My sister and her boyfriend were over for dessert and coffee last night, and they asked to see the new piano. So we all went downstairs and I attempted to play a few pieces for them (from memory): Bach prelude (fell apart in second half); "Jimbo's Lullaby" (fell apart on second page); Mozart sonata first movement (fell apart in the recap). After all these years of performing, you'd think I'd be used to this, but it still bugs me. I KNOW these pieces, but I couldn't get my brain in gear fast enough for an on-the-spot concert.

I guess looking on the positive side: I played more than 50% of each piece without a problem. Also, I can pinpoint where I slipped, so I can go to those places and practice them for more security. But it's still frustrating.

(And BTW, the coffee was decaf )

I can relate. For years I had a nightmare that I was at a banquet in which the tables were arranged in a horseshoe shape w/a piano replacing the table at the top of the horse shoe. All of the diners were piano majors who in turn would go to the piano and play a piece that they'd prepared. In my panic, I can't remember how to play ANYTHING. As my turn gets closer my mind races to come up w/something I can play. Finally, I think of one piece that I can get through (and it's the only piece I've got) and settle into a feeling of relief as I await my turn. As the student just before me rises to approach the piano, I'm feeling pretty comfortable. But my relief is short-lived when he plays my only piece! Luckily, I wake up as soon as my fate is sealed. I don't know why our memories play such cruel tricks - failing just when we need them most. It seems that the dread of it happening (which we conjure up ourselves) is the primary cause. The only thing that I know to do about it is to prepare thoroughly (don't rely on motor memory), keep plugging away at public performance, and drink caffienated coffee!

That is the funniest nightmare I have ever heard!

Piano again, you have my sympathies. If it makes you feel any better, please know that the same thing has happened to the vast majority (perhaps all?) of us, often on more than one occasion. Of course, that doesn't really help when you're right there blanking out.

I'm not sure that pinpointing where you slipped is going to help you that much. I know when I blank out in pieces, it's due to performance anxiety and it's usually not in the same spot.

I think what WILL help is to play as often as you can in front of other people. Try not to pass a piano in a public place without sitting down and playing a piece, etc. etc.

Oh, I know; I feel kind of silly even posting about it.

I tend to feel more pressured when I'm playing in front of people who know me because most of them consider me an "expert" on music. They have the same high expectations of me whether I'm playing piano, cello, or kazoo.

I am new at this and I NEVER play in front of others - just the thought of it freezes me up. If I think my wife is in the next room listening, game over, even if she isn't. It does not make sense, I know - she has seen close up every single flaw I have and yet, she is still here. She played as a child and understands the learning process, but it just does not matter. If she listens, I lose it. The advise to play for others is probably good, but, for me, not yet. So, in my mind, I would be estatic to get 50% through before crashing. I am not making light of your situation, as performance anxiety hurts at any level, but perhaps the knowledge that you did excellent by my standards will help next time. The fact you were willing to try at all impresses me.

The only "living" thing I can play in front of is my dog!

I've been playing the Chopin A minor waltz now for about 3 months and REALLY know it. However, everything time, I sit down to play it, somewhere (always in a different place, with my hands raised somewhat), my mind goes absolutely blank. Two seconds later, it comes back. It's like it took a very short nap. :p

I know it's not because I've relied on muscle memory because when I close my eyes, I can actually see each note/chord in each measure on every page. I could even write the whole piece out, if I had to.

I just call it "mind freeze." :rolleyes: I don't let it bother me anymore.

And the few times I've actually played for humans (and even though I'm sure I know a piece by memory), I always put the sheet music up. I may not even look at it, but it's reassuring to know it's there should a "mind freeze" hit.

Kathleen

it happens to me all the time if i haven't played a piece for a while. the solution is either you relearn the piece, or in short term sight read the piece (or at least follow the notes on sheet music which will remind you of what you do or do not remember). my teacher always asks me to look at the music while i play, because i sometimes forget the notes. so, basically, my teacher forced me to play with music in front of me and i even start to sight read any new piece from the very beginning if there's no much technical challenge.

