What is your performance or practice tip?

[dogperson]

Dear All
Many on this forum have a great deal to offer as  tips  for other members--  whether it be those who play at your level, or an absolute beginner.  Think about those problems you have had in practicing, perfecting, performance.

What tip can you share with the forum???

[iansinclair]

If I had to give just one tip it would be... be sure to relax, sit back and enjoy what you are doing!

[dcstudio]

for performance:   have a plan for what you will think about during your performance.  Chord names, note names, forms, whatever...  an occupied mind is far less likely to crash your hands and make you draw a complete blank.   

[briansaddleback]

Hi dogperson let me know if you do the same thing I do in practice I'll pm you.

[chopinlover01]

Don't quit your day job


Actually, just don't be one of those pricks who learns a little something by ear and then thinks they're the next Liszt..

[adodd81802]

Don't quit your day job


Actually, just don't be one of those pricks who learns a little something by ear and then thinks they're the next Liszt..

Hilarious, insightful, helpful, what more could you ask for.....

[dcstudio]

Don't quit your day job


Actually, just don't be one of those pricks who learns a little something by ear and then thinks they're the next Liszt..

had quite a few of those come through here lately...LOL

what amazes me the most is how they actually believe it--they listen to themselves play and they hear something incredible... while the rest of us only hear a very slow and labored version of an easy Chopin prelude.   No court of public opinion seems to be able to sway their belief in their own greatness... they defend it to the bitter end.

[briansaddleback]

had quite a few of those come through here lately...LOL

what amazes me the most is how they actually believe it--they listen to themselves play and they hear something incredible... while the rest of us only hear a very slow and labored version of an easy Chopin prelude.   No court of public opinion seems to be able to sway their belief in their own greatness... they defend it to the bitter end.

that's fine. Just pat them on their heads and move on.

[dcstudio]

that's fine. Just pat them on their heads and move on.

because really that's all you can do...

[visitor]

perfect playing 100% of the time is a myth and an over rated goal. 
don't let youtube skew your view of reality, it's a snapshopt in time. peronal videos in a room alone, are usually the best of a lot of takes.
don't let the genius whiz kids discourage you, they are the anomaly, not the norm
it's supposed to be fun, if it's not, why bother.
practice more of what you are bad at and less of what you are accomplished in.
theatrics have their place.
theatrics should not try to make up for sub par performance.
you cannot over prepare for a performance (practice it so well that you cannot play it incorrectly).
just a few things that popped up on my end. 

[briansaddleback]

theatrics have their place.
theatrics should not try to make up for sub par performance.[/i] 

Just want to comment on this, I am not per se replying to you, but there is a fallacy in this statement by those who believe there is an 'intention' of theatrics to make up for a sub par performance. I do agree, there are those who do. and there are those who may do that sometimes.

But there are also those who do 'theatrics', not for the sake of theatrics, but it is just who they are. They are just being natural at the instrument they play at, whether they are good at the piece or not. For instance, I can speak for myself, I do a lot of theatrics, when I perform for my class, especially a non-introspective piece or a very dramatic piece (let say revolutionary etude) I am totally into it. And I make more motion and rocking of the body not only because it helps me to play it better perhaps but also emotionally I am and really feeling it. I am not inhibited in my expression of it. And for some reason it does relay to the class as something positive. as most in my class is shy and inhibited in really dynamically moving for their performance. They see it as maybe inspiration?  i dont know, but it has been commented that it has been entertaining for them. My teacher also as well , enjoys my performances (no matter what level of progress I am at in the piece ) and appreciates I dont 'inhibit' myself from freely expressing myself with whole body and mind just because  Idont play the piece well yet. I play it slowly as I am still learning it but still try to express through my play most importantly, but just like a golfer's swing or baseball player's bat swing follow through, i dont inhibit my phsyical expressions.

however, yes, there are those who play theatrics for the sake of it in itself.  But just wanted to bring light to this. as all is not black and white.

[dcstudio]

I am known to be a bit animated myself when I perform...  more so if there's children in the audience.   Nothing wrong with it whatsoever IMO..

[briansaddleback]

I am known to be a bit animated myself when I perform...  more so if there's children in the audience.   Nothing wrong with it whatsoever IMO..

Definitely. I would call myself animated too.

But I definitely don't do the free hand-twirling around bit when I play a slow phrase in a nocturne. For instance lol.

