutes. 

I did not win, but I wasn't trying to.  I was trying to preform the best I could, winning is extra.  I was up against many many amazing musicians...not all piano. 

Theres a copy of the preformance.  The moniter brought me onto the stage early, so I spent 45 seconds while the judges were finishing comments on the previous preformer awkwardly sitting there and making hand gestures to my accompanist (offstage) 

Matt