A really good skill to learn would be how to improvise one's way out of a flub. What happens to me (and I'm sure others) is that I'll misstep on a note and then lose my place entirely. How do you kind of FORCE yourself to continue? If you know you can work your way out of mistake, I imagine the pressure to be perfect (which is impossible anyway, at least for us amateurs) would be much less.

You may have heard all of this advice before, but it might be a good time to reconsider it and see if there are changes you can make in how you practice so that you can reduce this problem.

One thing to do is learn to start the piece anywhere in the song. It used to be that if I made a mistake, I had to go back to the very beginning and start over, because I couldn't pick up where I made my mistake. Now, the way I practice and learn is different, because I don't learn a piece from the beginning, I learn it in sections that I order based on difficulty. Because I spend so much time playing the piece "out of order" (ie starting near the end, or starting in the middle" etc) it's easier for me to just start anywhere in the piece and play through to the end.

Another thing that helps is playing through your mistakes while practicing. If, during practice, you stop when you make a mistake, you're going to stop when you making a mistake during performance because you have trained your hands to stop.

When practicing, you obviously need to stop and work on things, but try to not stop at the mistake. Play through it, as if you were going to play the entire piece. After you get past it (not just one note past, but several measures past) then you can stop and focus in on the mistake you made.

Lastly, playing in front of people requires a specific "state of mind" and a great deal of concentration, so if you can learn how to improve your concetration overall (esp while practicing) that will make a big difference.

By state of mind, I mean how you think about your playing. You mentioned above that it's harder to play for people who know you because they consider you a music expert and that makes you feel more pressure. Well, the only way to deal with that is to "talk yourself out of it." Remind yourself that you don't have to prove yourself to them. Erase any expectations for yourself, and ignore any that they may have for you. Forgive yourself, and allow yourself to make mistakes, and this should help reduce the pressure you feel.

If you are in the habit of having a "running dialog" while you play, learn how to turn that off. A running dialog might be "oh, that didn't sound so hot, oh I played that right! I wonder if I can get through to the end. I can hear the AC rattling. gee, I hope it doesn't rain so I can walk to the store. Oh no, I just made a mistake" Obviously, this isn't the best state of mind to having while playing!

This is starting to get longer than I expected. I don't know if any of this will help you. If you haven't already read "The Inner Game of Music" I highly recommend it because it addresses how to imrpove concetration and the "inner game," our state of mind and what's happening in our heads while playing.

Thanks. I not only read the Inner Game book, I took the class from Barry Green. I do all of that (start anywhere, play through mistakes, etc.). I guess this is just one of those never-ending battles ... part of the challenge. I have done a lot of performing, and if I prepare properly can usually manage the concentration. I would like to be able to do it on the spot, though. I need a mantra ...

I think it's the memorization added to the many more notes on the piano than on a "melody" instrument that ups the ante. I've played entire recitals as well as concertos from memory on the cello, but many fewer notes were involved than on even one solo piano sonata.

What I've been trying to do on the piano (probably not enough, though) is work on shorter sections. That really seems to be key.

Anyway, I'm DETERMINED to improve on this. In the process, I may have to kidnap a few people to come and listen to me.

Wow, you took a class from Barry Green, that's really cool! I have read a lot of piano books and "how to practice," or "how to get over your nerves" type books, but that book has always been my favorite because I think it's more accessible and easier to put into practice than any of the other books I've read. And you had a class with one of the authors! Well, I'm jealous!

If you are a bi-instrumentalist (don't tell me that's not a word!) oh, or are you a tri-instrumentalist? Anyway, maybe you have a challenge that the rest of us don't, namely thinking that some other instrument is easier. "I could do this if it was a cello" or something like that.

Also, I think short sections are really good, but you might also consider finding a few short pieces (esp peices that you think are really easy.) Then you could perform those for others and have the experience of playing through to the end. It might help you to "reset" your piano-memory. Use short, simple pieces and for a while, when you play for others, don't perform anything that's more difficult or longer for awhile. Show yourself you can do it, and let that memory (of success) be the memory you take with you when you get ready to go back to some of the other pieces.

