Performance pressure - I want solutions that work!

[donjuan]

Ever get that super nervous feeling during performances, like...You can sense when you are about to mess up before you actually do, and then it happens and it is so frustrating?  I keep having this problem with my fingers not being able to move- it's like, the muscles all stick and none of the notes come out the same as in practice!
What does everyone here do to help with this?  Advice like "try to stay relaxed" is without a doubt, the most useless advice someone could ever offer in this situation.  I am looking for empirical solutions, be it exercises or preperformance routines that work for you.  I am hoping Bernhard will come out here with some advice for keeping the hands and mind in the best shape for performance.  
Thanks,
donjuan

[donjuan]

I just realized this topic should maybe be in the performance section...
Oh well - I am sure many students can relate to me with my problem and have come up with their own solutions!  
donjuan

[shasta]

I think the excitement and anticipation of a concert gives that sparkling magic and spontaneity to performances.  As a grand-student of Arrau, my professor used to tell me stories about Arrau performing outside in poor regions of S. America, and chickens would fly out of the piano as he played, and bench legs would break...  remaining focused and relaxed amidst distractions was a critical part of my teaching.

If you really want to try to re-create the nerves of a concert in a controlled setting (in order to "practice" overcoming them), here are some methods my professors and colleagues use (I kid you not on some of these):

1.  Get dressed up in your concert dress during those last few practices before the big performance.  Women, wear your heels!

2.  Recruit a friend to help out on this one:  Start playing your piece.  At some random point during your playing, have your friend pop a balloon behind your head.  This does several things:  you know that at some point, a balloon will pop, so there is a little anticipation before it happens; when the balloon pops, you may be startled and yanked out of that dreamy, focused state; after the balloon pops, your adrenaline will be kicking and you will be a little punchy at the keys.  All of these responses are good to experience in practice --- the one time you're on stage performing and a door slams or a wheelchair tire pops (it's happened), you will chuckle and keep playing, unfazed, thanking that balloon for preparing you.

3.  "Strip-Mozart."  Get a bunch of your really close pianist friends together for a lovely evening 'round the piano.  Everyone has to perform one piece.  If you make a mistake but no one notices, keep going.  BUT, if you make a mistake and it's noticed by someone, they have to call it within 5 seconds.  At that point, you stop playing and remove one article of clothing.  Then you begin again.  The entire scenario is stressful, but very fun and very beneficial for practicing playing under stress.  Your hands will shake, you're heart will be thumping, you will not be as focused as you'd like to be...  Quite an experience.

Enjoy the nerves, though, and use them to your advantage!  Don't fight them ---  they're the sensation that distinguishes you from the audience!  

[Max]

"3.  "Strip-Mozart."  Get a bunch of your really close pianist friends together for a lovely evening 'round the piano.  Everyone has to perform one piece.  If you make a mistake but no one notices, keep going.  BUT, if you make a mistake and it's noticed by someone, they have to call it within 5 seconds.  At that point, you stop playing and remove one article of clothing.  Then you begin again.  The entire scenario is stressful, but very fun and very beneficial for practicing playing under stress.  Your hands will shake, you're heart will be thumping, you will not be as focused as you'd like to be...  Quite an experience. "

I'm sure it is!

[janice]

3.  "Strip-Mozart."  Get a bunch of your really close pianist friends together for a lovely evening 'round the piano.  Everyone has to perform one piece.  If you make a mistake but no one notices, keep going.  BUT, if you make a mistake and it's noticed by someone, they have to call it within 5 seconds.  At that point, you stop playing and remove one article of clothing.  Then you begin again.  The entire scenario is stressful, but very fun and very beneficial for practicing playing under stress.  Your hands will shake, you're heart will be thumping, you will not be as focused as you'd like to be...  Quite an experience.

OMG!!  And just where did you come up with THAT idea?!  ROFL  My side hurts from laughing!!  I'm gonna tell my teacher about this one!!

[janice]

...You can sense when you are about to mess up before you actually do, and then it happens...

YES!!  That has to be the worst feeling in the world!!  It's like I somehow KNOW that I will make a mistake in the near future, like within the next few measures,......but I can't stop myself!!  Grrrrr.  Does anybody else have this happen?

[kw13091984]

This might be a really useless tip but why not make your practice leading up to performance as difficult as possible (e.g. practice with cold hands, wet hands, even put something on them to make them slip off the keys, blindfolded, from way below/above the piano.) The theory behind this is that when you come to perform it for real these obstacles will have been lifted and it will seem like a piece of cake! Whether or not it works is another matter...

[shasta]

"Strip-Mozart" was a game/technique used by pianists (all good friends) in a chamber music society I was a member of.  Obviously, the singers and other instrumentalists were the ones with more sense!  

