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Topic: Second small group public performance, how to make it more enjoyable  (Read 1718 times)

Offline bernadette60614

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Our wonderful teacher is having another "musical evening" when the adult students play for one another.

The first time, I was a wreck.  I did credibly well, but I did not "enjoy" it.

I'd like to enjoy this one...even if the enjoyment is just incremental.

The evening is December 4th on a grand piano (I have an upright).  90% of the others are more advanced than I, and some have studied professionally.

I will be playing the last movement of the Mozart first piano sonata, and one of the Bach Preludes and Fugues.

Anything input on preparation, managing nervousness, playing on a grand while practicing on an upright would be most helpful.

Thanks, all!
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Offline indianajo

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The more you do, the more you can do.
A group of advanced music students is a tough audience.  Find a group of people that don't like music, to play for regularly.  This will make the recital feel just like one more gig.
I played Saturday for the charity dinner downtown.  Music is not part of the program, free food is.  I played some cheesy praise chorus from the eighties out of the hymnal; some of the  workers were dancing and clapping around the tables.  I played and sang an Elton John piece I really like, messing up some words as I went.  Nobody noticed - EJ is not what they like.  The more times I do that, the better I will be at it. If I get good enough, I'll invest in a portable PA for my thin, reedy voice.  Tiffany started playing shopping malls - not a usual music venue. 
The force required to play a grand could be a problem. that is why music schools buy those $8000 Steinway studio pianos, with the heavy touch. The students can rehearse on them without using up all the space a grand takes.  I've played one light touch grand, a sixties local store brand.  Every other grand I've played is too heavy for me. 
while shubert injured himself with finger force exercises, I was assigned to squeeze a rubber ball by the physical therapist after I tore the tendons in my shoulder.  Apparently that is an authorized exercise.  It was about 2.5" in diameter and had stiffer resistance than a tennis ball.  Perhaps ten reps a day on one of these things could build up your forearm/finger pull muscles.  I don't know where to buy one, it came as part of my shoulder immobilization sling. No sport uses this I know of. Tennis balls are too weak, hand balls are too hard.   Look around a physical therapy supply I suppose. 
The best part of a recital is talking afterwards with other people who have a passion for music.  Enjoy that part.  Give some complements if they are due; you might get some back, even if not quite deserved. 
Best of luck. 

Offline adodd81802

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Hi Ber,

I think it's important to look at all the reasons NOT to be nervous, this will help.

For example, I did just the same as what you're describing a few months ago, I am too a nervous performer.

Firstly, you will have to embrace the idea that your heart will start pumping quickly as every minute ticks away and your palms will get sweaty! The only thing to my knowledge that combats this is continuously practicing in this environment.

I think we link nervousness as being a bad thing because actually the issue is lacking confidence, so actually practicing the crap out of your piece will help more than you realize.

For example you probably wouldn't be anywhere near as nervous performing twinkle twinkle up there, so be solid on areas you're a little unsure on and really isolate practice those sections.

Next and this is maybe a little selfish but assuming you're not going first, be overcritical of the performances you hear (obviously in your mind and no booing!), no matter who they are, their age etc, - if they play a bum note, or stop or even can't continue, just think to yourself, i'm better than that. boost your own confidence on other peoples mistakes, and also use it to realise that everybody is human and everybody is likely to be going through what you're going through.

If you're not going last, be glad you're not going last, just think about how much less pressure you're likely to feel than the person who's going to be leaving the freshest impression on the audience, as by the time they've gotten to them, they're already forgotten the mistakes you may have made.

Next, and a MASSIVE thing, is understand this audience is not going to boo you. They likely have not paid to hear you play (mine was a charity student performance) they are not coming to hear a professional, half of them are unlikely to be even avid classical / piano listeners and so take advantage of the fact that even if you do get notes wrong, they are very unlikely to know.

I hit a clear bum note in my piece and repeated about 4 seconds of a section because I buggered up the first attempt. Only you know your piece inside out. I smiled when I hit my bum note, because even though things were going really well, my expectations were realistic, it was the 3rd concert I have performed had, the previous 2 of which being over 10 years ago, I had expected to mess up but I'm confident I gave it a good go.

My last point, is I could link you to 100's of professionals that hit wrong notes, perform (IMO) terribly and some of them really mess up beyond repair (See Yundi Li's major mess up) Do not be unrealistic about your expectations, and do not be deluded about the audiences expectations either.

