Re: My first recital

[faulty_damper]

Is that the Minute waltz?

Anyway, Bernhard wrote a really good reply dealing with performance and memorization.  I'm sure he'll chime in with the appropriate link to it or just cut and paste the relevent part of it.

But no, I haven't had such an experience as yours.  I just get nervous when people watch me play.  Then mess up badly.

I see you were really set to make your first public performance really good.  Why?  If it's your first, second, third, or fourth, you are still allowed to make mistakes.  Just as long as they aren't the same ones.  That's the rule I made up.

Where did you perform?  And for whom?  In front of the other students?  And their parents?  And your teacher?  You need a hug. (<--- this is the Smiley that most seems like a hug even though it's a drag queen Smiley.)

[surendipity]

There's another for you.

It's like being a commedian and no ones laughing.
Ya, its a crappy feeling.  
But, yeah, you made it through.
Most of the people in the audience won't remember a sour note if the music continues.
Beethoven did it all the time and no one noticed and if they did, they didn't mention it in fear of Beethoven himself.
Happens to all of us in all walks of life.
Don't cry, be proud you actually got up there and played even one note.
Be proud you put in all the preperation, all the energy to create beauty and the courage to share it.
I encourage mistakes.  I actually have classes where students have to make mistakes.  Takes the heat off.
It's not the end of your world or anyone elses.
Not in the slightest.  If anything you've added to the world and made it a better place.  Mistakes are always maade  (see)  don't sweat the small stuff.  A couple of notes in the hundreds won't change the music, but the best ones, the ones you loved can change the world.

Best Wishes, glad you had the guts

Surendipity

[lani]

My daughter has been playing for several years, loves to perform in general.  She recently just performed her third recital (ever), because her first teacher did not like putting on recitals, but her current teacher does.  She played the Chopin Nocturne op 9 no. 2 at the recital, and missed a note, which subsequently threw her off a few other notes.  This was almost at the end of playing so well, but even so, followed up with a really beautiful trill, because this was really where she was most proud of her practice (thanks to members of this board on their help)!  She was very hard on herself like you, about this "glaring error", but really hardly eanyone noticed!  Also, a lot of people came up to her and absolutely loved her piece.  She knows and her teacher knows, how consistent she plays that piece having heard her practice it for the past few months, and he did not once mentioned her mistake! Ever since, she has played that piece, and she has never made the same mistake again!  Mistakes have a way of teaching us all to appreciate musical ability at every age and level.  Enjoy your playing and music and don't worry about the imperfections- you never know: it can add to the experience!

[JK]

Don't worry about making mistakes, everyone does and after all you're only human! Even the great pianists played wrong notes, in fact some played loads. In fact I would suggest that nearly everyone in most performances makes one or two little errors, such as clipped notes. The thing that you have to learn to do is just not let it bother you, "it happns so get over it" kinda attitude! If you can do this then most people in the audience wont even notice.

On top of this don't beat your self up for playing a wrong note, in time you will come to realise that a good performance is not one where everything is perfect, in fact making little mistakes reminds us that the performer is human and is part of a live performance. If you play musically and beautifully with expression etc. and make a couple of errors than this is much better than playing it perfectly but without emotion, a trap that people often fall in to. Recently I went to hear a pianist who is supposedly one of the best in the world, he played no wrong notes, not one and played some very hard pieces, however I got bored very quickly as he was totally meachanical, unmusical and boring!

[bernhard]

Here is an interesting story from Charles Rosen’s book “Piano notes – The hidden world of the pianist” (a highly recommended book):

In my experience the finest pianists, when they are not in their best form, do not give a mediocre or moderately good performance, but tend to produce a disaster or an outrage. I remember for example, an execution of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier by Rudolf Serkin in Carnegie Hall, where he missed the difficult left-hand jump at the opening, and unnerved, form then on never got it right even once in its various returns; when in the final fugue he arrived at the unison passage in right-hand octaves and left hand single notes, he began with the correct A in the left hand but started on G in the right, and unable to stop himself played dissonant sevenths throughout the passage; even his phrasing went awry on this occasion. Yet, three months before I had heard him play the same piece to perfection.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[lani]

Loved that anecdote, Bernhard-will remember to share this gem with my daughter! Thanks, Lani

[goalevan]

You're way too hard on yourself - noone cares if you make a mistake or two. NOONE CARES. You should be happy that you hit all the other 500 notes right, figure out what went wrong, correct it and move on.