[donjuan]

Wow, these are some great ideas- I never would have thought of Strip Mozart..

Dont quite have enough piano friends for that one though..and what would my parents think if they came in?!

I think what scares me the most is when I play for my teacher- when they have the sheetmusic in front of them, and they are circling stuff and you can hear the pencil..or if they dont have the music in front of them, but they start rustling around- like they have grown weary of your playing..

I KNOW all this is in my head, but I just wish I could control it.
donjuan

[shasta]

I think what scares me the most is when I play for my teacher- when they have the sheetmusic in front of them, and they are circling stuff and you can hear the pencil..or if they dont have the music in front of them, but they start rustling around- like they have grown weary of your playing..

HAHAHA  Donjuan, an old prof of mine used to do the same thing and sit 2 feet away from me, eating cookies and drinking the most aromatic, wonderful coffee.  So rude!  He also used red ink, not pencil, so my beautiful and expensive Henle editions were destroyed.  Leafing back thru those pages now, I can tell how poorly I played a particular piece based on the amount of red on it...

I think the nerves you experience at your lesson stem more from an acute desire to please as opposed to being alone on stage with a sea of faces staring back at you, but I'm surprised you're not already conditioned to hearing the pencil scratch!  It shouldn't faze you anymore --- UNLESS you're waiting for it, which I'm suspecting you are.  

If you expect to hear the pencil scratch, you will.  Your mind will think, "Oh no, is the pencil coming?  Did he pull out the pencil yet? What was that sound?  Was that the pencil?" instead of, "la la la, free flowing arms, relaxed shoulders, crescendo in the left hand, now softer..."  and you will make a mistake.

Sometimes I know my professor did mildly distracting things like that to test me.  He studied under Arrau, who emphasized focus and deliberate playing.  Testing your distractability is fair game.  Gymnasts undergo it all the time: they're up on the balance beam, about to do some ridiculous backflip, and their coach will yell out their name or blast a bullhorn to simulate what a fan might do from the audience.  Gotta overcome it.

Try to move through the distractions, the pencil scratches, and then chalk up each pencil scratch that doesn't faze you as a small victory to yourself.  It's an advantage to being a soloist --- there's only one thing your mind is dedicated to at once, and that's the music you're creating.  Simple job compared to other professions out there.

[shasta]

One more thing:  You mentioned you live with your family.  Why not have your parent(s) sit near you at the piano the next time you play?  Have them scribble away on a pad of paper with a scratchy pencil the ENTIRE TIME.  Tell them to be as loud and as annoying as possible for the entire piece.  Then, maybe a few days later, have them do the same thing, but ask them to only make a total of 5 scratches at random intervals during your piece.  Then maybe wean it down to only 1 scratch.  Desensitize yourself to the sound of pencil!  

[donjuan]

Haaha! Thanks lol
You hit the nail on the head!
donjuan

[allchopin]

Tell them to be as loud and as annoying as possible for the entire piece.  Then, maybe a few days later, have them do the same thing, but ask them to only make a total of 5 scratches at random intervals during your piece.  Then maybe wean it down to only 1 scratch.  Desensitize yourself to the sound of pencil!

Then it should be the other way around... get used to just a few noises, then gradually increase them until you are used to it.  THIS is desensitization.

[westman]

You can practice at my house any time, there are plenty of loud, annoying people, barking dogs, tv sets, kids fighting, neighbors, etc.

[Spatula]

You can practice at my house any time, there are plenty of loud, annoying people, barking dogs, tv sets, kids fighting, neighbors, etc.

Bobby dear! Get the shotgun! The kids are at it again!

hahahah  

[donjuan]

Nowa Thelma Lue, yowd bist bay mowsyin on there, 'for ah git the hose!

haha rednecks are funny..

[Spatula]

Bobby, far get the darned kids, lez jus go see dis feller called Don Juan..and er..when he makes a mistak on dar peeano, den shoooot da crap outta him.

Now how's that for performance pressure.

[donjuan]

Bobby, far get the darned kids, lez jus go see dis feller called Don Juan..and er..when he makes a mistak on dar peeano, den shoooot da crap outta him.

Now how's that for performance pressure.

Haha!! isnt it funny how we are both Canadians talking about the south, but there arent any southerners here defending themselves?!
and by south, I really mean, "saaoth"

[Spatula]

WOOOOT ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US (CANADA)

[teresa_b]

Haha!! isnt it funny how we are both Canadians talking about the south, but there arent any southerners here defending themselves?!
and by south, I really mean, "saaoth"

Hey, Ah'm frum the Saaaouth.  Well, Tampa, not exactly the DEEP south, but we got plenty o' rednecks.  