[visitor]

Just want to comment on this, I am not per se replying to you, but there is a fallacy in this statement by those who believe there is an 'intention' of theatrics to make up for a sub par performance. I do agree, there are those who do. and there are those who may do that sometimes.

But there are also those who do 'theatrics', not for the sake of theatrics, but it is just who they are. They are just being natural at the instrument they play at, whether they are good at the piece or not. For instance, I can speak for myself, I do a lot of theatrics, when I perform for my class, especially a non-introspective piece or a very dramatic piece (let say revolutionary etude) I am totally into it. And I make more motion and rocking of the body not only because it helps me to play it better perhaps but also emotionally I am and really feeling it. I am not inhibited in my expression of it. And for some reason it does relay to the class as something positive. as most in my class is shy and inhibited in really dynamically moving for their performance. They see it as maybe inspiration?  i dont know, but it has been commented that it has been entertaining for them. My teacher also as well , enjoys my performances (no matter what level of progress I am at in the piece ) and appreciates I dont 'inhibit' myself from freely expressing myself with whole body and mind just because  Idont play the piece well yet. I play it slowly as I am still learning it but still try to express through my play most importantly, but just like a golfer's swing or baseball player's bat swing follow through, i dont inhibit my phsyical expressions.

however, yes, there are those who play theatrics for the sake of it in itself.  But just wanted to bring light to this. as all is not black and white.

i disagree.  
1. theatrics is a broad term, i did not specify specifically about anything regarding only body movements  or facial expressions.
ie i love this, there is a lot going on and purists's heads spin when they see this. I believe they miss the point entirely, this is just plain fun and way awesome

[dcstudio]

But I definitely don't do the free hand-twirling around bit when I play a slow phrase in a nocturne. For instance lol.

LOL

I do...but only for a little comedy shtick I do at the piano where I play twinkle, twinkle, little star--(which I call my favorite Mozart piece) while making those grand gestures and of course the really over-expressive  "sad face"...it always get's a big laugh...   

[briansaddleback]

i disagree.  
1. theatrics is a broad term, i did not specify specifically about anything regarding only body movements  or facial expressions.
ie i love this, there is a lot going on and purists's heads spin when they see this. I believe they miss the point entirely, this is just plain fun and way awesome

Ok , im confused, not sure if youre agreeing or disagreeing with me. You're making same point i did, theatrics is a general thing that many people do because it just comes natural to them not trying to be affected.
also the video, I enjoyed it too, but again, confused, because she is very animated and perhaps in the 'theatrics' that you may be referring to, but you as well enjoy it because it is just her, she is enjoyig the performance and getting into it.

so basically my point is ....dogperson, for a practice tip: dont do 'theatrics for the sake of theatrics, but dont feel inhibited to express any 'theatrics' if it is just naturally coming to you or helps you to 'follow through'

lol. to keep it in topic of this thread.

[visitor]

Ok , im confused, ....
lol. to keep it in topic of this thread.

i think  you missed the point. i talking about the tap dancer and the entire' production' of it all. i don't call body movements theatrics, and pretty much ignor naysayers that gripe about people moving while playing. it's a physical act. of  course people will move. not sure why  you zeroed in on body moving and facial expressed, i thought it was pretty clear that there's a dude dancing as a duet w/ the piano.

cool either way. i don't get caught up in the body should move more or less debate. those that don't like that stuff can just close their eyes or buy a CD and let the rest of us less uptight folks enjoy the show. 

so that's another tip for people, it's music, art, subjective, should make us think, reflect, and enjoy. it's not like we're writing economic policy, it's just not that big a deal to sweat over the stuff people like to get spun up about.

[lostinidlewonder]

Performance tip: Practice.
Practice tip: Perform.

[dcstudio]

Performance tip: Practice.
Practice tip: Perform.

a man a few words... lol.

[lostinidlewonder]

Hehe yes

One usually is encouraged to practice if they have a reason other than themselves. If you just play in your little space and have no pressure to play for anyone in the future you easily can founder about doing nothing.

If your preparation is very strong then you will feel confident with your performances. When I used to do competitions, talent quests etc I always felt I was more prepared than any of my competition and I would practice hard to ensure it was probably true! I won almost all that I entered because of my confidence and preparation. I couldn't care less if I stuffed up on stage, I have before, every performer who has played on stage many times has, you just carry on. In that respect of stuffing up on stage I have little fear and know I can recover if needed because I've practiced to do so. When there is little fear of failure then you can perform more confidently. I do this by a lot of practice which gives me confidence but also by simply not caring about any mistakes I make, I admit I am human and people don't care about mistakes anyway.

