What are your strengths and weaknesses as a performer?

[musictheorist]

Taken from https://www.robertkelleyphd.com/
“I’m sooo sorry, Mr. Bach.” I said this under my breath as I walked offstage from a catastrophic performance of the Prelude and Fugue in G Minor from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It was just the first piece on the program of my recital at my parents’ church when I was in college, and I had blown it. The prelude had fallen completely apart. The fugue had gone surprisingly well, if a little shaky, after the prelude meltdown. Right then I couldn’t let myself worry about what had caused everything to go horribly wrong, I just had to gather my thoughts and get back out there to play the rest of the challenging program.
Upon more reflection, I realized that my real mistake had been to learn the piece in my habitual fashion, playing it over and over until I could play it without the music. Although it had worked for me countless times in the past, it wasn’t good enough for a performance of Bach for which I was already very nervous. I needed a way of learning music that would allow for a more robust knowledge of the piece, with the ability to recover from any slip. It took me many years to find the new way of learning, though.
Have you ever had a performance fall apart? What about a high-stakes audition? When you are playing on stage, do you spend more effort on keeping the hard parts together than on making the music speak to the audience? It’s not just a matter of spending more hours in the practice room (although it can’t hurt). With a little advance planning you can minimize the hours spent practicing and still sound like a top performer.
The vast majority of people don’t do the prep work up front. Any good conservatory graduate knows how to put in the long hours and practice until they sound good. But applying a strategic approach can give you an edge over the average trained musician. With the right planning and methodical practice from day one, you can quickly sound like a virtuoso, performing with polish, finesse, and vision.
Having a sophisticated and flexible interpretation is the way to stand out from the crowd. Most people learn to play the notes and rhythms, and then spend whatever time they have left refining their interpretation. If you can systematize your learning process and front-load the work with the preparations needed in order to begin refining the nuances, shapes, and musical meaning early on, your interpretation will be more mature when the performance date arrives.
The best way to speed up the learning process is to ensure that you begin by learning what the music is supposed to sound like, all of the markings in the score that should be followed, and what techniques are required in order to make the music sound right. Knowing the music inside and out will empower you to conquer performance anxiety, to be able to adapt when things go awry in performance, and to make insightful interpretive decisions. Memorization is therefore the first step to any top-notch performance.
Even if you intend to bring the music with you on stage in the performance, knowing the music by heart is still the most important task of the virtuoso performer. By memorizing the music before learning to play a single note, you can begin to work on the interpretation and musical shaping at a much earlier phase of rehearsals. Your focus on interpretation throughout the learning process is your edge.
I can show you interpretive techniques that will enrich your performance without sounding gimmicky. I can warn you about the cheap tricks to avoid, and give you principles for finding a unique interpretation without losing the core meaning of the music or ignoring any directions in the score. But none of this will matter unless you really know the music inside and out first.
How, then, do you learn the music before actually beginning to play it? The problem with the memorization-first approach is that it makes the beginning of the process difficult. People naturally don’t want to begin with the most difficult task. If it’s fun to start with, then we’re more likely to keep working at it. Stay tuned to my website, and I will give you two tactics that will make memorizing music more like a game.
For now, take a moment to think about your strengths and weaknesses at a performer. What part of playing on stage comes naturally to you, and what takes a lot of work? What worries you most when going into a live show? I want to know what your biggest stumbling blocks are. Share these by commenting on this post, or by sending me a message at my website https://www.robertkelleyphd.com/.