I don't perform a lot, but I used to have awful stage fright (I mentioned this on another thread.).  Anyway, my ideas are not half as exciting as Strip Mozart, but I like to use "logic."

I remember that NONE of those audience members at the concert are up here putting THEMselves on the line, but I am--so why would I be intimidated by them?  Why not just play for the enjoyment of all.  And my other trick is to remember WHY I'm performing--because I lOVE the musical experience--and if I'm tied up in knots of anxiety,  I will not love it, so I defeat my own purpose.  Which I think is stupid, so I reason my anxiety away--Why be stupid, after all?  

Teresa

[Spatula]

Hey, Ah'm frum the Saaaouth.  Well, Tampa, not exactly the DEEP south, but we got plenty o' rednecks.  

I don't perform a lot, but I used to have awful stage fright (I mentioned this on another thread.).  Anyway, my ideas are not half as exciting as Strip Mozart, but I like to use "logic."

I remember that NONE of those audience members at the concert are up here putting THEMselves on the line, but I am--so why would I be intimidated by them?  Why not just play for the enjoyment of all.  And my other trick is to remember WHY I'm performing--because I lOVE the musical experience--and if I'm tied up in knots of anxiety,  I will not love it, so I defeat my own purpose.  Which I think is stupid, so I reason my anxiety away--Why be stupid, after all?  

Teresa

GRRRR YOU STOLE OUR STANLEY CUP!!!!      

oh well ...another season...another playoff

[piano_luvr]

Omg...
I used to have this SAME exact problem!!  I used to get anxiety really badly anytime I played piano infront of anyone (even family members!).  It got so bad, that I would literally be trembling at the keys when I would play infront of my piano instructor.  At home during parties I would be playing beautifully, but as SOON as I sensed someone was watching me play,  I would immediately mess up!  I think it was psychological.  

I think it was ultimately my teacher who helped me to overcome this.  What eventually helped me was playing in my first recital.  I was really nervous, and I made a few mistakes here and there, but everyone liked my performance nonetheless.  

I think that after all of that "pressure" from my first recitetal, I learned how to just calm down and not take myself so seriously.  

It also helps to force people to come and sit and watch you play at the piano.  Sometimes I would play for parties, and just having people there listening helped.  Even if you can just grab a couple of friends, or a family member or something, and have them just sit quietly and listen to you play for a few minutes a day might help ease the tension a bit.  I know it helped me TREMENDOUSLY!  

NOw, I don't get shaky at all when I have to play in front of my piano teacher.  I don't get as nervous when people are listening to me play.  I figure...hey...if I mess up, I mess up!  Nobody is going to kill you for messing up a note on a keyboard! LOL*      

After I learned to relax at the keyboard when people are around me, I don't feel as nervous.  

Don't worry...all it takes is getting used to.  Maybe there are some of us who will NEVER feel 100% completely comfortable with performances or having people STARE you down while you play, but I think that some of these techniques, and the techniques that others have mentioned on this thread will help to ease some of the nervousness.  

[Maui]

Thank you all for the help that texts provided to me
i just want to add one more thing:

Try running for 30 seconds at your maximum speed,  or do something with stairs, than you should be shaking, so play a piece and see if you make much mistakes :]

Ps: how to say in english that a person is "climbing" up a stair, is climbing the word?

:]

Maui.

[donjuan]

Thank you all for the help that texts provided to me
i just want to add one more thing:

Try running for 30 seconds at your maximum speed,  or do something with stairs, than you should be shaking, so play a piece and see if you make much mistakes :]

Ps: how to say in english that a person is "climbing" up a stair, is climbing the word?

:]

Maui.

yes, you climb the stairs.  or, you could say you ascend to the highest elevation via the graduated steps.
either way, youll get by..

oh, and that sounds like an interesting idea- playing piano just after exercising, Ill try it!
donjuan

[Clare]

Trying out pieces by getting shaky hands is an excellent idea! I have tried that and it shows yourself that you can play it with shaky hands, and that has always been one of my big worries.

Um, I've sort of gone about it the wrong way, though, by chainsmoking before doing a run-through of a recital. DON'T DO THAT, obviously. The exercise one sounds way better.

I'm trying to think of other things people haven't yet mentioned.

Why not try playing your recital without any warming up? I actually don't warm up before I play a recital, but if you normally do, this could be a way of showing that you can do it cold, so to speak.

Also, I like to find crazy-a$$ pianos that are weird to play and master my pieces on those so the real piano feels excellent to play on.

In an exam, if possible, try to have the examiners out of your eyesight!

This is all I can think of for now. Overall, the most important thing to do is to play your whole set in front of different bunches of people starting from maybe about a month before and see which parts fall apart under pressure consistently.

Lastly, remember the examiners aren't always scribbling down negative stuff. They are writing the pros and cons, not just the cons.