Competition Preparation

[1830640]

Hello all,

I'm new here and I'm just wondering how some of you pianists here prepare for competitions.

For some background information, I'm currently a sophomore in high school who's been playing piano for probably 8-ish years. I'm around the level of playing the Grieg piano concerto. Even though I'm usually busy during school, for the month or two leading up until the competition day, I usually try to practice at least 3 hours.

However, at the competition I still get the problem with stumbling here and there, leading me to believe that it may be ineffectiveness with the way I practice since most other people who competed also practice around the same amount of time I do. I also get intimidated sometimes when I hear good people play from the other side of the wall of the practice rooms before the performance, worsening my performance.

So for those of you out there who do play in competitions, how do you guys routinely practice and prepare for competitions? And also, how do you handle the intimidation and stage fright factor?

Thanks!