pianoloverus Then at one of the most difficult passages I had practiced endlessly, more than the rest of that piece combined, one of the residents yelled "How was the meatloaf tonight Sam?"

You didn't finish the story! Did you bomb it?

Also, wow, 108 years old!!

      twocats I didn't bomb it but it wasn't ideal either. Then there was another time when I said "Now I'll play I'm in the mood for love" and some old guy in the back yelled out "You bet we are".

        Hahahaha! That almost sounds like something out of a Marx movie... you know, capt. Spaulding: "Signor Ravelli's first selection will be 'Somewhere My Love Lies Sleeping' with a male chorus."

        ShiroKuro I would think that the thing to do would be to do the “pounding heart” practice more than once, not in the same practice session, but a few times over the course of a week. Then if it goes badly the first time, you have a few more chances with it.

        I did it! I could only "cross" for seven minutes because I am not quite recovered from my cold, but I played a piece with pounding heart. Actually, the heart was not a problem at all, I wasn't bothered by it at all, and I breathed freely. But my fingers were shaking and I had a bad memory lapse - just suddenly, no idea what comes next. I'll check that memory lapse later today, to work at that spot.
        Maybe next time I should combine the pounding heart from the workout with holding my breath for an even more realistic imitation of mental and physical stress!

        *
        ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

          @Animisha ok, wow! I definitely need to try this then, because those shaky hands is exactly what happens when I have my worst performance anxiety experience. So practicing like that would probably really help me.

          BTW what is “cross”? Something like cross training?

          I’m thinking what I’ll do is get the piano all set, with my sheet music out etc., then go down to the basement, get on the exercise bike and pedal like crazy to get out of breath, then run back upstairs and start playing as quickly as possible…. That should do it, right😁

            ShiroKuro BTW what is “cross”? Something like cross training?

            Animisha I have a cold, but the moment it is over and I am crossing away on my cross trainer again

            I am sorry, I should have been more clear!

            ShiroKuro I’m thinking what I’ll do is get the piano all set, with my sheet music out etc., then go down to the basement, get on the exercise bike and pedal like crazy to get out of breath, then run back upstairs and start playing as quickly as possible…. That should do it, right😁

            Yes, that is basically how I did it! Take care though that you don't stumble on the stairs. The panting, pounding heart and shaking fingers take some time to calm down, so there is no need to stress.

            *
            ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

                    After joining a Piano Commons and voicing my concerns that nerves may shorten my lifespan, my teacher explained that playing a piece isn't about me, it all about the music. Once I am comfortable with all the aspects of the piece, I practice incessantly for 2 or 3 weeks. No talking during the performance, ie "Ooops" "Aargh" or favorite cuss word, always get the last chord right, smile when you stand up regardless and remember - its about the music.

                    Works for me.

                    Animisha Take care though that you don't stumble on the stairs.

                    Always good advice!

                      pianoloverus I guess when you're dealing with an audience who is likely to be both hard of hearing and suffering from various degrees of dementia, you are performing for them, and it's not really a question of how well you play. I've played music at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and the audience in general is almost always appreciative.

                        Don't stumble, trip?
                        Tell me about it! I once played the Haydn D major cello concerto with an orchestra. As I was walking out onto the stage the top of my cello (the peg box) struck the side of the stage's proscenium arch. The cello was knocked completely out of tune, and although I was able to tune it (offstage), the strings did not stabilize and maintain their pitch for the entirety of the performance. A thoroughly miserable experience.

                          pseudonym58 yikes! At my chamber music workshop, the day of performance a bunch of us were in the side room and one of the guys had his cello on the floor with the endpin sticking out, and I tripped on it. We both had a minor heart attack but thankfully the cello was fine!

                            A not often discussed point is that a piece should be more solid and ingrained in us to be secure enough for a public performance than it needs to be to play it well for ourselves (or a teacher) at tempo. Ideally, I want not to be dependent on muscle memory, but able to play the music in my head end to end and write out the notes at any point from memory.

                            Unfortunately, that may involve putting a lot more prep time in than I may want to do if just planning to play for myself, family, and friends.

                            @pseudonym58 and @twocats oh my, those are truly heart attack-inducing occurrences!