Just a thought.

Piano again, it could simply be the conditions under which you played. There is risk involved in "impromptu" playing. If you are not consciously, deliberately and methodically working on a piece to perform it from memory, trying to do so on a spur-of-the-moment basis may or may not live up to expectations.

I'm getting so that I try not to "set myself up" for failure that I may not feel like dealing with. If I don't mind flubbing in front of close friends so be it, but if I'm feeling particularly insecure I might state before starting "I don't think I have this all in my fingers but lets see."

The trick is to get a few pieces worked up well so that they are almost always "in the fingers."

Piano again, thank you for your post.
I had a very similar experience last weekend
at a friend's house. (misery loves company)

It is the strangest thing that, during the 15 minutes
it took my to write this post, I really haven't thought
about much else. So why is it, I can't stay in the moment
for a few minutes and play a piece of music?

I just had a thought. Maybe it will never be good enough. Let's think of
that for a moment. People that successfully loose 30 pounds still want to
loose 10. People who successfully complete the Boston Marathon, want to
do it in less time next year. In both cases, these people were successful
and still aren't want more...

Nah! It will be good enough. I just hope it sounds good when I'm done.

opps, 'aren't happy' or 'want more', you pick

It has always BLOWN ME AWAY when ever I have attended concerts and the pianist can sit up there and play (from memory) for about 1.5 hours. How do they do it??

And, of course, I'm talking long, complex and complicated pieces that contains thousands of notes/chords. Their concentration and focus are phenomenal. And why do the members of the orchestra have the luxury of having the music in front of them? Why aren't they expected to play from memory? Somehow, it doesn't seem fair.

Would I think any less of a professional pianist if he/she had the music on the stand? Absolutely NOT. In fact, they would appear more human to me as supposed to an alien from another planet possessing impossible abilities.

I know they make mistakes, here and there, but they never seem to get rattled by them. I'm sure they are well-versed in the ability to improvise themselves out of it and continue on. They know so much about theory that hitting a wrong note or chord is not a really big deal for them.

I also know that many are extremely nervous beforehand and take medication to lessen their anxiety. See...even the pro's get "scared to death." And they have much more to lose than we do by a bad performance. Too many critical reviews could very well threaten their career.

I've often heard that speaking in public is the most dreaded fear for the majority of people. that doesn't bother me one bit. Maybe because I've done it so often.

So perhaps (as so many of you have suggested) that that is the KEY[/b] . Play as often as you can in front of others until it just becomes second nature.

Now if only I could follow my own advice...

Kathleen

Katheen: I've often heard that speaking in public is the most dreaded fear for the majority of people.[/b]

Reminds me of that Seinfeld blurb when he said That was the greatest fear and Dying was the second. So if you had to be at a funeral, you'd rather be the dead person than the one who speaks the eulogy!

The analogy holds true for many a pianist.

I've been analyzing the possible problems over this past week, and one thing I realized is that I tend to take a tempo that's faster than I've practiced when I try to toss something off for another person. Then I stumble and get lost. I need to stabilize the best tempos in my head before I even sit down at the piano. In the Mozart, for example, I was playing the opening faster than the (much more difficult) second theme section.

Of course, repetition is also useful.

I have had one successful, from-memory piano performance in my life, many years ago. I played the last movement of a Mozart sonata on a student recital in college (pre-music-major days), and it went extremely well. I prepared for it by playing the piece over and over and over (driving my family crazy in the process, I'm sure).