Performance aside, just referring to the actual piano, I have personally not enjoyed the 2 only times I have performed on a proper grand, and only because I am not used to it. They are wonderful pianos, and too my knowledge more forgiving than uprights.

You may find the keys lighter and more clear. Actually the biggest struggle I had, was that My digital piano, where the end of the keys meet front of the piano, my front slants off rather than goes straight up (because it has a little lcd screen and some buttons), I actually find when practicing anything that involves black keys my fingers move too far forward and on normal pianos the tips of my fingers actually collide with the piano. I am pretty sure your experience wont be anywhere near as awkward!
"England is a country of pianos, they are everywhere."

Offline debussychopin

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I just believe it is  a matter of just going out there again a few more times and just getting used to trying to play up to par w the others. After awhile after facing your fear it wont be much of a big deal any more and you'll start to enjoy it.  Also I always say the key to enjoying and performing well under nervousness is preparation and preparation.
Learn from how you did it last time, adjust , and prepare better next time.  

Also a tip I have for you Bernadette is to try to mimic a performance stressed body condition while playing your piece at home.  Go for a brisk walk around your neighborhood and come back takw a bow and try to play. Or, try to play while sitting in a stance not on the chair or bench but using your muscles to keep you up it will get your mind on two things (like in a nervous performance situation) and try to perform. Get used to various conditions. Play in the cold (not sure how you're going to do this but I have several ideas for myself) or try to play w different lighting or while recording. Let someone you know listen to that recording let them be FREE to comment anything about it good or bad so you get used to these types of performance anxiety issues

Ever notice (at least for me) if you're scared of a haunted house, but if you're racked w some intense emotion (sadness, anger, etc) over something, you can sit alone in that haunted house w all its ghouls and zombies and you wont feel a thing?
Meaning..fear is an emotion. Substitute at time of performance..
I would sometimes take a sad or angry thought (one in line w the piece I will be performing of course) and save hashing out that thought until minutes before my time to perform. Like when the last time that jerk driver was trolling me at the intersection. Living it in my mind all over again got me real livid.
  Hopefully that'll get my mind off of performance nervous stress and perhaps even allow me to play w more expressiveness.
L'Isle Joyeuse

Offline brogers70

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Our teacher does the same thing; every three months all her students (all adults) get together and play for one another. I played very badly the first couple of times, but it has gradually gotten better, and now I do actually enjoy it. Here are some things that I find help.

1. The piano is different and that's a problem. I practice on a grand and my teacher has one, but they are quite different. Her bass is stronger, her right pedal has a different amount of depression required for the same effect, and it makes noise if you depress it too far. So every time I have a lesson with her I pay attention to those differences to try to get used to them. Also I try to aim for reproducing the sound I was getting at home, rather than for making the same motions as at home. It helps, but it's still a challenge.

2. Someone said practice the heck out of your pieces. That definitely helps. If you can do it without hurting yourself, begin your practice sessions by playing your pieces without warming up first. That creates some anxiety and reproduces the fact that you probably won't get to warm up much before you play in the mini-concert. For the couple of lessons before the concert, have your teacher let you start by running through your performance without interruption. That, too, will simulate the nervousness of the performance a bit. When you practice, you obviously have to focus on small sections of the pieces and on the difficult bits, but you also need to practice going through everything without stopping every day, just to practice keeping up your concentration, and to hear the piece as a whole.

3. Mentally, it helps me to focus on why I want the other students to hear my pieces. I pick things I love, and often things that are not super familiar and I read up on the history of the pieces and look at some kind of analysis of them, say Charles Rosen for the Beethoven Sonatas, or any of several websites that analyze the P&F from Bach WTC. Then, once I really love the piece, when I am playing it I'm thinking more about showcasing the piece that I love rather than my own playing. So that reduces nerves a bit.

4. I don't know if you play from memory at these things, but if you do, as you practice from memory, force your mind to think explicitly about the chord progressions, or the ways, say, *this* appearance of the theme differs from the previous one. How exactly you think about this depends on how much music theory you know, but whether you think "Ah, here comes the theme, but now it's in the subdominant" or "Here's where I have to reach up for that Db," using these mental monologues will add something to pure muscle memory and will help in the clutch.

5. It also helps to remember that everybody else (at least the other students) is probably focused on their own nerves and worries so much, that that won't pay that much attention if you mess up. It also helps to mess up badly once or twice and notice that afterwards nobody shuns you, the blue sky is still beautiful, chocolate still tastes wonderful, and life is still good.

Offline bernadette60614

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Thank you, everyone!
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