                            @sweelinck definitely the degree to which a piece is polished is also key.

                            Although last fall, I came to think that another benefit, at least for me, from doing these public performances is just the “hard-fast” deadline aspect of it, that the performance date comes whether I’m as ready as I can be, or not. So another goal I have for myself is to be able to prevent nerves from getting in the way of me doing my best, whatever level of ”my best” happens to be.

                            Part of how I came to this conclusion is connected to the fact that I have always wanted to record and share pieces I’ve polished, but I never feel like they’re at the “truly polished stage,” so I end up recording only very few of the pieces I work on.

                            But the recital date rolls around whether I’m ready or not, and my pieces are “close enough” to share. So I’d like to be able to play at that “close enough” level without completely falling apart.

                            Studying at the university, I have to play regularly on different pianos which I never used before and in different set ups. I simply accept the fact that it will be what it will be. Most of the issues people experience with the piano being different or the light, the bench and all these other factors are essentially just psychological, ie it is not so much the set up in itself but the fear we have that makes us concerned about those differences. Over time I got used to just get at the piano and play within the given set up. There are certainly things that will make me play differently than what I do in my usual home set up but I am not trying to play exactly the same way or at least I accept that it will be different.

                            YouTube pushed me this video by David Chang Music. I am really impressed by his methodical approach to preparing his students for in-person performance. He has a playlist on Performance Training, too.

                              @iternabe thanks, I'll take a look!

                              iternabe thanks for sharing! I also watched his other video that he recommended:

                              Here are some takeaways:

                              • perform cold daily (can stretch and do cardio, but don't create sound at the instrument until you "perform" and also take bows before or after like you're performing)
                              • record yourself daily to be able to identify your problems, he puts dates on the issues so that he can collect more data and see where he messes up some areas more often or whether it's random and just due to nerves
                              • for 6-7 weeks before the performance, perform at different pianos every week
                              • "perform" in different conditions, e.g. different lighting, cold hands, just got back from gym and sweaty, when there are noisy distractions. Treat things that will mess you up as useful! If you're a night person, practice in the morning! If you're stressed, perform. Anytime you're feeling that it's not optimal conditions, embrace it and perform.
                              • perform as often as you can
                              • if you bomb in a practice performance, it is actually a good learning experience. All performances are useful and quantity leads to quality
                              • if you perform (for real) and you're unhappy with it, it's just one moment in time. It happens!

                                  All of this has really highlighted to me how important it is to perform in front of people and on different pianos often if I care about performing well. It used to not be a goal for me but now it is, so I'm a lot more motivated to go to casual piano performance meetups.

                                  Plus, I've been making friends! Some are old friends that I've reconnected with and some are new, but they're mostly very nice people. Having it be social is motivating to me as well! I'm a participant in a quarterly event, have recently been invited to a monthly one, and was given info for a different monthly one. Not sure how much I actually want to go to but there is certainly no lack of opportunity here!

                                    twocats Here are some takeaways:

                                    Wow, thanks for listing those up! I will get to watching these videos soon, but your summary is great!

                                    perform cold daily (can stretch and do cardio, but don't create sound at the instrument until you "perform" and also take bows before or after like you're performing)

                                    I actually did this in prep for my two performances in November... Not sure if it helped or not 😅 in that I still got the shaky hands... but at the same time, at least I knew I could sit down and just start playing. I'll definitely keep it in my toolkit.

                                    for 6-7 weeks before the performance, perform at different pianos every week

                                    If only we could all do this! The closest I got was playing a "public" piano on campus, which turned out to have a depressed key, the key below middle C, so that meant I couldn't even play one of my pieces! :/
                                    Nevertheless, this is excellent advice!

                                    if you bomb in a practice performance, it is actually a good learning experience. All performances are useful and quantity leads to quality
                                    if you perform (for real) and you're unhappy with it, it's just one moment in time. It happens!

                                    I love both of these points! I have actually been able to believe the first one, it makes a big difference in being able to use the performance as a learning opportunity.

                                    The second is a little more challenging, because it's hard not to feel disappointment when a performance doesn't go as well as you hoped. But I am work in progress, and these reminders are super helpful!!!