Practicing for a big performance may require you do many smaller performances beforehand. Through doing the routine many times you get to know what can go right and wrong in performance rather than constantly in the safety of your private practice space. This is something most fail to do enough of and stupidly go for broke with the important performance puttng so much pressure on themselves. Go perform for many small groups of people often. It really is no difference, a few people listening or one hundred, this will become more apparent the more you do smaller performances to gain experience. To me personally 1 person or 1000 is little difference and usually the stage lights blind you so you only can see the first row lol.

[ted]

I do little practice and do not perform at all, but the best tip I have come across is to split difficult, continuous sections into much smaller components, each of which is musically and physically easy at speed. Then over time, join them together by eliminating the "microsleeps". This was told to me by Brendan of Pianoworld years ago, and I have found it to have quite astonishing and fertile application to playing in general, particularly idea generation in improvisation. The physical part of it has apparently been used as a common practice device for ages, but it seems to have a much deeper mental aspect too. I conjecture that it has something to do with the brain finding it much easier to comprehend a large number of simple things than one big, complicated thing. I really haven't a clue why, but I know it has done wonders for my own playing.

[chopinlover01]

Performance tip: Practice.
Practice tip: Perform.

But then, to practice, you would end up performing, which would make you practice.
Which then makes you perform.
Sigh
Great, lostinidlewonder, you've created a lovely little f***ing paradox.

[briansaddleback]

I do little practice and do not perform at all, but the best tip I have come across is to split difficult, continuous sections into much smaller components, each of which is musically and physically easy at speed. Then over time, join them together by eliminating the "microsleeps". This was told to me by Brendan of Pianoworld years ago, and I have found it to have quite astonishing and fertile application to playing in general, particularly idea generation in improvisation. The physical part of it has apparently been used as a common practice device for ages, but it seems to have a much deeper mental aspect too. I conjecture that it has something to do with the brain finding it much easier to comprehend a large number of simple things than one big, complicated thing. I really haven't a clue why, but I know it has done wonders for my own playing.

But isnt this what you are supposed to do for a piece? Break down the components to smaller parts and memorize and technically master those little parts then splice them all together? or am I missing something in what you are saying can you re-elaborate? I am sincerely interested.

[ted]

But isnt this what you are supposed to do for a piece? Break down the components to smaller parts and memorize and technically master those little parts then splice them all together? or am I missing something in what you are saying can you re-elaborate? I am sincerely interested.

As explained to me by Brendan, its physical application mostly concerns getting difficult continuous passages up to speed. Say you have a long, difficult string of notes which require both speed and continuity. Instead of practising the whole thing through slowly and trying to increase speed over time, split it into groups, each of which is easy at speed, and allow yourself short pauses between each pair. Over time, shorten the "microsleeps" until continuity is attained. Succinctly put, it temporarily sacrifices continuity during practice, where conventional slow playing temporarily sacrifices speed. It isn't always applicable, but where it is, I have found it very powerful.

The creative and rhythmic uses of it are just things I have developed for my own music, a serendipitous extra which I find very difficult to explain in words.

[briansaddleback]

Ok thanks. That was what I thought I understood the first time. I do sort of that practice method as well and it does work efficiently towards getting something up to speed. I have also found out that it allows me to have more places to start from in a piece as well (in case of a muscle memory slip).

[briansaddleback]

Practice tip .. Enjoy it when the practice seems to go nowhere even when you focus hard. When you're frustrated, and it is not sinking in, don't fall back to practicing something easy and you can play through mindlessly to feel better. Keep attacking it for another half hour at a slower more calibrated and methodical pace. 
This is where your brain starts churning and cements that nervous system for you after some rest. 


So look forward to practice sessions that are hard.

I used to quit and then just revert to playing the easier parts over and over again. 
Focusing on harder aspects more so has gotten me higher quicker than practicing what comes easy.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Performance tip: the audience is on your side.

[dcstudio]

lol... sure the audience is on your side

...but we all know there's a giant crocodile waiting backstage to devour your soul should the God's be displeased with your performance.  So you had better play it perfectly!