Your One Chance - Post Your First-Shot Recording

BartK

This idea comes from @ShiroKuro in this thread. I hope you're not mad at me for jumping so quickly on your idea but I really love it. 🙂

The idea is to share your first take of the day of any piece you are working on to create pressure just like at a real live performance or audition.

The Rules:

You have ONE shot. You turn on the recording and start playing. Then you're done. No restarts. No second chances.
It has to be the first attempt at playing the piece that day. No practicing it beforehand.
You share your recording here in all its ugly glory so that we can all ~~laugh at~~ (just kidding 😉) encourage you.
You can trim the ends of the recording so that we don't have to listen to you flipping pages, adjusting your seat, etc. But no sneaky twiddling before you start!

So, who's game! Post your raw recordings and see if you can really play as well as you think!

Sophia

BartK The idea is to do share your first take of the day of any piece you are working on to create pressure just like at a real live performance or audition.

I like the idea 🙂 But I'm not sure what you mean by the above. Do you mean a piece that you finished working on and are ready to perform live in public? Or does "any piece you are working on" mean share your WIP?

ShiroKuro

BartK I hope you're not mad at me for jumping so quickly on your idea

not at all! Also I like the title too!

this is great! 🙂

KevinM

I was thinking of starting this thread so thank you Bart. Though I was more thinking of calling it embarrassing recordings. I have plenty of those.

But I think this is better.

twocats

Sophia But I'm not sure what you mean by the above. Do you mean a piece that you finished working on and are ready to perform live in public? Or does "any piece you are working on" mean share your WIP?

Depends on where you're at! It can be extremely illuminating to record yourself, the first reason is that you hear yourself differently when you're in the middle of playing and sometimes you do things you don't intend to do. The second is that people tend to get nervous when recording and anything that isn't solid will tend to show up when you perform, whether it's for an audience or just the camera!

BartK

Sophia I like the idea 🙂 But I'm not sure what you mean by the above. Do you mean a piece that you finished working on and are ready to perform live in public? Or does "any piece you are working on" mean share your WIP?

You do what you like. I got the idea from @ShiroKuro who is preparing for a performance. I personally don't intend perform in public but I want to get my pieces more polished and presentable on my first try. I would never post a complete work in progress on the Internet but if you're brave enough go for it! The rules are just that it has to be a single shot so whatever you record, you have to post.

KevinM

twocats One of the things I've done with my setup is after midi recording, I'll sit at the piano and replay the midi recording and listen before then going to the effort of putting the audio and video together if I think it is good enough. Most of the time it is a no.

Sophia

Sounds exciting 🙂 And scary, haha 😃 Like waking up first thing in the morning, answer the doorbell in pyjama and uncombed hair - and then see all the TV cameras and crew "SURPRISE! You were our 1,000,000th online customer and now live on TV!"

BartK

OK, I started this thread so let me open with my very first shot recording of Chopin Nocturne in B-flat minor op. 9, no. 1 for today, April 10th 2026, which I recorded earlier before practice.

That was pretty rough! I had some hesitations and "mistakes that never happen". I swear I sound better than that at home! 😂

BTW, I recorded this as audio only but SoundCloud thought I was Angela Hewitt 🤣 so I converted it to a video and put it on YouTube, which seems more musically refined. 🤣

ShiroKuro

BartK that was great!

BartK some hesitations and "mistakes that never happen".

this is my whole life! 🤣

Nightowl

BartK That was lovely! I kept thinking of the old phrase "tinkling the ivories" as I listened to some of those lovely delicate arpeggios. If that's how you play without warming up first, that's impressive.

For me there's nothing better than Chopin's music for the piano. I understand that he barely wrote anything for other instruments, he was the master of piano so didn't waste his time on lesser pursuits.

rogerch

BartK That was lovely. I really like the passion here, what a great interpretation!

twocats

Thought I'd be the first but Bart beat me to it! I haven't recorded anything cold for a while but here's my competition repertoire, totally cold (meaning without practicing them today, and I didn't warm up either).

My Airturn turned 2 pages at once, 3 times!!! It's extremely rare that this happens so I don't know what happened. I think I need to press more firmly and with intention?! I increased the debounce time to the maximum and checked the battery, still 60% left so that shouldn't be the issue, but I'm still charging it right now. The fact that this happened is freaking me out a bit.