Kathleen, there isn't a musician out there who is not nervous before performing. The best will harness that nervousness as energy for the peformance. The rest of us ... well ... :rolleyes:

My absolute favorite line of Woody Allen's (and he has thousands of them...if you can hear him muttering them under his breath)...anyhow, he once said:

I"m not afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens." :p

Kathleen

I think that Bernard hit the nail on the head. You do need to build up to a public performance from memory and your repertoire has to be as polished as it can possibly be. At this moment there is barely a single piece of 'complex' music that I can sit and play from memory from start to finish. I have given long recitals from memory in the past but unless I keep on top of the pieces I will forget them quite quickly. This is irritating because people will often ask me to play something whenever there is a piano around. You feel foolish saying that you can't play anything. The reason concert pianists can do it is that they give hundreds of recitals a year, often using the same repertoire. Even then they are not always flawless. I went to see John Lill in concert last week and even he had one or two memory slips. I only noticed because I know the pieces so well but most people wouldn't have spotted them. I blame CD's for the expectation of perfection. You will never hear a single mistake on a recording (unless it's live). We are so used to hearing these perfect performances that it comes as a surprise when a pianist makes a mistake in live performance. Most people who don't play seem to think that any pianist should be able to rattle off the most difficult pieces at the drop of a hat.

Chris, everyone who doesn't play the piano should read this post! Of course they don't read this forum.....

I've been playing for 5 years and when people find out that I've been taking lessons for 4 years they think I must be REALLY good!! aaahh! That's too much pressure. Funny how my neices who've been taking lessons for even longer don't seem to be expected to rattle off familiar pieces at the request of family members. When I explain that I can only play pieces I've "learned" and can maybe sightread very simple pieces (although not at speed) they seem a little surprised.

Memory Flubs????? I never have memory flubs. Why you ask would I ever make such a statement?? Well, it's very easy really. You see, I basically have NO memory. I can't remember what I just typed in my last sentence.

Oops...I guess that actually means I have lots of memory flubs....I don't remember if I do or not.

Wow, this got confusing. Now what was the topic of this thread again?

Piano again, this thread has been so helping for me!
Your observation about tempo is classic. It also explains
why, when I play at my lesson, it is such a huge disappointment.

What typically happens is, I spend hours working on a piece
only to show up at my lesson and play it like crap. (I can't tell
you how many times I've driven home just shaking my head).

But I (with your help) just realized, it's not my memory or
nerves or lack of preparation, it's tempo. When I show up,
I'm excited, full of energy and ready to go. I settle in and want
to nail the thing or at least play it the way I know I can and
go forward from there. But, even though, I think I have slowed
down, I haven't slowed down enough.

The first few bars are automatic and then it starts to feel different.
Before long, the wheels are falling off and in the ditch we go.
I spend the rest of the lesson trying to calm down and find
a tempo that works. (It's such a waste of time)!

I knew I played better on days when I didn't work. I now realize
that the tempo of work combined with the hurry up drive to the
lesson all get me out of sync. So, I will make a conscience decision
to slow down before I play. I will, I will, I will, I will, slow down.

Thanks 'again'
(pardon the pun)

I have a few ideas that may help.

When you memorize a piece, make sure that you actually memorize it--don't just rely on your fingers knowing where to move. Try playing it from random points in the piece; you should be able to start anywhere. Be able to go through the piece (notes, fingerings, pedals, etc.) in your head away from the piano. You can do it in the shower or at red lights--anywhere.

Another issue is that when you practice and play normally, it is likely under certain, good conditions: your fingers are warmed up, you've gone through the piece, you feel *ready* to play. When you are asked to play out of the blue, this isn't the case. If you practice playing spontaniously, you will be able to do it more easily. Sit down and play a piece at random times every day. Don't plan it or think about it; just sit down and play. It's also good to play on different pianos so that you feel comfortable playing at someone else's house.

As you've already pointed out, one of the most important things to do when you are asked to play when you aren't prepared is to quickly set a beat in your head. Count out a measure or two before you begin playing. If you purposefully choose a beat before you begin, you are more likely to play at a comfortable speed and keep to that speed throughout.

You also need to make sure that you practice continuing after a mistake. In practice, many people will stop at the place they messed up to see what the problem was and correct it. In performance you obviously have to keep going. You need to practice continuing past mistakes. I've seen a lot of performances go down the drain because the performer couldn't accept a small mistake and instead went back, tried to correct it, became flustered, lost their place, etc.

And, of course, it should become better with time, so just keep practicing and performing, and it will all become easier.

