What is your practice and preparation routine a few days before and the day of the performance?
I have a performance coming up in 4 days in a competition where I am playing Beethoven Sonata Op.27 and Gershwin three preludes. I already know the music very well and inside out and I practice all the challenging sections at a slower tempo everyday.
I always feel a mountain of stress climbing as the performance day comes up. Even though I know I practiced the program and played through it like a thousand times but I have this fear that something might go wrong while on stage.
Just asking fellow pianists here, do you have any specific advice or rituals that you do a few days before and on the day of the performance for practice? Do you have long practice sessions, short and multiple ones throughout the day? Do you play the whole program or just play through the challenging parts?
I try to record myself to simulate the feeling of the performance but I appreciate any ideas here!
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I am in the same boat right now. I have a 45-minute recital coming up with five different pieces on it, and I am going back and forth between feeling confident and feeling scared to death! Mostly because this is the first time I’ve done something like this.
What I’m hoping will help:
-playing through the entire program in order at least once every day (preferably first thing in the morning)
-practicing backwards and at random in sections
-hands-separate practice
-practicing in different tempos (especially slowly)
-mental practice
-going over problem areas in detail with my teachers
I’ll be interested to see if others have other suggestions.
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Harriet Kaplan You can play the WHOLE thing on ZOOM for me ANYTIME. Or even, every single night! Seriously. I'd be happy to listen every single day!
(Just make sure I'm home before you start, LOL).
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Gail Starr I agree with practicing live for folks, online and ideally in person! And make all the mistakes you can in those safe settings so you'll be more comfortable / trust yourself with recovering. I also found Dominic's recent handout about playing/performing from memory to be very helpful.
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Judy Kuan thank you. Indeed I've been trying to get any opportunity to perform or rehearse to anyone to do it. Can you send me a link to Dominic's handout about playing/performing from memory?
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Khaled Hmm I'm having trouble finding the pdf on Tonebase, but this was Dominic Cheli 's presentation: https://piano-community.tonebase.co/t/y4yxf04/the-4-components-to-secure-memorization-with-dominic-cheli
I've attached the pdf
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Judy Kuan I like the tip about analyzing memory slips. In fact, I like to take that one step further and actually simulate memory slips. That is, I’ll stop playing at a random spot for a few seconds and then resume. It’s surprising how difficult it can be to resume without mistakes. But that provides an opportunity to analyze a section that will make a real memory slip less likely.
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David Wilson That sounds smart! I have seen social media clips where a teacher will toss a stuffed animal at a child student who's playing from memory, and the student is supposed to catch it, toss it back, and continue playing from where they left off. Could be fun / useful for adults too
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Judy Kuan I’m beginning to think that my main problem is simply that I don’t practice enough,
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Gail Starr it really takes a lot of time to begin to master any of this stuff
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Harriet Kaplan YES!
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I know this will sound like that my advice is far TOO simple. You have lots more experience than I do.
BUT...when I am getting ready to play for an audience (or when I used to do competitions as a kid), all I would try to think about is HOW BEAUTIFUL the music is, and that I hoped everyone to enjoy listening.
I hope this helps a little bit.
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Gail Starr always a good idea. Hard to stay in that mindset under pressure, though.
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Gail Starr That is a wonderful mindset and a great idea actually! Our tension usually makes us forget how beautiful the music is and why we are really playing this and enjoying performing in front of audience despite all the stress.
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Khaled I know you’ll do a GREAT job!
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Harriet Kaplan your audience will enjoy every moment of your playing!
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I've done a lot of competitions and now only performances but the preparation is the same. By now you have built your endurance for the pieces you are about to perform. Daily go over the challenging spots slowly and with confidence. Treat yourself to a playthrough up-to-speed occasionally, but always finish the days practice with slow, comfy play through on the spots you have marked on the music. I agree with Gail Starr in reminding yourself about what you LOVE about the piece. What unique interpretation will you bring to the world? Playing it through in your mind or on a tabletop is a great way to bring yourself into focus too. On the day I eat gentle foods, have a nap a few hours before the performance and get lots of fresh air. Then embrace the excitement you feel and share your music with the world! All the best!
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Linda Gould I love your words here- “comfy play.” Great description for this slow, deliberate practice.
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Linda Gould what is most challenging to me is keeping my concentration going throughout each piece and then through the entire program. Weird little blips happen in unexpected places. It's tempting to keep playing through everything over and over, but that seems unproductive!
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Harriet Kaplan actually what I am finding is that the more I have been playing and rehearsing the music, the more I feel I can play it subconsciously without even thinking.
As much as this looks like a good thing, it is actually dangerous because I find myself playing while thinking about other things not the music and getting distracted, and this precisely is what induces memory slips. During performance your focus might be distracted because of stress and stage fright/anxiety, but subconscious playing due to over-practicing causes distraction and then memory slips too.
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Khaled I think the best way to practice is any way that gets you engaged with what you are doing as much as possible - so yes, mechanically playing through pieces without consciously paying attention to what you're doing sets up a bad habit. It's also not very musical.
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Harriet Kaplan The human brain has an average attention span of about 10 seconds (apparently it was 12 seconds in 2000 before iPhones). Which means it's impossible for anyone to focus throughout a piece. The good news is most of our pieces can be played autonomically by the time they are ready to perform. As good meditators we are constantly bringing our piece back into focus as we perform them. By practicing the challenging bits slowly and mindfully, we are focusing on the spots that aren't autonomous. Then on performance day, as you walk on the stage all you need to do is be in the moment, respond to the room and the audience, and partake in the miracle of piano performance.
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The following routine worked wonders for me in preparation for a Bach competition, on advice of my teacher at the time.
For two weeks, I played everything very-very slowly, at least three times, with and without music. This is Rachmaninoff-style super slow practice. And only two days before the competition did I return to non-stressful normal practicing, but limited to two hours a day. It worked wonders.
Btw, I believe Dominic Cheli has a module on what to do before performing. Check it out.
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Tanya I need to try this.
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Tanya thanks! This is very insightful and an interesting approach. Normally you would want to play through the whole program (kind of to give your mind this check mark that "yes I can play the whole program in one shot") but the right thing is to do slow practice at the challenging sections.
Do you have a link to what Dominic said about what to do before performance?
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Khaled
It’s a livestream entitled “Prepare for a performance … away from the piano”.
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