Here's all my excuses 😆 I recently changed fingerings for several sections in the Bach and Beethoven and after hearing my recording of myself performing it last week in a casual playing situation I decided to change a lot of small things and really focus on practicing all the places where I'd slipped up a little. I put notes like "look!" in the score and looking down helped accuracy in some spots. This past week I identified an ornament in the Mazurka where I want to line it up differently with the left hand, and of course I messed it up this time. Haven't recorded the Polonaise in months as I've only recently got it up to speed and am still solidifying the beginning and those risky arpeggios, so it will be interesting to hear it. I wouldn't have been ready to record it otherwise haha. I'm going to listen to these after I post them, so, um, I'll see how I feel!

BartK

twocats Woah! That's impressive! I'd love to be able to play like that, nevermind on my first attempt.

pianoloverus

twocats I only listened to the Barcarolle so far and thought it was extremely well played with the melodic line very well shaped and excellent rubato.

ShiroKuro

twocats I will have to come back and listen later, I'm looking forward to it! 🙂

ShiroKuro

twocats my competition repertoire

Very nice! Remind me which competition you are entering? Is it the one that's two years out from now? (I'm sorry, I have the worst memory and I think I'm mixing things up with one of the things you decided not to attend).

Sophia Great work! I love the "whew" at the end! I feel like that a lot!!

KevinM

BartK agreed, extremely impressed by twocats.

But don’t diss yourself Bart you are doing very well with your Nocturne. It is very musical.

twocats

BartK thank you! I've been working really hard 🙂 And one of my superpowers is being able to play pretty well without warming up!

I started the Bach a little fast and without as much hand weight as it should have. Also heard some places where I need to change the emphasis on the Mazurka. Will keep doing cold recordings every time I practice, I think it will help. Thanks for starting this thread!!

twocats

pianoloverus I only listened to the Barcarolle so far and thought it was extremely well played with the melodic line very well shaped and excellent rubato.

Thank you!

ShiroKuro I will have to come back and listen later, I'm looking forward to it! 🙂

If I keep this up every time I practice, it'll be the same pieces every time, but hopefully improving every time! 🙂 I've got 6 weeks to get them all to polished performance level.

Based on the recordings today, I'm going to work on one tough measure in the Bach where I recently changed fingerings, a few measures of the Beethoven where I changed the character (it's faster and more fiery, but I'm losing accuracy as a result), and continue working on the Polonaise. I want to speed up the first page because it's Allegro Appassionato and no one seems to play it that way but I think it calls for a brisker tempo. And continue working on those arpeggios. Hopefully next time these will have improved!

Sophia

How fun to see all your rough (ahem, cough, cough, yeah, right!) versions!

I'm currently learning Chopsticks (yes, THE Chop Waltz). Obviously I couldn't submit a first recording today as I had already practiced it when this thread started, but if I feel brave enough, I'll post a first recording tomorrow. It will be super, super rough though, because, well, I have only just started it. So whereas yours are all super polished already, mine will be ROUGH. As in, sheer agony! 🙂

Edit: might I suggest a slight adaptation of your topic, @BartK? Instead of having to submit the first version first thing in the morning (or right before practice), how about you can practice first, BUT. The second you decide to record your piece, you have NO do overs... you have to finish what you started.

I don't think that will change the whole idea behind this topic, and it would also fit my practice patterns a little better.

BartK

Sophia might I suggest a slight adaptation of your topic, @BartK? Instead of having to submit the first version first thing in the morning (or right before practice), how about you can practice first, BUT. The second you decide to record your piece, you have NO do overs... you have to finish what you started.

I don't think that will change the whole idea behind this topic, and it would also fit my practice patterns a little better.

I think it does change the whole idea. If the goal is to simulate a performance situation then you shouldn't have a chance to practice before. You should play it as cold as possible.

Believe me I don't sound like this after having practiced. 😂

Sophia

BartK You should play it as cold as possible.

Ah now I see, you’re just a cool guy 😆 Ok I’ll abide by the rules, but it’s probably not going to be today just yet then 👍😊