[indianajo]

I don't really have memory problems.  Your patented memory routine won't be necessary for me.   There comes a time in my rehearsal of a piece, when I get bored with following along the printed page.  My eye wanders around, I start daydreaming, the notes just come out of my fingers.  In my best self, I think of the story of the piece and try to do something emotional with the string of notes.  In my worst self I just daydream, which is not entirely time wasted, as holding the arms out and wiggling the muscles is good for the heart and muscles, whether the cortex is following along or not.  
My worst problem as a performer is that I like the wrong repretoire.  If I played more Hank Williams, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck or Pink Floyd or  Metallica,  my performance would be much in demand.  As it is I can play and sing a couple of Beatle tunes and a Small Faces piece, but nobody really remembers those tunes. I can't play the popular requests.   I don't look like like Paul McCartney  or Hank Williams either. I look like a miniature Jay Silverheels.  
The next problem is variable kinesthetic sense in my old age.  When I was 16 I knew exactly where every note was by feel, but not anymore.  I've started looking at my hands to give myself feedback that is not dependent on muscle feel.  My brain still tells my hands what they are are supposed to do, but the feel may corresponds with one or two notes off, instead of the right ones.  More practice only helps a little with this, as old muscles are entirely differently stiff on different days.  This is the reason they have  a senior professional golf circuit, IMHO.  My biggest problem right now are a couple of  measures in Moussorgski's famous piece Promenade, where the hands scatter off in different directions to the two ends of the piano.  I cannot watch both hands at the same time.  
Another problem I have is that my hands and arms are built very lightly, and not really suited for a concert grand.  When I was 16 this wasn't much of a problem, but at my current age joint and tendon inflammation limit how strong I should build my muscles.  I do okay on my extremely light touch Sohmer console piano, and have found a hall or two where impromtu performances on their superior consoles are appreciated.  I admire greatly the Baldwin Acrosonic console at a Christian Church downtown where they feed the walk ins on Saturdays; it is so loud for so little effort.  I play hymns and topical music down there during the dinner sometimes, particularly holiday season.   But any phantasies I have of playing for the weekly program at the local classical radio station will likely remain in my mind, as they use a concert grand.   Even nursing homes: if the piano is in tune, it is probably a grand.  
I've recently taken up the electric organ, which has no such force problem of the keys.  The biggest problem with the electric organ is that the left hand position is so different, and certain lines cross 61 keyboard boundaries.  Pictures at an Exhibition on the Hammond Theatre Organ, anybody?  I'm thinking of wearing funny hats if I record; some people would see it as a comedy even without props.  

[cabbynum]

Weakness horrible nerves until I start playing. And being a little too hard on myself. Well a lot actually.

Strengths, I can improvise fairly well when needed. I got lost in a Beethoven sonata not too long ago in a performance and plays around with the theme for just a second until I figuredout where I was.

[alistaircrane4]

My one weakness would be that I will never feel 100 percent performance ready. I do not get nervous behind the piano as I once did while singing. I feel at ease behind the keys and I cannot remember when Ive ever forgot a single note. Sure Ive slipped up a few times while playing maybe I hit a B instead of a Bflat but thats due to miscalculation of fingering. Memorizing is very easy for me as i learned most of what I know in less than a day it took me perhaps four hours to learn Chopin's Lento con Gran Espressione. But a week to perfect it. But even when premiering my own piece I was worried it wouldnt be enough. I feel like my work and performances will never be good enough no matter who tells me they are.

[faulty_damper]

Strength: Musical interpretation.
Weakness: I don't look like the music I play.

[cabbynum]

Weakness: I don't look like the music I play.

Is it really bad that you don't look white, square, and with lots of black dots and lines?

[faulty_damper]

Is it really bad that you don't look white, square, and with lots of black dots and lines?

Yes.  It's important for the audience to know that I'm playing the right notes.   

[pianist1976]

.

[gracefulpianist14]

One of my strengths is that I know how to prepare well for a performance, I know what I need to do to have a successful performance, and I'm learning to concentrate on the piano and making the best sound I possibly can from it.  My weakness is concentrating on the mistakes I make, and concentrating on the audience instead of my piece (although I'm learning to get over that). Knowing that I'm playing on the instrument that I love, and glorifying the God that I love helps me very much. 

[cometear]

Strength: I can get rid of nervousness fairly well.
Weakness: If I do not have enough nervousness I will almost feel like I am practicing so I have inadvertently gone back if a small mistake is made. This habit is in the process of being broken (I think it has been by now.) I also lose a significant amount of energy in the playing.

I'm working on finding a balance. As I always say, performing is like jumping off a cliff.