IMO, there is the ideal and then there is the practical. When studying a piece long term, or just for leisure, or when studying as a student, we often have room to operate in the ideal head space. However, when working as a professional musician, playing gigs, balancing needs of all projects we are working on, balancing life outside music, we must come to a compromise. There will always be more room to grow and improve, but at what point can music be made presentable within a reasonable workload and time.
To use an analogue scenario in academic writing, people that have done graduate school will relate to this, some people get blocked because they just don't know when to stop writing. There comes a time when you just have to present your work, even if you feel you are not ready. That act of presenting can give more clarity to the project, than if you just kept going. That process of showing your work to others can give you a renewed focus of how to continue and expand the work.
IMO, there is the ideal and then there is the practical. When studying a piece long term, or just for leisure, or when studying as a student, we often have room to operate in the ideal head space. However, when working as a professional musician, playing gigs, balancing needs of all projects we are working on, balancing life outside music, we must come to a compromise.
Yes, but on the other hand, when you're a student, you need to learn a lot of different things, so you might not have the time to make every single piece you are studying totally performance ready in the deeper sense of the word. It might still be very worth while to work at it for a couple of months and perform it in class, or even an exam.However, there's every possibility to return to these pieces later in life, even several times. For each time, supposing you are able to practice a reasonable amount, you will hopefully get closer to not just performance ready but performance worthy...
Yes, but on the other hand, when you're a student, you need to learn a lot of different things, so you might not have the time to make every single piece you are studying totally performance ready in the deeper sense of the word. It might still be very worth while to work at it for a couple of months and perform it in class, or even an exam.
Speaking from experience, a lot of music can be covered in an entire semester or over the summer. Contrast that to some of the music that needed to be learned in one of the semi-professional ensembles I was a part of, sometimes 1-3 days to go from sight reading to performance ready, sometimes less than 24 hours. Student timelines for learning music seem much more roomy in contrast.
It all depends on who you are and what you are going to play, I suppose.
One aspect of this is that you may need to perform a work to take it to the next level of "readiness". I suppose this is what Cortot means with "perform for friends".
In university one of my teachers always had her students performing their works in the recital hall before they were considered ready. We would constantly perform for each other, the current state of our repertoire. All those insecurities one had about the music were just put out there for everyone to hear. As everyone was in the same situation we all understood both sides of the coin. Just play your stuff and listen to everyone else, no need to critique. It was an extremely simple yet highly effective means for exam and concert preparation. When it came time for the actual performance, all the rough spots had been flushed out, all the potential problem spots that only appear in performance had been identified. One could actually enjoy the performance and be in the moment. In short, do perform for friends.
Were you never asked to give feedback to each other though? We often had to, and though many people were scared to fully speak their minds that was also valuable, in my opinion.
Feedback was optional. My teacher recognized that some people love feedback, others not so much. So if one wanted a discussion after the performance we would have an informal one. It was more about just playing for each other and being there. This activity also provided frequent opportunity to practice in the hall on the concert grands, which was valuable in itself in that we learned how to use the acoustics of the space as part of the way we sculpted music.
Sometimes though, if not liking feedback is a pattern, I think in a sense those people are the ones who may need it the most. Like, there can be a certain "everything I do is great, don't you dare tell me something I actually need to hear about flaws in my approach" vibe.
There is also the opposite, people that gobble up feedback and always want more. They can't seem to function without some form of feedback. They use feedback as a distraction from looking inward and tackling the issues in their playing they very well sense themselves, yet are hesitant to take responsibility for. They use the flood of voices that feedback provides to distance themselves from their work and the responsibility that they need to have to uphold their own work. The self-assurance they should be building up to work as professional musicians after university is constantly being put out of sight. If there is something to learn from these playing for friends sessions, it is that one must be willing to make oneself vulnerable in order to grow, learn and get the most out of the experience.
Topic: When do you consider a piece ready for performance? 