Recital Report

ShiroKuro · 2025-04-27T23:51:25+00:00

So by way of a recital report... it was "ok" but I wish it had been better. But thankfully, Mr. SK took videos of both pieces, and after listening, really, t...

ShiroKuro

pianoloverus Player1 From what I understand, most "pros" have a piano that travels with them on the road.

Only a tiny percent. Definitely less than 5% but probably much less than 1%.

And for the record, @pianoloverus is correct. It is very uncommon for professional pianists to travel with an acoustic piano. By far the most common arrangement is that they play whatever piano the concert hall has. The only people that do take their pianos are maybe huge stars, or big pop stars like Elton John, or pop musicians who travel with digitals.

Stub

ShiroKuro, glad to hear it went well for you, especially considering the challenges of the recital piano. Playing on pianos that are on dollies is for the birds. Good for you for having the courage to work on your performance anxiety!

ShiroKuro

Stub ShiroKuro, glad to hear it went well for you, especially considering the challenges of the recital piano. Playing on pianos that are on dollies is for the birds. Good for you for having the courage to work on your performance anxiety!

Thank you!!

Re the dolly... I get why they do it, because they rearrange the stage depending on the activities, and they can't hire in piano movers every time. But I'm sure I've played other pianos on dollies that were better, less wobbly.

At least the wheels were locked and the piano didn't start slilding away from me while I was playing!! 😃

Stub

twocats .....and plays like a truck.

May I steal that? 😀

twocats

Stub May I steal that? 😀

Haha sure! I heard it somewhere else and it's definitely not original to me 🙂

Player1

ShiroKuro

My apologies.

I did read your entire post, and the posts in the other thread. However, if you find my comments offensive, I will refrain from making them.

ShiroKuro

For anyone still here... Now that a day has passed since the recital, I feel pretty good about it, mainly because I have the recording and that lets me have a more objective take on the two performances than just what was in my head immediately after the recital.

And now I have to quick switch gears because I'm scheduled to play two piano+violin pieces on May 12th. The pieces are mostly polished and at tempo, but I have been neglecting them to prep for yesterday's recital.

This will be at my house, so it's not the same kind of "shaky hands" event, but there will be about 20 people there.... No pressure! 😃

And then after that I'm planning to record a different piece for PT's recital, so .... lots to do and no time to wallow in thoughts about yesterday! 🙂

Oh, and my music theory class starts on the 13th. Yikes!

keystring

Congratulations!!!!!
(edit) Oh wait - I only read the last post and missed the one before. Every time you do this you get stronger, and at some point I imagine the shaky hands will be a distant memory as well. The important thing is that you played your music, regardless of how steady your hands were at the start. So still: congratulations.

ShiroKuro

Thank you @keystring

keystring at some point I imagine the shaky hands will be a distant memory as well.

I don't think this will happen. I just think I will always have the shakes to some degree.... What I want to happen, what I am working to make happen, is that I get better and better at ignoring them and that even if I have the shakes, it doesn't impact my playing. Well, that, and I'd like to not have to sacrifice the first piece to the shakes! 😅

The important thing is that you played your music, regardless of how steady your hands were at the start.

thank you! 🙂

twocats

ShiroKuro I just think I will always have the shakes to some degree....

Did exercising help to reduce the shakes? I have to remember to do that again at my next casual playing event!

thepianoplayer416

The important thing is that you feel good about your performance.

I don’t have a problem playing pieces in an informal setting including friends gatherings or at a public piano. I tend to mess up when playing at a scheduled event with everybody staring at me. Even after a few hours of preparation I still play wrong notes.

I read somewhere that Glenn Gould used to ship his Steinway grand from 1 end of N America to the other. And he would only sit on his favorite chair that got worn out over the years.

ShiroKuro

twocats Did exercising help to reduce the shakes?

I think it did, in that I still had the shakes but it didn’t seem quite as intense. I still totally butchered the first piece though. 😆

thepianoplayer416 I don’t have a problem playing pieces in an informal setting including friends gatherings or at a public piano. I tend to mess up when playing at a scheduled event with everybody staring at me. Even after a few hours of preparation I still play wrong notes.

For me, it’s not the “everybody staring at me” part, because when I play for people at my house, they’re all staring at me 😃 But I suspect the formality of these recitals is part of what contributes to it for me. I’ve written elsewhere at PT about that, but I just do not get the shakes like this when I play at home, and although I don’t have the chance to play at a public piano very often, the last time I did (which was last fall, before the fall recital, as it happens), no shakes.

Which is unfortunate because if I could just experience playing with the shakes on a more regular basis, I am sure they would bother me less…

I do a lot of public speaking, like a lot. And depending on the event, there might be 200 people there, and sometimes I’m very nervous (esp. when it’s a high stakes event, or like in spring 2023 when I was interviewing for my current job and I had to give a job talk which I knew would basically determine whether I got this job or not). In those situations, I’m super nervous, and my hands shake. But I’m not playing the piano (obs) so it doesn’t bother me. But also, I am so used to it that all the other feelings of nerves don’t impact my performance. I am confident that no one else notices I’m nervous, I just ignore the nerves and do my job, which is to give a research presentation or whatever.

So I feel like if I were in these piano situations more, more formal playing, and getting the shakes like once a week, I would get past it. Not that my hands wouldn’t shake anymore, but that it wouldn’t derail me.

But although I can create opportunities for myself to play (like the event coming up in two weeks) it’s just not the same as the formal events …. Anyway I’m starting to repeat myself here so… 😃

Rob

ShiroKuro I am so pleased for you, that your performance went well.
Congratulations!