Getting prepare for April's recital

[faa2010]

Today my teacher told me that there will be a recital in April of her students, including me.

I must play 2 pieces.  I decided to play de Nocturne op 9 no 2 of Frederic Chopin, but I haven't decided yet the other one (maybe the short version of Hungarian Raphsody no. 2 of Liszt). 

I am scared, my last recital was in 2009 and I don't feel to have enough confidence to do it in front of an audience.  I need to get mentally prepared.

What advice could you give me?

I accept your suggestions, thanks.

[vlh1992]

Try permorming them in front of as many people as you can before the recital. The more you play them in front of people the more comfortable you will be when the time comes. I don't know if you have to have them memorized but if you don't, I recommend memorizing the music anyway and then having the music with you during the performance just in case you forget part of it. The better you know the music, the better prepared you will be.

[m1469]

There are all sorts of ways to play for people to give yourself practice doing just that (and that is most of what I have ever seen mentioned here on the forum), however, mental preparation and mental stamina are something quite specific and may need to be developed in special ways along with (or rather outside of) the act of performing.

Just like with a piece of music or a passage within the piece, we can easily develop mental concepts of performing about how we think it will go, or how it has gone in the past, or maybe we just have a kind of mental vacuum regarding it (not really knowing how to think and just kind of hoping for the best).  

For me personally, I am going to have to train myself to develop a different mentality than the one that I currently have regarding piano performance, and I'm going to need to make it specific and then, as that gets crystal clear to me (just like a passage or a piece of music), I'll act on that image.  I am going to build my image step by step, day by day, piece by piece.  My image will be developed starting with what I know I can/could do.  As it is right now, I can't quite imagine myself walking out on stage and playing a recital, or even a piece necessarily (even though I've done those in my life).  So, for example, my first step is going to be to walk out on stage and then off stage, with exactly the mental clarity that I know I want.  My next step will include what I can already imagine, and then playing the first note.  Then perhaps a bigger chunk (a motive? ... a phrase?), and I will build it that way with what I can imagine clearly being capable of doing in front of my imaginary audience.  I can already imagine myself being capable of imagining myself being capable of playing/performing an entire recital, exactly as I wish  , so I know I'll get there eventually .

For me, there are some specific mentalities that I will combat and re-route while I am building my desired mental image.  I am going to also pull from a reservoir of experience dealing with something else that I have been consistently doing for over two years now, and that used to be even more scary for me than piano performance.  The point being, pull from whatever you can if you have experience dealing with fear in other situations, too.

It does't hurt to also know, beneath it all, that you have a right to be on stage .

[becky8898]

Hi faa2010. Yes play in front of people. but here is a little trick I do sometimes.  Record yourself playing.  It is amazing how once where recording how over sensitive we become about our playing.  It isnt playing in front of people, but it kind of creates the same kind of atmosphere.  Also  Try and take the tempo you normally play at and speed up just a tiny bit.  It puts you under pressure and when you go back to your normal tempo it feels like you have plenty of time to find your notes.  Also just before you perform, pretend to be playing even if you dont have a piano.  Let your muscle tension get out of you a bit.  And finally if at all possible  .  Practice walking over to a piano , pretend your looking at the audience , sit at the piano . talk a deep breath. and play your first notes.  Performing in front of people is a skill like any other.  Work on it and it gets better. Anyway remember,  the audience is privledged to hear you.

Cheers, Becky.