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Performance is a separate art from learning to play an instrument
or learning to play musically or learning a new piece of music.
Many people have addressed this issue in many different ways
and in many different books (Fight Your Fear and Win by Don
Greene, Stage Fright by Kato Havas, Psycho-Cybernetis by Maxwell
Maltz, Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker, The Inner Game
of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey, A Soprano on Her Head by
Eloise Ristad to name just a few). Everyone agrees that there
is a mental component to performance that is separate from
your ability to do something. Again there is agreement that
you need to think positively, to see yourself as successful
in performance. In addition, you need to stay focused on the
music. Don Greene, who has helped to prepare olympic divers
and opera stars for successful performing, gives very clear
instructions on how to "center" yourself (a good
thing whether you are practicing or performing!) on what you
are doing, rather than on everything going on in you and around
you. I recommend that you try his techniques.
In addition to this separate mental preparation, you should
prepare the music for performance.
- Listen to the other instrumental part(s) (piano, other
strings, winds) without your instrument in hand so that
you become more aware of the totality of the music. Is the
melodic interest in your part or in another part? Are you
playing a counter melody or are you accompanying? If you
are playing an accompanimental role, how do you enhance
the phrasing in the melody? Mark your music so that you
know where you have the melody and where you have the accompaniment.
- Sing your part with the other part(s) so you can plan
your phrasing without worrying about the technical problems
you may encounter.
- Are you playing one piece on a shared recital with other
students or are you playing multiple pieces on a half or
full recital? Or, are you playing one piece on a shared
recital but also playing an orchestra concert, a quartet
piece, a composition recital piece, etc.? If you are preparing
multiple pieces or movements, you need to structure your
time to allow you to cover ALL the material in-depth. This
is a time when the lists you made at the beginning of your
"new piece" practice will help out. You can do
arpeggios from all your different pieces (or movements),
or scales, or melodic passages.
You can also put your pieces (movements) on a rotation schedule.
Day 1
- Play through one piece(A), marking spots that are troublesome.
- Practice spots in another(B).
- Practice the memorization of another(C).
- Rehearse another(D).
Day 2 and successive days-- Rotate
- Play through B
- Practice spots in C
- Practice memorization of D
- Rehearse A etc.
If you are at the point of doing a run-through of a piece
(playing the entire piece without stopping), be sure to do
TWO complete run-throughs . The second time will be very difficult
to focus-just as it is in performance-and will allow you to
explore maintaining your focus. Be sure you tape (either video
or audio) rehearsals at least two weeks before a performance
so that you can hear for yourself what the music will sound
like and so that you have some time to fix anything you don't
like.
THE ROOM
The space in which you will perform will influence how you
play musically and technically. If the space is small (40-60
people), you can play faster, articulate less and play without
waiting for phrases to finish reverberating. The larger and
"wetter" (more reverberant) the space, the slower
you will have to play and the more you will need to articulate
clearly. In addition you may need to wait for the space to
"clear" of reverberations. If you are lucky enough
to have a space like the V Room at Mount Holyoke, you can
experiment with adjusting to different performance environments
before the day of the performance. You will become more proficient
at "reading" the acoustics of a performance space;
you can play just a few notes and know how you to adjust your
performance
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