How do you avoid playing too fast at a recital?

[slane]

Hi,

 yesterday I played two pieces at our monthly piano club. Of course I had learnt the pieces adn could play them with ... well not one arm behind my back, but you know. But I was nervous as usual and the first piece I launched into at a ridiculous pace and stuffed it up completely.

  How do you avoid that? Apart from setting the speed on the metronome on your smart phone how do you set an objective tempo when you're nervous?

[stevensk]

Sit calmly 5-10 seconds or more  in front of the piano til you feel the emotion and tempo in the piece. -Then start playing

[iansinclair]

Sit calmly 5-10 seconds or more  in front of the piano til you feel the emotion and tempo in the piece. -Then start playing

Indeed.  In fact, wait long enough so that your heart rate and breathing have become a little more normal.  One tends to set one's tempo in relation to their heart rate and breathing, and if those are elevated (which they will be -- nothing like a little adrenalin!) one's tempo will be too fast.

[chopinlover01]

The fight or flight response is common for me in performances, probably is for others too. Sitting in front of the piano for a little while before you perform is an excellent idea, but I find it's also beneficial to take the piece at a slower tempo then you would in practice, because we often take things faster than we think we do (I've heard stories of people hearing their recordings and saying "did I really play that fast?").

[indianajo]

I marched for years, four years in high school band and later 42 months in the US Army.  The usual pace is 120 bpm.  So I can fairly automatically recall 120 bpm, then adjust to the actual mm of a piece from that point.
This pace is a usual rate for walking, so people without the professional walking experience should still be able to recall to a normal walking pace.  Adrenalin is for running; think about walking and engage that automatic rhythm circuit every human brain has before beginning a piece. Other speeds are faster and slower than the walking speed, this gives you something to relate to.    I give this advice to people that speed up and slow down music excessively, also. Newbies think unsteady rhythm is art, but IMHO itis not, not until you are under control.   A steady rhythm is built into the human brain for walking; use that circuit to control musical expression.   

[dcstudio]

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and say in my mind--very slowly--

the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog....   I visualize each word as I go. 

Then I take a moment to listen in my mind to what I am about to play--and I begin.

Learned that trick from a teacher when I was 10 and it worked like a charm.  The more you do it the better it works...so don't just try it once.

my problem usually isn't nerves but anticipation--I really love to perform.   I have to reign in that excitement a bit before settling on a tempo or I rush a bit, too.

[slane]

Thanks everyone ... I will try the quick brown fox trick. I usually start chatting the moment I arrive at my lesson and some days i can't turn off the chat in my head. This might help.

I don't think I'll take up marching though!

[faulty_damper]

Focus on the musical ideas, not the physical aspects of playing.

If you were to tell a girl that you loved her, even though you are nervous, you wouldn't speed up.  It's because the words do not matter - the idea does.  The same applies to music.  The musical ideas have inherent meaning, not just aesthetically pleasing sounds. As long as you focus on the meaning of the music, you can't speed up because that would change the ideas. If you focus on the performance, then that can lead to tension, and the release of the tension is what causes the acceleration.

All of this assumes that you understand what musical ideas are.  This is not something many teachers teach and even fewer students understand.  It is the difference between a musician and a pianist.  A musician communicates.  A pianist just presses keys in the right order.

[chopinlover01]

A musician communicates

And plays faster, right?

[dcstudio]

 This is not something many teachers teach and even fewer students understand.  It is the difference between a musician and a pianist.  A musician communicates.  A pianist just presses keys in the right order.

wow...  we are so lucky you are here to explain this for us.    guess I should take the word "pianist" off my business card right away.   

lol...  maybe a better choice of words would be--  "once one has achieved a certain level of understanding and experience---it is possible for him to evolve beyond simply playing the piano and then become a musician fully capable of communicating his own ideas through his instrument."

don't get me wrong--

I mean yours was direct and to the point--just a little condescending.   Mine is wordy but inoffensive.  I am agreeing with you though.

[8_octaves]

If you were to tell a girl that you loved her, even though you are nervous, you wouldn't speed up.  It's because the words do not matter - the idea does. 

So, one can make it even easier for oneself!

A distinguished piano teacher said somewhen:

"I would never tell a girl that I love her FOREVER - : only for a VERY LONG TIME!" 

[faulty_damper]

wow...  we are so lucky you are here to explain this for us.    guess I should take the word "pianist" off my business card right away.   

lol...  maybe a better choice of words would be--  "once one has achieved a certain level of understanding and experience---it is possible for him to evolve beyond simply playing the piano and then become a musician fully capable of communicating his own ideas through his instrument."

don't get me wrong--

I mean yours was direct and to the point--just a little condescending.   Mine is wordy but inoffensive.  I am agreeing with you though.

Sometimes, in order to get the correct idea across, you need to be as blunt as possible.

As a teacher, if I said that "Bobby needs to learn to keep his hands to himself", the parent won't understand what I mean.  So what happens is that Bobby continues to hit other people.  However, if I said that "your son hit Sarah in the arm today", the parent immediately chastises him.  Bobby stops hitting other students.  Most people (at least in American culture) can't read between the lines so it is vitally necessary to speak as bluntly as possible.

So if you were to compare what I wrote to what you wrote, who communicated the idea better?  It was indeed condescending but it had to be in order for readers to understand clearly the defect in music education.  Yours sounded way too nice; Bobby would continue to terrorize the playground leaving bruised arms in his wake.

[dcstudio]

Sometimes, in order to get the correct idea across, you need to be as blunt as possible.

  It was indeed condescending but it had to be in order for readers to understand clearly the defect in music education.  Yours sounded way too nice; Bobby would continue to terrorize the playground leaving bruised arms in his wake.

Freud would suggest that your motive for speaking this way is to inflate your own sense of self worth because deep down you doubt yourself as a musician.  Classic over-compensation likely due to unresolved mother-related issues of course ---but what did he know. lol.  

just a suggestion by Freud--not me

To put it bluntly the readers here aren't your students...  they are not paying to hear your ideas.  If you really want them to "understand" then a little tact and diplomacy may be in order.

  Of course, if Freud's suggestion is correct then you will simply tell me --in a superior tone--that you don't care who listens and you will speak how you choose...  and then you will continue to "terrorize" this forum with your bluntness leaving the bruised arms in your wake...yes, YOU are the Bobby in this scenario...lol

gotta say--I am liking this blunt speaking thing.  

[faulty_damper]

Freud didn't say that; he's dead.  You did.  You are projecting your own ideas.

[dcstudio]

  You are projecting your own ideas.

really? I am? lol.  

your analogy of the Bobby the unruly child who terrorizes the playground--and your justification for your rudeness as being necessary to save the other children from bruised arms...is really interesting and speaks volumes on how you view yourself and your students.  It is necessary for you to be condescending so that people clearly understand --- because you understand this and others don't so you are just trying to help?

"  It was indeed condescending but it had to be in order for readers to understand clearly the defect in music education. "

you're right it wasn't Freud--it was Adler who discussed the superiority complex at great length.
 

"A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view" — Alfred Adler

not my ideas...

[faulty_damper]

And the fact that you've resorted to insults shows that you have no argument.  You post only to be abusive.

[chopinlover01]

And the fact that you've resorted to insults shows that you have no argument.  You post only to be abusive.

I fail to see how she insulted you She said that Alder's quote indicates that you have a superiority complex (not a far out claim, considering your many of your other posts), she wasn't insulting you.

[dcstudio]

And the fact that you've resorted to insults shows that you have no argument.  You post only to be abusive.

 "Defiant individuals will always persecute others, yet will always consider themselves persecuted." — Alfred Adler