Hey C.P.
I agree with everything you've said above, except for that "seeing it in your head" business. How are people (most people I assume) who don't have a photographic memory supposed to do this? Or would you say that this is not really a photographic memory at work? If not, then what is it?

Even after playing a piece for five or six years, I can't see the sheet music in my head. Is this abnormal, or just abnormal for those who play the piano professionally? I guess most of them have this "photographic" ability.

Rick

Hi, Rick...

I don't see it either, even simple pieces. I "hear" it, especially if I do a lot of hands separate practice....the voices stick out better, but I don't see it, and, frankly, if the music is too complicated and the tempo too fast I'm not "reading" the notes after a while, just looking for contours and clues. Does that make sense?

Learning to play through mistakes is absolutely critical for me. I used to stop all the time, but now, unless the music gets totally butchered, I play through and try to recover. Something I found helpful is to stop playing with the hand that messed up (usually the left), continue with the good one (as if that were your intent so the audience won't know), and then pick up again in the next measure. I'm getting better at playing through mistakes, but I still have a problem making faces and saying inappropriate words when I screw up

Lynn

Rick, I don't think I said anything about seeing the music in your head. Did I somewhere? When I said that it's a good idea to "go through the piece in your head," I didn't necessarily mean going through it visually. I meant that you should be able to mentally "play" the piece (in any way that works for you) note by note, including in your thoughts your fingerings, pedaling, and anything else.

Lynn, I never read individual music notes. I would have to stop for a moment if you asked me what note I was playing or reading; I just don't think about the letters the notes are. I'm not sure, maybe it's because I learned to read music when I was young (before I could easily attribute a note on the page to a letter to a particular key/string/position). I read through music basically by the way it looks on the page. The mistakes I make when initially sight-reading a piece are always the same: I play a third off the note/chord intended or I reverse the right and left hands. Does anyone else make mistakes like that? Reading music is a really funny thing.

I play a lot of gigs on my other instrument, so I need to pay through mistakes pretty often (haha--it's true!). The most important thing is to keep your cool. Besides that, always act as if you didn't make a mistake and you know exactly what you're doing. You will look so confident and collected that everyone will question whether you actually made a mistake or not. Besides that, the easiest technique I've found to keep going is, like you said, to keep playing the melody. If you have the melody and the beat, the rest of it will fall right into place again.

I tried playing the Mozart movement again last night for my husband. I did not warm up or prepare in any way other than checking my target tempo with a metronome (on the silent setting, with just the flashing light) before I started. Also, I hadn't had a chance to practice the piano at all during the day. I still made mistakes, but this time I kept going and I kept the tempo pretty steady. I felt it was a big improvement!

Piano again, I truly believe you are on to something here.
In fact, if we take this out of context, I know you are.

Consider driving (I hope you drive), you learn how to operate the car,
you learn the rules of the road, you acquire experience driving in public,
many routes get memorized and, if you forget, you just look it up
because you've learned how to read a map.
(you do the piano connections please)

Now, when do you drive your best? Is it when you have memorize the
route? Is it when you practice driving in rush hour to get used to lots of
distractions. Or, would you be better if you drove a different car every day
for a month?

Well, all of these would help for sure and speaking for myself, I drive better
in my own car, on a familiar route and it's not rush hour but, I drive best
when my mood (or internal desire) matches the tempo of the road.
If I am going too fast, the potential for an accident goes way up but
when my tempo matches the road, I don't get frustrated, the distractions
get handled and I get to where I'm going easily.

I like your idea of a mantra. I think what puts me in the driving mode
is, I sit in that seat, put on my driving glasses, start the car and go.
I need to create a routine like that for the piano. One that I can take anywhere.
Then, it wouldn't matter if I was at my friends house or in a music store,
I would do the routine, the crowd would disappear, the keys would become
familiar and the music would start to happen.

(hey, no one ever said I wasn't a dreamer)

Yes, and if you try to drive too fast, you have an accident. At least when you're playing the piano, you can't get a ticket.

Still waiting for the right mantra here.