How do you prepare for performance?

[march05]

I have to perform a few pieces from Godowsky's Java Suite in about two weeks. The problem is that I only got the score last week and was asked only 2 days ago to prepare 'The Gardens of Buitenzorg' and possibly 'Gamelan' for a concert. The good news is I don't have to play from memory (phew!), but I'm still worried about such a short time to prepare. I know there are experienced performers wandering about this forum, so, how best should I prepare during these 2 weeks? Technically, Gamelan is fine I guess, Buitenzorg is mostly fine although my pianissimo runs are not really even (here and there pops unintended accents). At certain spots (both pieces) I can't read fast enough and have to pause half a second then continue. Should I just keep playing these pieces through several hundred times to get it, or is there a better method? How best to even up the Buitenzorg runs?

Thanks!

[anda]

i'll start by stating that i don't know the works you have to prepare - i never even sight-read these, so, anything i'll say is just general approach: you seem to have already identified the "problem spots" - practise these as much as you can; aside from practicing these, play throughout the whole work as many times as you can. stop working on anything else you might be working currently on. try short working sessions (1 hour practice, 10-15 min break). start each session by practicing one or max two "problem fragments", play 2-3 times the work as you can (always in tempo, even if you have to stop here and there), play something else (something you enjoy and relaxes you, i.e. chopin nocturnes or preludes, or stuff like that) and then play again the work.

now, i'm not sure if this method will work for you - it does for me, but you might want to adapt it to your personal working/learning style. hope it helps you.

best luck

[march05]

thanks for the advice! i hope the pieces will play out well enough... i'm practicing till my left little finger hurts a little, think i've had enough for one day

by the way, since we're talking about preparation, there's a passage i read sometime ago that i find really helpful, here it is:

"When finally that perfect run-through is accomplished, then and only then is the performer ready to start to practicing those passages. The previous run-throughs only demonstrated the many ways of how NOT to play the passage. Now, after achieving one perfect performance, the repetition process actually starts."

This repetition of a perfected passage builds technique and confidence and programs your internal computer to produce a flawless run-through for you, despite any interferences that occur on the day of the performance. Program your internal computer to repeat flawless run-throughs by doing them as many times as possible beforehand.

"Definitely there is no more potent cure for stage fright than the knowledge that you CAN do it, and the way to KNOW that you can do it is to know that you HAVE DONE IT ---perhaps hundreds of times. The more the better."

cool init? 

[anda]

cool, indeed.

"the difference between the great ones and the rest is that while everyone practices until they get the passage right, the great one practice until it can't go wrong" - i read this some time ago (quoted from memory, don't remember the exact words, but that was the idea). cool, too 

but then again, if you can get away with 2 weeks practice, why bother 

[whynot]

Memorize the few hardest bits, and don't hesitate anymore where you've been doing so.  Bravely jump in and play what you THINK happens next.  Even if you're not sure your hand is in the right place, or what the pattern is, play what you think it is.  It's a real discipline to plough ahead if you're used to stopping (the opposite would be true of people who keep going and never to stop to fix anything, of course).  If you're hesitating, it's probably because you suspect that what you want to do next isn't really what happens in the music.  The sooner you find out whether those two things are different, and exactly HOW they are different, the sooner you can tighten it up.  You can't tame a wild beast until you know what it is.  "Let the beast out."   In your next practice, go ahead and let it be as wrong as it's going to be.  It's information, and once you have it, you'll know what to do.

[bravuraoctaves]

Do you listen to recordings of the work that you are playing or not?

Does listening to recordings influence your interpretations?

If so, for good or for bad?

[anda]

Do you listen to recordings of the work that you are playing or not?

yes: before starting working on it, and after i got a pretty clear idea on what i think it should be. inbetween these stages: never.

Does listening to recordings influence your interpretations?

sometimes - it depends on the recording.

listening prior to working helps me build a preliminary image of the work, image that changes gradually while i'm working (i discover new things, things that influence my view of the work).

listening after i have a personal interpretation can still influence it - there might be details i hadn't noticed before (for example).

If so, for good or for bad?

i honestly don't see how it can harm me.
(imo)

[march05]

sorry i haven't logged in for some time...

it's hard to find recording of the java suite. There's only 1 complete recording on amazon, and about 3 others playing just 1 or 2 pieces from the suite. I do have a cd of Stephen Hough playing Buitenzorg.

About listening to recordings in general, yeah I do listen to them, but only after spending at least a week or two playing it on my own. It's true what some teachers warn against imitating recordings, but really I think you must be absolutely confident in your interpretive skills/genius to play a piece pubicly without ever listening to someone else playing it. Hehe, I'm sure at the top level those pianists all imitate each others when they make their records... so i guess in a way, when we listen to a Richter recording of schumann, we get richter's ideas, ideas of the pianists he'd heard, and ideas of other pianists those pianists heard, maybe even a grain or two of schumann's own ideas. 

[pianomann1984]

by the way, since we're talking about preparation, there's a passage i read sometime ago that i find really helpful, here it is:

By any chance is that quote by Gordon Green, or a student of him?  It is so close to what I hear from my current teacher (who was a pupil of Gordon Green himself) in every lesson!  It's wonderful advice that never leaves me through every hour of playing that I do.  That reference to 'programming you internal computer' is great, and so typical of my teacher's (/his teacher's) little analogies!

[march05]

Hehe, took me a while to search through my browser's old bookmarks, but I found it! 

https://www3.telus.net/Garry_McKevitt/nervous.htm

Apparently she got the quote from a "Philip Farkas's book" called "The Art of Musicianship".

You're so lucky to have someone plant that idea in your subconscious at every lesson!!