The day of the performance has now arrived and you have practiced
the mental preparation for performance and you have learned
your piece(s) carefully and thoroughly. Be sure you do not wear
yourself out during the day! Ideally, you would practice for
no more than an hour early in the day, take a nap (or at least
lie down and rest) sometime in the afternoon and then warm up
for the performance. My own personal preference is to NOT run
through pieces immediately before a concert because I tend to
play in mistakes that there is no time to fix. You may decide
to do things differently.
Right before the performance, warm up. By warm up, I mean
just that, warm up your muscles just as you do when you are
practicing. Stretch your muscles: bow arm, left arm and hand,
breathing. Be sure you center for the performance.
For your bow arm, you might want to set the bow on the string
at the extremities, alternating between the tip and frog.
Watch your hand set and be sure you are using your arm muscles
correctly to move the bow from end to end (and all the places
in between). You may also want to try different kinds of bowings
that appear in the music you will be playing. [video to come]
For your left hand and arm you should be concerned about
finger spacing within a position, vibrato, and shifting (both
where the positions are and how you get there). [video to
come]
Breathing is important for a number of reasons-okay, that
is the understatement of the new millenium. For performance,
breathing will be the response and tempering factor for the
adrenaline that is rushing through your body due to your concern
about your performance. That concern is good; the "nerves"
produced as a result of that concern can enhance and energize
your performance, enabling you to do things you never could
in a totally relaxed state. Nerves can be your friend! Out
of control nerves will be your enemy. Breathing is also the
trigger for centering.
Try this exercise: start by exhaling for as long as you can
(count to 6 or 8 while exhaling and focus on the air you are
exhaling). When you have no more air to exhale, inhale (count
to 2 or 3 and once again concentrate on the air as you inhale).
Repeat this until you feel calm and centered. Perhaps you
will want to use this time to imagine playing your hardest
passage successfully or creating the most beautiful sound
coming out of your instrument or shaping the character of
your piece. Whatever you choose to focus on while you exhale,
be sure it is positive and not negative.
Center before you walk out on stage, before you tune, after
you tune, between movements.
If you have practiced the centering technique, you should
be able to do it in just a couple of breaths so it will not
add serious amounts of time to your performance-no one will
even know what you are doing and your performance will benefit
enormously.
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