[f0bul0us]

The main mistake made by teachers is waiting for the student to reach a "high" grade before they enter a recital. Atleast when they start doing recitals as little Mozarts (even if they're in grade 1) they get the required experience to perform longer, more difficult pieces later on.

And about mistakes, I believe the odds of having a perfect recital are around 25,000 to 1. Even Horowitz was known to practice a piece for years (not because the interpretation was difficult, but because a few of the passages were difficult), get it "note-perfect", then later go on to perform it and make the same mistake.

Good luck!

[janice]

My daughter has been playing for several years, loves to perform in general.  She recently just performed her third recital (ever), because her first teacher did not like putting on recitals, but her current teacher does.  She played the Chopin Nocturne op 9 no. 2 at the recital, and missed a note, which subsequently threw her off a few other notes.  This was almost at the end of playing so well, but even so, followed up with a really beautiful trill, because this was really where she was most proud of her practice (thanks to members of this board on their help)!  She was very hard on herself like you, about this "glaring error", but really hardly eanyone noticed!  Also, a lot of people came up to her and absolutely loved her piece.  She knows and her teacher knows, how consistent she plays that piece having heard her practice it for the past few months, and he did not once mentioned her mistake! Ever since, she has played that piece, and she has never made the same mistake again!  Mistakes have a way of teaching us all to appreciate musical ability at every age and level.  Enjoy your playing and music and don't worry about the imperfections- you never know: it can add to the experience!

Remember this phrase--tape it to your bathroom mirror: Sometimes there is more joy in the journey than there is once the destination has been reached.

Once I worked on a very difficult (for me) solo to play at church.  I worked for months.  But a thought hit me one day--I thought "Here I am perspiring for months, just so that I play for 4 minutes and bless the congregation.  Why do I do this?"  And then a thought hit me.  God is blessing ME during those months!  I had the most awesome month, spiritually. Everytime I practiced my solo, I sought to learn something about God in the process.  I don't know exactly HOW or WHY, but it happened.  Period.

 Whether you agree with my theology or not, the point is the same.  That there are joys in the journey, it's not just the final destination that is important.  As the saying goes "Along the way, take time to smell the flowers."  And guess what? I NEVER get nervous when I play, and I approach it with this attitude--I think" I don't care whether I totally screw up or not, because I dedicate this to God.  And it's in His hands.  I have faith that God is God, that He has a reason for the glaring error.  I am NOT God, however, so I will just TRUST that He knows what He is doing(and then I think, "He sure as heck BETTER know!" lol)  Each service is recorded, and I always get a tape afterwards.  Almost every single time that I have played and I listen to the recording, I can count only one or two bloopers.

So basically what I am saying is that I have shifted my focus.  Plus I have been blessed by having nearly flawless 'performances' at church, and I have play almost  flawlessly BECAUSE i have shifted my focus to something else--no longer thinking "I better play this perfectly" to "It's not the end of the world if I screw up.  I'm ok with life EVEN IF I totally wreck it."  This line of thinking is against our nature, as perfectionists, right?  It takes mental discipline, but it worked for me!

[Saturn]

Remember this phrase--tape it to your bathroom mirror: Sometimes there is more joy in the journey than there is once the destination has been reached.

Very true.

It is good to try to play the piece as well as possible, but to strive to play a piece note-perfect is foolish!  Mistakes are pretty much inevitable, even if you've got the technique of Liszt.  But if the audience doesn't know you've made a mistake, and the music itself is done no disservice, then from a practical standpoint, there was no mistake at all.

This is also why many great pianists "cheat" on certain passages.  Horowitz cheated a great deal, and his technique certainly wasn't lacking.  Music ought not suffer for the sake of note-accuracy.

- Saturn

[surendipity]

Just finished up another Gala Evening Event
We had the great pleasure of a new Stienway 9foot
grand.  The hall was in a 1800 century town hall. In an old mill town. Huge stage, excellent accoustics.
there were 95 of us.  28 players.
It went wonderfully.

From 4 years old to 40 years old (being moi)

I was pleased also to find out that one of my grade 8 students recieved a 10,000.00 music scholarship.

One of my tiny ones. 5 yrs old.  Played a simple beginners piece.  Missing middle C on the last run.
But we all remained still while she sat and plucked and poked and picked, trying to hear that right sound.
It took about 14 or so notes, but she found her middle C and that's where she stopped.  She found it!!!

We were all very proud !!!

It was a wonderful night.  Next year we will be recording everyone.

One year wrapped up.  Now time to prepare for Sept.

Many wrong notes, but much more GREAT NOTES......

Surendipity